Hulu’s Reinvention of ‘Hellraiser’ Is a Bloody Good Time

The highly anticipated reboot of Hellraiser is here, and it’s dying to get viewers hooked! Additionally, it’s the type of modern, queer, inclusive storytelling we hope the horror genre keeps seeing more of.

Directed by David Bruckner (The Ritual, The Night House), the film follows a young woman named Riley (Odessa A’zion), a struggling addict who comes into possession of an ancient puzzle box. However, she is unaware that its purpose is to summon the Cenobites, a group of sadistic, ghoulish demons from another dimension, led by The Priest, better known as Pinhead.

Trans actress Jamie Clayton plays the iconic horror villain who was popularized by Doug Bradley in eight of the 10 previous Hellraiser films.

“David and I had so many Zoom discussions about how the body would look, how the head would be, and that sort of stillness that was incorporated,” she says in a press conference. “I’m hoping that it’s something really unique. Doug is incredible, but I didn’t want to be compared or have people be like, ‘Oh, she nicked that from him. She’s doing that thing that he did,’ which is another reason why I think they wanted a woman to play the role because it takes the burden off the audience of that comparison. This has been an amazing process. The Priest is everything that I am and everything that I’m not, and she’s amazing. She’s going to tear your souls apart (laughs).”

Co-star Goran Visnjic, who plays Roland Voight, says he was shocked by Clayton’s transformation.

“I remember seeing Jamie for the first time,” he recalls. “I saw her in the process of getting the stuff on, and when she walked on set, I started laughing. Not because it was funny, but because I didn’t know what to do. Seriously, she looked so out-of-this-world. It was mystical, scary, unreal, and surreal. The details, the pins, the lenses—It was crazy. I was like, ‘Is that really you?’ I still feel unusual about the experience.”

The Hellraiser franchise, which began with the 1987 original written and directed by Clive Barker, was inspired by his time working as a rent boy and visiting London leather bars during his youth. It was also an outlet for his anxieties about the cost of coming out, which he channeled into the novella Hellbound Heart, upon which the film is based.

This version completely ignores the original and its nine follow-up films and expands on the mythology given to us by the original story.

“It’s a new Hellraiser story,” Bruckner says. “It does harken back to the original films quite a bit, but ultimately, it is the tale of Riley, who discovers the box and opens it. And all Hell breaks loose.”

Additional cast members include Brandon Flynn, Adam Faison, Drew Starkey, and Hiam Abbass, who says this is one of the first horror projects she has ever worked on.

“I grew up in a place where everything was frightening anyway,” she states. “If I was to escape in movie, I would chose something much lighter and happier. But as an actor, I really wanted to do one. Just before this came my way, I was telling my agent that I wanted to do a horror movie, and a month later, I got the offer. I guess it was meant to be!”

Hellraiser is now available to stream on Hulu.

Photos courtesy of via Spyglass Media Group