The Wandering Fox Reviews: Hellraiser 2022 (Halloween Special)

Teddy yelped as he heard a bell toll, jumping behind Freddy.

Teddy: Oh goodness, that’s not a good thing to hear on Halloween!

Freddy: Oh come on, scaredy cat, it’s just a church bell!

Teddy: You sure with the film Wandering Fox is reviewing?

Freddy: Yes.

Then they heard footsteps she could see a dark figure coming towards them. They gasped and jolted until they saw it was the Wandering Fox holding a DVD. They smiled then.

Teddy: Oh, it’s just him.

Freddy: That it is. And he has the movie with him.

That I do. It’s Halloween and what an occasion it is to review a horror film for the blog. I’m here with a movie that I’m sure will get everybody’s blood turning inside of them for what we have here to review is the Hellraiser 2022 reboot.

There was a lot of interest in this film at the time for a lot of reasons, with it being a reboot, Clive Barker serving as executive producer, a whole new Pinhead and going in with it focussing on the tragic and humane side of Hellraiser. The fact that it was a reboot had many wondering what it’d be about, whether it had any connection to the old movies or it was a whole new thing. Clive Barker as executive producer was a welcomed treat for everybody since he created Hellraiser and gotten the film rights back in 2020\21, having lost creative say since the second movie. The last couple of Hellraiser movies weren’t loved by many and even those before that like Deader and Hellworld were weak, the latter of which was Doug Bradley’s last go at Pinhead before he gave up as he saw the franchise was getting bad. While Barker served as executive producer, the film was written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski with David S. Goyer serving in there as well. Doug Bradley was approached if he wanted to make a cameo but he kindly refused as he’d rather his Pinhead be left intact and his legacy be left alone, which the film team were okay with. Though apparently the kind reception to the movie has had Doug interested in returning to the role and Clive Barker was so impressed with what they did with Pinhead he’s inspired to write more stories about the character.

Though for a bit of background, Hellraiser is a horror franchise but it isn’t your typical one like Freddy Krueger killing you in your dreams or you’re trying to survive Michael Myers as he cuts his way through the little town to get you. Hellraiser is in fact different as the Cenobites are not slashers, instead they are extra dimensional beings and sadomasochistic as they explore the limits of sensation, experience and the flesh and mind, unable to tell the difference of pain and pleasure and mutilate those who they meet if they open the Lament Configuration. The Cenobites can be reasoned with and do spare children who open the box, as children are innocent and shouldn’t ever be taken to the Labyrinth. The books and films also show how human desires for pleasure and sensation can have them do horrid things to themselves or to each other, with Frank murdering his brother to live again so he can continue his hedonistic life, to Julia helping Frank murder people to restore his flesh as she yearned for Frank with her cheating on Larry.

Though still, without further ado, let’s see whether Pinhead and the Cenobites were angels or demons here and if the movie is indeed worthy to stand with the original.

The Story

It focuses on a young woman called Riley (played by Odessa A’Zion) who is in a bit of a rut in her life with her fighting her drug addiction while living with her brother Matt (played by Brandon Flynn) and dating a dodgy man called Trevor (Drew Starkey). Riley and Trevor break into a container that belongs to millionaire hedonist Roland Vought (Goran Všnjić), finding the Lament Configuration. After an argument with Matt, Riley unlocks the first combination of the box and falls unconscious. Matt comes to Riley and then disappears, leaving her, his boyfriend Colin (Adam Fassion) and housemate Nora (Aoife Hinds) trying to figure out where Matt has gone, though as Riley finds all roads lead to Roland Vought, she’s about to find there’s more to it than that.

The story on Riley’s addiction and Matt’s growing frustration of trying to cope with her addiction is honestly quite a hard hitting one as there’s many people out there who have loved ones who have fallen in with the wrong lot or have been wrecking their own lives with substance abuse, and trying to help that person doesn’t always work and often has you falling out more than you’d want, and it makes for a ideal story to tell with Hellraiser as Riley is susceptible to the hypnotic hook of the Lament Configuration, which serves as a cautionary tale of how such people who are easily taken advantage of can be flung into something darker that they may not get out of. Just as Matt himself says to Riley in the movie:

“I don’t know what’s going to happen to you! Ever! You want to play games you will lose, Riley!”

This quote rings true to the end of the movie as we don’t know what’s going to happen to Riley. By the end it’s just her and Colin that’s left after the others have been taken by the Cenobites. With Matt having gone missing and the cops aware he and Riley had an argument, then Trevor and Nora disappear, it has you think that though Riley survived she’s going to lose everything still even after being done with the Cenobites. She played a game and though she defeats Trevor and Roland, she still loses. The game theme is teased in the first half as we see Riley playing a pinball machine and how she goes back on swearing to Matt she would stop seeing Trevor as he feared Trevor was only going to get Riley in lots of trouble, playing games on herself. Even before Riley comes along we see the Cenobites’s first victim solving the Configuration out of hope he’d win a prize. Riley’s susceptibility is easy to prey upon by both Pinhead and Trevor in twisting their words to get Riley to continue on, often lulling her along with a promise that may not be what she wants, it a lot like that of gambling addicts and those who enable the bad habits.

That and honestly, it’s a hard thing for me to watch and admit Pinhead has a point. As a guy who suffers anxiety and OCD, I’m constantly battling my urges to do my rituals and I feel like I’ve had enough, I want to finally be free. I’ve had enough. But Pinhead has a dark and truthful quote here for me and everybody who suffers gambling or mental health issues like OCD.

Hellraiser 2022 Bridge Scene - Enough Is A Myth - What Are You? - Hellraiser 2022 1080p Clip

The scenes with Riley, Matt, Nora and Colin in their apartment is quite a good starter as well in being grounded and gritty without even including the Cenobites, helping setup the characters well enough that they are friends but have their own struggles with Matt feeling so much weight in trying to maintain a roof over their heads with him relying on Riley to pay for rent and stressing out who she’s with, Colin and Nora are the lighter hearted characters who try to keep everybody relaxed try to be civil with their issues. It even makes good work of comedic timing with how Riley and Trevor end up walking in on the housemates after they had a rather loud bunch of fun in bed, or how Colin and Nora turn the music volume low to hear them arguing offers a bit of relief after the first death and before things turn darker for Riley. And boy does things turn dark as soon as Pinhead (Jaime Clayton) arrives.

The second half ends up becoming a mystery solving story with Riley trying to find out where Matt is and how bit by bit Riley finds out not just about Voight but also of the Cenobites, slowly dreading the atmosphere as we go in the dark, all coming to Voight’s old mansion home where he was last seen in, and things only get chaotic from there after Nora is taken by the Cenobites and we have Pinhead finally confront Riley. The characters become isolated, alone and forced to think on their feet as reality warps around them and they are losing any chance of escape, and twists abound forces Riley to make hard choices that will effect her greatly in the end. The film does a fine job at going from grounded to darker and bigger and all on a small budget without needing to go big cgi galore, not until the end. You see as well Riley slowly coming away out of Trevor’s influence and trying to get things done herself, which is good character work.

I know some fans have complained about the human characters for being dumb in the movie and I will say that there are moments in the film where I do question their logic, with us wondering exactly what Trevor was up to. Spoilers, he was working for Voight the entire time in the movie, luring others to open the Lament Configuration so he can get Leviathan to take the device in his chest. I’m a little confused cos there is a moment in which Voight’s former aid looks nervously at Trevor and waits until he goes and tries to take the Lament Configuration away from Riley. If she was concerned for Riley she’d have told her Trevor couldn’t be trusted. Then there’s why Trevor let Riley take the Configuration. He’s said to have loved Riley and does seem to care for her, why let her take it home and have her be hunted by the Cenobites? That was a bit confusing.

There’s also a bit in which Colin clearly did not understand what Trevor said, Trevor they have to go back to the mansion to get to Riley’s car, Colin isn’t wanting to back in the mansion despite Trevor telling him Riley’s car is there to escape in.

There’s a few other things in the film I’m a bit confused by. You see Voight has that great big thing shoved right through his chest and out his back, how is it he went and became a recluse but still had that cage built around his house? Was he hiding in the walls and had his aide hire the construction workers? With a big abandoned mansion like that I’m stunned no teen or thug broke in there to steal a few things, that would have made things easier for him to lull others in to solve the configuration and give him a chance to chat with Leviathan. Then there’s how the cage even does stop the Cenobites, if they can warp reality then why couldn’t they open a door within the mansion? Is it made of certain metals that can weaken the Cenobites?

I have to agree with other fans though I’m annoyed with how they did the Lament Configuration here as in the old movies, and quoting Pinhead himself “It’s not hands that call us, but desire!”. The Configuration here has been changed which after you solve a configuration a blade comes out and stabs you and the Cenobites go after you as they have your blood and want you. Hellraiser was all about desire, not blood. It’d have been better if solving the configuration didn’t involve the blade and the Cenobites came to you because you wanted to solve it, and they’d gave a bit of a sense that you wanted something more out of it. Just seemed convenient to have Matt disappear. Though I will give the film credit for teasing what other configurations the box can grant and take the shape of, as well as what you could get out of it, like what is the Cenobites’ idea of Love?

The only other complaints I do have on the movie is after Nora is taken she’s just forgotten about, and the Cenobite costumes look plasticky under a full light hence I’d rather in future they keep them filmed in the dark.

Looks good here.

Here? Not so much.

I have to credit the set designers though, managing to take the Serbian streets to look gritty enough that you’d think we were in Massachusetts, to the Voight mansion looking to be a grand gothic interior that has that sense of ego and darkness Voight had to him, easily letting you figure what kind of man he was, and you only see him in a handful of scenes. The Labyrinth appears in a few scenes, a set design resembling that of medieval walls with stone and is well dark, serving as a good homage to the Labyrinth in its older appearances, while seeing it then appear around the mansion with Leviathan arriving has this sense of the dimension closing in on you, all with a careful lot of CGI. That’s another thing I have to give this movie, it made sure not to overdo the CGI otherwise you get big spectacles and no life in the actors, instead they saved the CGI for Leviathan arriving and the haunting final scene.

The last scene is gonna make you feel sick, that I tell you, although I can show you a bit of it before it gets gory.

I like this. This is in the Labyrinth and the golden wings and white background give you this strange idea that you’re in heaven, but what comes next has you truly see this is not heaven, though it stays with the good and white, indeed going with angels to some, demons to others.

The actors do a good job with the script and do sell it to you these guys are humans who live a hard everyday life. Though I have to tell you, while Jaime is no Doug Bradley, she does a great job as Pinhead from the makeup greatly doing well in capturing the feminine traits of this Pinhead to Jaime standing still and talking with a a otherworldly voice that gives her a top strong presence in every scene she’s in.

Nora gets taken and chained up | Hellraiser (2022)

There’s a good moment in her last scene in which after all her scenes in the movie where she’s either stoic or has a tiny smile on her face, in the end Pinhead is shocked Riley chose not to resurrect Matt, you can hear it in her voice.

The music is a interesting case in which it gives you a modernised version of the original Lament Configuration and Bell Toll themes, with the bell sounding a lot more harder and electrifying while the violin like sound is a lot more somber but still scary enough you fearful of hearing it if you were by yourself.

I will come back to what I said above, as Riley has played a game and loses. It’s a case where the bad guy wins and you are left wondering exactly what happens to Riley. Pinhead gets what she wants, she gets her victims and Riley suffers in the end. Trevor betrayed her, she lost Matt, then Nora, then she chooses to stab Trevor to let the Cenobites take him instead of Colin, then She chooses not to bring Matt back despite Pinhead offering her the chance, the earlier reunion between her and Matt hints he’d have been brought back as fleshy red body and would have to kill to restore his skin, and Riley has seen the Cenobites “gifts” to tell her Matt won’t be back the way he was, hence she has to let Matt stay dead. It leaves it open as to whether Riley returns in the sequel or not and if we do she’s gonna be in jail, as I said the cops will have known she and Matt argued, then Trevor and Nora went missing, Riley could be imprisoned with the cops believing she killed Matt. It could serve as a story in the sequel in which whoever gets the configuration next will go to Riley for help.

Ending Thoughts

I end this review with Hellraiser being a decent movie. I think it’s good that it went back to being gritty and focusing on the tragedy of those who meet the Cenobites though there’s some stuff in the film that leaves you scratching your head with confusion, though you will like the Cenobites here in the film.

Teddy: Whew, that was quite the review.

Freddy: Yeah it was, although I don’t half fancy the last scene, that will get your guts churning.

Teddy: Well it wouldn’t be a Hellraiser film if it didn’t.

Well come on guys, let’s get home and get ready for the Trick or Treaters.

Teddy: Oh I’ll be sleeping tonight, I don’t like those kids.

Freddy: Oh well, fair enough mate.

Happy Halloween folks.