Comparing the new Hellraiser (2022) film to the established Hellraiser franchise to see what they did well … and what they did wrong.
Overview
I’m so torn on this movie because there are some things they did that feel like a complete disregard to the established lore in the prior movies, but there are other aspects that are very in line with the lore. This was particularly confusing for me because it happened to be my two favorite films from the series that were most disregarded or honored. On the other hand, the visuals were spectacular and I enjoyed the characters and cast.
(Film Content Warning: graphic images)
***This review contains some Spoilers***
Visuals
There is some really great imagery in this movie. Specifically, there is a lot of box imagery, to the point where one character even comments about how there seems to be “boxes within boxes.” It also gives off a strong 90s vibe, using effect techniques that reminded me of the early movies, such as when the walls shift whenever the cenobites are entering our realm. The main character Riley (Odessa A’zion) has an extremely 90s aesthetic, which brought Linda Hamilton to mind. One thing the franchise has always done well is the design of the box and the cenobites, and they certainly didn’t disappoint this time around.
Casting
I liked all the casting choices, but in particular, A’zion did a great job as the lead, and I really hope to see her in more things. One role I was very excited about going in was Pinhead, recast in this as Jamie Clayton. I thought casting a trans woman in the role was a great idea, and she definitely lived up to my expectations. In fact, my big complaint is that she didn’t have enough screen time, probably no more than 10 minutes altogether, so I would have liked to have seen more of her in this role.
Lore
Here’s the big one. I honestly feel like I might have liked the movie a lot more if I had no history with the franchise. I read the original book the movies were based on and have seen all of the movies up until this point. If you’ve read my Classic Slasher Awards article, you may recall that my favorite movie in the series was Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 (1988). This was followed closely by Hellraiser: Hellseeker (2002). In Hellbound, it’s established that the cenobites go by intent, rather than act, meaning you can’t trick someone else to open the box and let them suffer the consequences while you go unaffected. But in this new film, most of the victims didn’t engage with the box at all, neither attempting it themselves nor forcing someone else to solve it. They literally don’t care or sometimes even know about the box, but they are claimed because they are cut by the box either by accident or because someone attacked them with it. It doesn’t really feel fair, based on previously established criteria, that these people would be claimed by the cenobites when they didn’t even know what was going on. The only time this really worked in the past was in Hellseeker, where Kirsty (Ashley Laurence) was given the option to choose five people to sacrifice in order to save herself. I actually really liked this aspect of Hellseeker, and these people didn’t have to know what was going on, so it could almost work in this new movie if viewed that way. But Kirsty had to actively choose the person, and they were all awful people, while in this one, the first two people were taken essentially by accident and some of the ones picked were good people. One of the times when it was an intentional choice, the person picked was a cenobite, which feels like it shouldn’t be allowed. After all, the cenobite must have already used the box for himself in order to reach this state, so why would this work?
There were some other aspects that were extremely in line with the lore, though. Voight (Goran Visnjic) was able to complete the steps required to choose a specific request from the cenobites and wound up embedded with a piece of complex magical machinery, for lack of better term, that is constantly causing pain in a calculated way so that he can never get used to it. This is such a perfect iteration of the cenobites’ goals and actions, since their core ideal is that pain and pleasure are intertwined. In the end, Voight changes his request so that instead of living with this device, he actually becomes a cenobite, and while this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this happen, the visuals of this transition are awesome, striking a bit of a crucifix vibe.
This movie also did a great job at expounding on the overall process of solving the box, such as how it is unlocked and what, exactly, happens when this occurs. One complaint I had in earlier films was that this supposedly complicated box seemed to be solved most of the time by just rotating the circle in the middle and not much else. This time, we watch Riley mess with it for quite a while, and I actually felt like I understood what was working and what she needed to do next. She also at one point finds a book detailing what can be done with the box if all the steps are completed.
Conclusion
This movie itself is well done with interesting visuals, characters, and some good horror elements. My complaints are pretty much all regarding inconsistencies with the established history, so if I hadn’t spent the entire time comparing everything to my existing knowledge, I probably would have had very little to complain about. In some ways, though, it does honor the previous films. So, it’s definitely worth watching – both for fans of the franchise and those who have never watched or read any of the other iterations.