A few weeks ago I was reminded of the iconic Pinhead from “Hellraiser” when I put on a horror shirt I haven’t worn in months. I kind of forgot it existed, but I found it buried in my drawer — stuffed full of my T-Shirt collection.
That day, the iconic horror shirt became a topic of discussion when I went to my best friend’s house. Her mom asked about Pinhead in the middle of my shirt, and I stood there — puzzled.
I thought to myself…haven’t I seen this movie before? But I couldn’t remember exactly what the film was about.
Afterwards when I came home that evening I kept this thought pondering in my mind — why couldn’t I remember this film? I know I watched it in college out of pure curiosity.
Well I kept pondering this — for days. Finally I just decided to watch the film again.
And I remembered why I didn’t remember what happens in “Hellraiser.” I honestly blocked this film from my memory.
If you don’t know what “Hellraiser” is about — here is a quick synopsis. The film is based on a man, Frank, who finds this mystical puzzle box who believes if he opens it, it will bring him pain and pleasure. When he opens it he summons Cenobites who tear him apart into pieces and kill him. His brother, Larry, moves into the house where this happened where him and his wife believe Frank just left. Like ‘oh he’s alive he just is off doing his own thing.’ And this is years later? That alone is just bizarre to me. How could you not be concerned about that situation? Made no sense to me.
Well, later on you learn that Frank isn’t entirely gone. He escaped the Cenobites and needs to feed on human flesh to become whole again.
Yuck.
This is already cringy enough, but when you learn more about the character relationships — it gets even more icky.
“Hellraiser” is one of those films that is famous for what it did at the time and I’ve always wondered why. I did some research on the film and this is what I learned: “Hellraiser” is a queer horror classic film, and it actually makes a TON of sense.
This movie steams with raw sexuality, so much that it made me uncomfortable. Mostly because the sexual situations in the film seemed forced and not consensual at all. They basically mention rape in the film without calling it out. And mixing in all these sexual situations with awkward main characters who don’t have much story behind them with the creepy cenobite creatures — it became a lot for me.
I can handle gore, believe me I can, the Saw franchise is one of my favorites but for some reason I wasn’t excited by the gore in this film. Ripping apart human flesh just isn’t my thing.
And with all of these items stacking up in my brain, I scrubbed the film from my memory. Which isn’t too suprising.
They ended up making Hellraiser into a franchise with countless other films. I’m tempted to go deeper and watch more — but will I be intrigued or will it be the same disappointing outcome?
What did you think of “Hellraiser”? Do you believe it is a horror classic that deserves more praise? Am I being too harsh on the film? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Spooky Reviews 
Hellraiser is a series I knew about growing up, but it never grabbed my attention as other franchises (such as Halloween and Friday the 13th). The only two I can recall are the first and third, especially the third film since I remember Pinhead being stuck in a black pillar in the first half of the film, lol. It has its place in history, and Pinhead is one of the most powerful slasher villains. But the fact that he didn’t start off that way (he was more neutral in the first two films if memory serves) makes it feel forced when he becomes more antagonistic. But Hellraiser has its place in history and is a memorable series, just not ‘as’ known as others
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I totally agree with what you have to say! I’ve never found “Hellraiser” to be truly iconic to other horror films because Pinhead isn’t the star of the show (compared to Michael Myers or Chucky for example). I think it’s great for it’s time though and has lots of elements I think other horror films could have easily used. I currently watched the second movie since my friend told me to give the series more of a chance — and I plan on watching them all and doing a full review series. I must say, I enjoyed the second one much more than the first one. Look out for my film review releasing today. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the second “Hellraiser” movie.
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I think you were too harsh on this, but I liked the review. What I love about Hellraiser is the creative fantasy-based story and awesome practical effects. I wouldn’t call it a “queer” film, although the writer-director is gay. Cool site. I’ll poke around a bit more and follow you in the reader.
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