Hellraiser (2022) Review
THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
When Clive Barker adapted Hellraiser in the 80s, it was the boundary pusher audiences needed to be taught how unpredictable the world can be when it comes to seeking personal desires. So many sequels came and went from theaters to direct-to-video that it lost its purpose until eventually, the right story led to regaining such mojo.
PLOT
The 2022 adaptation follows a completely different set of characters unrelated to Barker’s novel ‘The Hellbound Heart’. The story follows recovering drug addict Riley McKendry who lives with her estranged brother Matt, his boyfriend Colin and roommate Nora. She starts dating a guy named Trevor who tells her of an abandoned warehouse he invites her to snoop around with. Together, they break into its safe and steal a mysterious puzzle box. This makes Riley return home late and when Matt accuses her of relapsing, she storms out of the apartment. She first stops at an empty park and when she actually solves the box, her hand gets cut from one of its blades. Matt tracks her down when feeling guilty of her leaving and when finding her asleep, he inadvertently cuts himself by the box as well. When he goes to the closest bathroom to treat his wounds, Riley wakes up and she sees the box changing shape as she then hears her brother scream for his life. When rushing to the bathroom, he is nowhere to be found. His roommates do not believe what she saw and when she goes back to Trevor. They track down a lawyer named Serena Menaker (Hiam Abbass), who represented millionaire investor Roland Voight and was the one who left the box in the warehouse long after she originally retrieved it for him in Serbia. What she tells the two is that the box is dangerous since it alleged killed Voight and she has to sort out his estate. Riley shows her that she has it and when Menaker tries to confiscate it, she gets cut as well. When Riley and Trevor leave, Menaker would be taken away by the same mutilated humanoids that killed Matt, the Cenobites. When looking up Voight has been missing for the past six years and after discovering Menaker went missing too, Riley decides to investigate Voight’s abandoned mansion to understand the box’s purpose, hoping to find her brother. Firsthand, she sees a handful of journals that explain the box has six different configurations that each require a sacrifice and upon completion does the holder receive a gift the entity that rules Hell, the Leviathan. Trevor shows up with Colin & Nora hoping to bring her back home. When Riley explains to Colin what she found though, Nora would unintentionally find a secret passage that leads to her finding Voight, who is alive but severely mutilated with a contraption that twists randomly, and stabs her with the box as the next sacrifice. When trying to escape with the others, the Cenobites abduct Nora and torture her to the point of being flayed, led by the Priest whose face is full of pins. When the group crashes, Riley sees a vision in a rear view mirror of what happens to Nora. She tries to get rid of the box until meeting the Priest officially, offering the chance to bring Matt back in exchange of sacrificing either herself or two other people. When she refuses, the Chatterer Cenobite (Jason Liles) charges at Trevor, but is surprisingly torn apart when Riley stabs it, being deemed an official sacrifice. When the remaking group returns to the mansion, they’re able to trap the Asphyx Cenobite (Zachary Hing) but when Riley drops it, Voight re-appears and exposes that Trevor was recruiting sacrifices for him. When stabbing Colin, he explains his predicament came as a result of wishing for sensation. With Leviathan emerging and the Cenobites trapped, Voight demands his freedom. As that happens, Riley gets the box back to save Colin and kill Trevor for his betrayal. The Priest offers Voight power that cannot be revoked and he blindly accepts, resulting in Leviathan to pull him into Hell with chains. With all sacrifices complete, the Priest then offers Riley the chance to bring Matt back but instead, she chooses to decline the offer and accept her brother’s fate. She leaves with Colin while the Cenobites vanish and the film ends with Voight in Leviathan being brutally transformed into a new Cenobite.
THOUGHTS
Due to how I didn’t with the direct to video era of Hellraiser, I had very low expectations on what this Hulu exclusive had in store. Ironically, this one really hit the bar on how I remember the original. I should’ve not been surprised due to Barker returning as producer, the last time he did so was for Bloodline. What has me surprised me a lot about this apart from the VFX blending well with the makeup done for the redesigned Cenobites and the violence they bring to the table, it has to be Ben Lovett’s score being great homage to what Christopher Young provided in the past. In a whole new generation of moviegoers, the sadomasochsim atmosphere was back because the tension was an endless feeling and that’s how I remember being awestruck. When it comes down to it, Director David Bruckner and the writing team of David S Goyer, Ben Collins & Luke Piotrowski succeed in being able to address viewers the discussion of addiction without having the commentary feel forced. Through a solid ensemble, we learn how the best way to mentally heal will be to face your pain rather than escape from it. If you keep doing the latter, then you are choosing to go through more than necessary. This is what is picked up on when focusing on our final girl Riley. Played by breakout Odessa A’zion, she is instantly depicted as an impulsive figure who doesn’t know how to put her addiction behind her and prefers whatever vice can distract her. She doesn’t put so much thought into being with Trevor because that’s how bad of a distraction she craves for. It is through her perspective that we all for Drew Starkey coming off as one whose got his own case of being troubled, yet we can still say he’s sketchy with minimum proof. The signs were there but like Riley, we couldn’t help but ignore in order to find whatever good she thinks is there when he’s actually a bigger coward than he appears. The fact that he’s getting paid to orchestrate a sacrifice is enough to say he’s scum of the earth until paying attention who wanted it done. From the moment we see Voight in the cold open that he’s a hedonistic kind of villain that he makes others suffer for him to gain new forms of self pleasure and Goran Višnijić embraces it even when the guy is physically crippled. Luckily, both men are usurped just when it seemed they thought it was under control. While we don’t know the original source of Riley’s addiction, it is a bit gladdening she had an inner circle willing to save her however so unlike Trevor. Brandon Flynn sure gets the ball rolling as Matt because since he is her brother, he’s the one person who can tell it like it is when it comes to expressing irritation on how much she brings herself down with her mistakes. When you get to see Adam Faison as Colin, he truly is his polar opposite of a pattern because he tries to be voice of reason no matter the stakes. It probably wasn’t said enough, but I give enough respect to Nora since Aoife Hinds portrays her to be more sensible, which does explain why she doesn’t overthink going into the secret passage that sets up her demise as well. After all the hell and back that’s been implied in the past, Matt proves to still love his sister if he’s willing to look for her after an argument. Sadly, his big heart cost him. Riley could’ve undone this loss by asking the Cenobites for him back, but she doesn’t go through with that because she knew the cycle of pain would only worsen before healing can ever happen. With that being said, you’ll start to wonder where do the Cenobites lie in morality. They are indeed scary given their grotesque appearance, especially as there are more than four compared to the original. There is the Masque (Vukašin Jovanović) who has its face kept in a metallic frame, the Weeper (Yinka Olorunnife) who profusely bleeds from the eyes, the Gasp (Selina Lo) who has more restricted breathing & severe throat deformation from her armature over her head, the Asphyx who has arms bound by wires that leaves it in a constant praying position, and of course the Chatterer who will be clacking teeth at every given opportunity hence the name. Most importantly, you cannot forget the leader that keeps viewers interested to this day. With respect to Doug Bradley who did it first and best, Barker originally wrote the Priest aka Pinhead to be a female, so it feels circle for Jamie Clayton to play the part and be subpar in terms of being sadistic yet sensual. Are Cenobites’ actions sadistic? Yes, yet they all remain neutral despite how creepy they appear because they still give people what they wish for. This movie was definitely interesting, but there were still some things that could’ve been done differently. For instance, if this movie is in the 21st century, Trevor & Riley should be wearing masks to keep their cover from being blown. If Trevor has control of the cameras thanks to Voight, that should’ve been better implied. And you know what, Matt should be running away when seeing the sink spew blood that wasn’t his. Also, what kind of caring facility needs to have a different room to get water? I know Trevor’s trying to keep his cover from being blown, but it’s clearly a bad decision on the facility’s end when people like Menaker are battling cancer. It’s weirder than security not panicking when hearing said patient scream after she got cut from the box. And when she vanished, Riley & Trevor should still be brought in for questioning since they were her last visitors and there wasn’t proof of what happened to her. I can pick on Voight should’ve been caught sooner if his contraption twists randomly and he’d likely scream in agony each time. What’s worse than trying to figure out how he continued hiding, it’s the fact Nora should’ve not even walked into the hallway in the first place. It’s even pointless for Riley to go for a sacrifice before Voight resurfaces. She says the Cenobites have her blood, but that doesn’t matter since they’ll attack anyone anyway for any sacrifice possible. Ignore these things however, then you can still respect 2022’s Hellraiser for getting closer to the roots than any of the sequels ever could. If you got Hulu and still dig body horror, then I hope you enjoy this reboot.
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