The horror franchise Hellraiser is making a comeback with a new movie, and fans can get their first look at images featuring Jamie Clayton as the female Pinhead, a new Cenobite, and more. David Bruckner is helming the Hellraiser reboot, which will premiere exclusively on Hulu October 7th. The remake of the 1987 horror film is the newest addition to the franchise, and Brucker spoke to Entertainment Weekly about the new first-look images and what fans can expect from the film’s story. Jamie Clayton, a trans woman, takes on the role of Pinhead in Hellraiser, and the new Cenobite goes by the name “The Mask.”
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“It was so visceral and so impactful,” director David Bruckner told EW about the original Hellraiser. “It was a movie that really really scared me. It’s digging into things that are so troubling that I was almost afraid of the people that created it!”
He added how this Hellraiser shouldn’t be considered a remake, and only adds to the larger Hellraiser universe. “This is not a remake,” he said. “I just didn’t think you could ever remake the originalย Hellraiser. It’s too much its own thing and it would be, I think, perilous territory for filmmakers, because how do you top that? This is a new story in theย Hellraiserย universe.”
Odessa A’zion plays a character named Riley who is at the center of Hellraiser. “It’s the tale of a young woman, who’s struggling with addiction and compulsive behavior, that comes in contact accidentally with the box and unfortunately begins to dabble with it,” Bruckner teased. “And chaos ensues.”
Doug Bradley portrayed Pinhead in the original Hellraiser, with Sense8‘s Jamie Clayton carrying the S&M baton in his place. “We felt a kind of anticipation around the fans to reimagine the character,” Bruckner said of Clayton’s casting. “We knew we wanted Pinhead to be a woman. Jamie was just the right person for the role. A person’s identity can be really exciting for a role in many ways, but I have to emphasize that Jamie absolutely killed, that’s how we got there.”
Buckner also insisted that Clayton not attempt to copy Bradley, but instead bring her own performance to Pinhead. “What Doug Bradley did with the character is so iconic,” he said. “We didn’t want to do a Doug Bradley impression, we just didn’t think that’s possible to do. Thereย willย be suffering, but you’re going to get a sense of what Pinhead’s desires might be in a way that hits a little different.”
As for the new Cenobite, Brucker revealed, “We call him The Mask.” The filmmaker added, “The Mask is one of my favorite Cenobites and it’s just a tease of really what’s to come as far as the Cenobites are concerned.”
The new Hellraiser is available to stream on Hulu starting October 7th.
