Review #401: Hellraiser (2022)

October 2026 Horror Reviews #29 - Hellraiser (2022)

Hellraiser (2022) is a reboot of the horror series, giving a fresh take on the original idea rather than just remaking or continuing the series as it existed. It follows a recovering drug addict named Riley, whose boyfriend Trevor apparently discovers a forgotten shipping crate locked in a warehouse that contains the iconic puzzle box. In a drunk haze, Riley partially solves the puzzle box, but when her brother finds her passed out with the box beside her, a blade from within it stabs his hand, drawing blood and summoning the cenobites, who whisk him away a whirlwind of pain. When Riley discovers he has disappeared, she and Trevor investigate the origins of the box, which eventually leads them to the home of Roland Voight, a reclusive billionaire obsessed with the occult. It turns out Voight has some secrets, and may have been orchestrating the events around Riley for the entire film- all in an attempt at provoking a meeting with the cenobites. But will he get what he wants, or will he end up flayed and tortured? (I think we all know the answer.)

I first watched this movie back when it came out, and I really liked it then; I don't think it's quite held up as well on a re-watch but overall I think this is a good, entertaining movie, though it feels strange as a continuation of the rest of the series. Though to be fair, ALL of the Hellraiser movies feel strange compared to all the rest- I really think this whole series is rather inconsistent in terms of tone and thesis statement. (Back when I reviewed the series a few years ago, I came out feeling like every single movie after the first kind of missed the point that the first one laid out, and this entry is no exception.)

I'll start with the good. The story in this movie is very intriguing, and there's some really interesting twists and turns that come in the latter half. The effects are great, so many of the character designs are exceedingly clever and grotesque and thought-provoking, and this film has an overall look and feel to it that really, really evokes "Hellraiser" to me. The new take on the Pinhead character is nice (Jamie Clayton does a great job taking over the role after Doug Bradley stepped down a few entries ago), and the design of that character's body modifications is very well-done and creepy. This whole movie delves so deep into the body horror of sado-masochism that this series is known for- it definitely LOOKS like a Hellraiser in pretty much every way.

However, for most of the runtime, the cenobites don't really feel like cenobites to me. I always think back to the first movie, and the line "demons to some, angels to others" and it seems that every single sequel completely flubs that concept. The cenobites in here really don't do anything that remotely benefits anybody- there's a point near the end where Riley basically tells them "I've seen how you honor your promises, and I want nothing you can offer me" because nothing they do could possibly appeal to anybody. In the first movie the purpose of the puzzle box was, when you have spent your life indulging in so many of life's pleasures, eventually you get bored. So these otherworldly beings will show you things that you never thought possible, mixing pleasure and pain, but at the end of the day, the kind of person who calls them is the kind of person who wants what they have to offer. Nobody in here, even Voight, who seems exactly like their kind of customer, is remotely interested in what they give him. 

Honestly I feel like their entire role in this film would be better suited in a Wishmaster movie or something- the only thing they seem to do is offer a "Be careful what you wish for" reward, in that whatever you ask for, it's going to suck (but it's going to fit the letter of what you wished for). Wishing for sensation and getting a machine embedded in your chest that causes you constant pain that never, ever goes away doesn't sound like something even the most jaded individual would knowingly ask for, it sounds like a "gotcha!" that an evil genie slapped you with because you didn't word your wish properly. I guess that can be a way to interpret the cenobites' whole deal, but if that's their standard operating procedure, nobody would ever seek out the puzzle box because every legend told about them would be "Hey don't look for these guys, they suck and will only bring you pain". Their whole deal only makes sense narratively if, on some level, they were actually giving you what you wanted, and not "technically what you asked for".

That all being said, I did really enjoy the actual plotting of the film. I can't deny that I'm a sucker for stories about magical/cursed objects, and about half of the movie's plot is about this cursed/trapped magic puzzle box and the characters need to try and figure out what is is, what it does, where it came from, and how to use it (or get rid of it) before it kills them. I'm always down for that kind of a story, so I'm not upset that this movie went so heavily in that direction (as opposed to basically the whole rest of the series, where the box was largely incidental, serving primarily as a macguffin the characters use once by accident and then the cenobites show up to do their thing)- I just wish one time, literally one time, they would make a Hellraiser sequel that actually remembers that there needs to be a reason why anybody would consider the cenobites to be angels. The "demons to some, angels to others" line is the most interesting and provocative concept this series has come up with, it came up with it right at the start, and every single entry since then has found different ways to completely disregard it in favor of some clever body horror.

Anyway, this is a very good movie, I just wish it were a slightly different very good movie.

Overall Rating: 8/10 Boxes Within Boxes Within Boxes

Get With The Times: In the rest of the series, the cenobites tended to wear black leather and PVC costumes, evoking the styles of the BDSM community. In this movie, their design replaces clothing with extreme body modifications (with their own flesh and sinew acting as textiles), because by 2022, the iconic BDSM-style clothing has become too mainstream to have the same impact it did back the 1980s!

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0887261/