At long last, my suffering can come to an end. About all I knew of the reboot to the franchise that happened in 2022 was that they had a lady Pinhead. So, going into this, I felt like I wanted to give this one a fair shake and decided that since they were going to reboot the series that I would clear my preconceived notions on what the Cenobites were and see if this new entry could sell me on whatever the vision it had for them was. No longer would I harp on about what they should or shouldn’t be, I would just take it at face value and decide if it was interesting based on the premise they gave me.

Our story begins with an extravagant billionaire seeking the puzzle box because he has become bored with what life has. Immediately we see a change as it is no longer just a cube but a puzzle that takes six different shapes. After getting a sacrificial stooge to open it for him, he apparently uses it to ask for a meeting with “god”. We cut to years later and our main protagonist, Riley, an addict and fuck up that tries to get some money by helping her boyfriend steal from a warehouse of a missing rich guy. All they find, however, is the puzzle box now in it’s standard cube, or Lament, configuration. This time as you solve the puzzle box, a blade pops out. If you or someone else is cut by it, you are marked for sacrifice by the Cenobites who come to take you away. Riley accidentally ends up cutting her brother and now she is desperate for information on what is happening, who the Cenobites are, and if there is some way to get her brother back.

Ok, this is much better than any other of the Hellraiser sequels by a country mile in terms of acting, writing, directing, you name it. The changes to the mythos of the Cenobites serve to make them much more about pushing the boundaries of sensation rather than being about the blending of pain into pleasure. This ends up making this a far more chaste film than perhaps any of the other entries in the series as it moves the Cenobites away from sex pervert demons to more like demonic adrenaline junkies. Making it so that there is a grand prize waiting if you manage to sacrifice six people to the puzzle box also gives a good incentive for this and further installments, should there be any, for why we would get to see someone use the box multiple times and thus have an excuse for more Cenobite action. Plus, we only get to see what 3 of the 6 rewards actually do, so there are still several endings that could be shown.

The designs on the Cenobites were great. Owing to the change away from the whole BDSM aspect, we ditch the leather outfits and make it so that they are all just naked now but their flesh is torn and mutilated in such as way as to give the impression of fashion. The Gasp, a secondary Cenobite, has elements that are both like the Female Cenobite of the first film (a splayed open throat) and Angelique from the fourth (scalp stretched to the sides to emulate a nun’s habit). She also gets to be the only other Cenobite in franchise history to display the kind of telekinetic power over a torture implement like Pinhead has over hook chains in that she can mentally make razor wire shoot out. Jamie Clayton also does an amazing job as Pinhead and really feels like she puts a more priestly bend to her performance, treating her task as a sacred duty.

What a great way to end the theme week. The worst of the movies yesterday and the best of them today. Now for some filler until we get to the next theme.

Score: 4 out of 5