The new "Hellraiser" reboot is serviceable, I guess, but if you are a fan of the original, you will find it deeply disappointing. First of all, the movie is not in any way, shape, or form based on the original "The Hellbound Heart" novella. It's an entirely original movie just using some characters and ideas from the previous "Hellraiser" movies. The story is about Riley, a recovering junkie, who is living in a small apartment with her brother Matt, his boyfriend Colin, and their roommate Nora. She has a boyfriend Trevor who appears to live in some enormous house, but apparently is a petty criminal and convinces her to break into an abandonned house and steal something. And it turns out that what they steal is the Lemarchand Configuration, the puzzle box that if solved, calls the Cenobites...
The biggest issue with this reboot is that is completely violates the Hellraiser canon as created by Clive Barker. Opening the box is an effort, that someone needs to desperately WANT to do. In "Hellraiser 2", when someone got an autistic savant to open the box for him, Pinhead stopped the other Cenobites from taking him by saying, "It is not hands that call us, it is desire."
In this version, it's as simple as a snap to open the box. And in this incarnation, the box has a little spike coming out and if you get stabbed by the spike -- even if you are just a random bystander -- then you are the one the cenobites come for. And of course, in a sign of lazy writing, this little rule is completely ignored when it's convenient for the plot to ignore it.
And during the final 45 minutes or so of the film, the entire mythology seems to be thrown out the window, and the Cenobites become like Michael Myers, just standing around outside a house while people try to keep them out.
The big marketing point of this version is that the "Lead Cenobite" (nicknamed "Pinhead" in the fandom) is played by a woman (Jamie Clayton). This is a pretty trivial change and doesn't really change anything, but when Barker brought his creation to life in the original "Hellraiser", he made the character tall and imposing, which a deep voice. This version modulates her voice to make it deeper and make her sound much more masculine, and Clayton does a decent job but sadly doesn't come close to being the menacing figure that Doug Bradley was.
Bottom line, if you have seen and are a fan of the original "Hellraiser" you will likely be disappointed in this reboot. And if you haven't seen the original "Hellraiser", then watch it instead of this one.
The biggest issue with this reboot is that is completely violates the Hellraiser canon as created by Clive Barker. Opening the box is an effort, that someone needs to desperately WANT to do. In "Hellraiser 2", when someone got an autistic savant to open the box for him, Pinhead stopped the other Cenobites from taking him by saying, "It is not hands that call us, it is desire."
In this version, it's as simple as a snap to open the box. And in this incarnation, the box has a little spike coming out and if you get stabbed by the spike -- even if you are just a random bystander -- then you are the one the cenobites come for. And of course, in a sign of lazy writing, this little rule is completely ignored when it's convenient for the plot to ignore it.
And during the final 45 minutes or so of the film, the entire mythology seems to be thrown out the window, and the Cenobites become like Michael Myers, just standing around outside a house while people try to keep them out.
The big marketing point of this version is that the "Lead Cenobite" (nicknamed "Pinhead" in the fandom) is played by a woman (Jamie Clayton). This is a pretty trivial change and doesn't really change anything, but when Barker brought his creation to life in the original "Hellraiser", he made the character tall and imposing, which a deep voice. This version modulates her voice to make it deeper and make her sound much more masculine, and Clayton does a decent job but sadly doesn't come close to being the menacing figure that Doug Bradley was.
Bottom line, if you have seen and are a fan of the original "Hellraiser" you will likely be disappointed in this reboot. And if you haven't seen the original "Hellraiser", then watch it instead of this one.