‘Hellraiser’ Review – David Bruckner Raises Hell with Style

Bloody Disgusting’s Hellraiser review is spoiler-free.

Hellraiser needs no introduction. Clive Barker’s feature debut, which he adapted from his novella The Hellbound Heart, introduced horror to the hellish world of the Cenobites and instantly catapulted them to horror icon status. The arbiters of pain and suffering are back in the franchise’s eleventh feature, this time with a reimagining by The Night House director David Bruckner and screenwriters Luke Piotrowski and Ben Collins. Their Hellraiser takes a more faithful approach to Barker’s works, but with new hellish sights to show you.

A cold open introduces debauched billionaire Roland Voight (Goran Visnjic) and his experimentation with the iconic puzzle box. Six months later, recovering addict Riley (Odessa A’zion) laments to her lover Trevor (Drew Starkey) that she’s strapped for cash after the latest blowout fight with her brother Matt (Brandon Flynn). Matt’s skepticism about Trevor and his concerns that Riley will relapse seem accurate when Trevor offers Riley a get-rich gig that entails breaking into Voight’s mansion. It’s there that Riley finds the mysterious puzzle box, unwittingly summoning sadistic supernatural beings from another dimension.

Piotrowski and Collins opt for straightforward simplicity here that lets Bruckner’s imagery do the heavy lifting. There’s a deep well of mythology without any handholding. Riley races against the clock to discover the history behind the item she took from Voight, slowly unfurling its purpose and modus operandi in the process. That enigmatic quality intrigues and allows the characters to take precedence. Riley’s volatile relationship with her brother provides the emotional stakes, even more so when Matt’s boyfriend Colin (Adam Faison) enters more fully into the equation. It’s also a wry touch to center a character struggling with addiction in a world where obsession frequently drives people to self-destruction in the form of a hellish puzzle box.

Bruckner surprises with a ’90s horror vibe. There’s a late ’90s Dark Castle touch to the elaborate and ornate production design and dark color palette, particularly in the back half. Perhaps it gets too darkly lit; making out the exquisite new Cenobites in places can be tricky. Keeping with Barker’s original, Bruckner prolongs the Cenobites’ arrival at first, shrouding them in darkness and fleeting glimpses. This less is more approach makes you hungry to see more, exacerbated by the great creature designs and SFX work by Josh and Sierra Russell. Despite the ’90s aesthetic, Hellraiser brings the Cenobites into the modern era by forgoing the leather and increasing the mutilation.

Jamie Clayton’s inspired performance as the Hell Priest, the Cenobites’ leader, impresses most of all. Clayton exudes elegance, power, and menace, and her choices and mannerisms bring insight into the hellish hierarchy. The film largely rests on A’zion’s shoulders, but Clayton steals every single moment she’s on screen.

This new take on Hellraiser prefers quiet contemplation over spectacle in the sense that it’s driven by careful plotting and mythology. That makes its runtime felt, even realizing there’s much left to discover with the inner workings of the box. There is gore, chains, pain, and suffering. A little sex, too, though tame comparatively. Faison brings the moral compass and heart, while A’zion instills rooting interest, but it’s the Cenobites that continue to command our horror hearts. Hellraiser infuses enough style and worldbuilding with a mesmerizing new Hell Priest to ensure we’re ready to sign up for whatever other sights Bruckner has to show us next.

Hellraiser debuts on Hulu on October 7.

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