It remains to be seen just how central Pinhead will be to the new film. Bruckner emphasized to EW that his Hellraiser film is not a remake, but will set out to tell its own story. “I just didn’t think you could ever remake the original 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 the Hellraiser universe.”
Bruckner’s Hellraiser focuses on a character named Riley, played by Odessa A’zion. “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 revealed. “And chaos ensues.”
Clayton’s Pinhead will certainly be a component of that chaos. However, Clayton’s version of Pinhead will be specific to Bruckner’s story and won’t simply be an impression of Bradley’s version of the character. “What Doug Bradley did with the character is so iconic,” Bruckner said. “We didn’t want to do a Doug Bradley impression, we just didn’t think that’s possible to do. There will 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.”
And while several Hellraiser sequels came and went without the blessing of original mastermind Clive Barker, Bruckner’s film has Barker onboard as a producer. “Clive’s been very involved,” Bruckner said. “Clive came on before the shoot, when we were in prep, and was really just a wonderful resource for me. He was really generous with his time, and very welcoming of the idea that this was a new group of artists, and that they were going to run with this and land in different places with it. He was very supportive of that.”
We’ll be able to witness Hellraiser and all of its hellish pleasures once it hits Hulu on October 7.
