Hulu's recently released remake of gay director Clive Barker's 1987 horror film Hellraiser features transgender actress Jamie Clayton as the film's iconic villain Pinhead. Some fans worried about a woman playing a male villain, especially since the role was first made iconic by male actor Doug Bradley.

Was the original Hellraiser a female?

[Clive Barker's] original book that it's based on, The Hellbound Heart, was suggestive of a female Pinhead, and the comic books also explored the idea.” Bruckner's Hellraiser premieres Oct.

Why did they gender swap Pinhead?

In The Hellbound Heart, Cenobites are described as androgynous, and Pinhead is said to have a feminine-sounding voice, which was used as inspiration to cast Clayton as the character.

Is Hellraiser feminist?

While Frank's overt sexuality and misogyny may lend the film to readings that are more in line with conservative attitudes towards sex during the 1970s and '80s in the slasher genre, this section suggests that a feminist critique of “hellish” trappings of domesticity emerges in Hellraiser through Frank's ...

Was Pinhead a human before?

Pinhead is one of the leaders of the Cenobites, formerly humans but transformed into creatures which reside in an extradimensional realm, who travel to Earth through a puzzle box called the Lament Configuration in order to harvest human souls.

Female Pinhead Origins - Enchanting And Deadly Female Successor Of Pinhead, New Leader Of Cenobites

Was the original Pinhead a girl?

In The Hellbound Heart, Pinhead is described as an androgynous being with a feminine voice. In 1987's Hellraiser, the character is portrayed by English actor Doug Bradley, who went on to reprise the role in seven subsequent Hellraiser films.

Was Pinhead ever a woman?

Hulu's 2022 Hellraiser reboot introduced a female Pinhead, and the change brings Hellraiser closer to Clive Barker's original book. The Hellraiser reboot movie includes a female version of Pinhead, but this change to Hellraiser movie tradition actually closer to the character's original depiction.

Is Hellraiser lgbtq?

Hellraiser has since become a queer horror classic for numerous reasons, according to Riley Wade of Horror Obsessive. The work's gay author/director has been hailed as a master of the counter-cultural “splatterpunk” literary genre.

Do Cenobites feel pleasure?

Cenobites are so removed from their former humanity and so dedicated to exploring physical experience that they no longer distinguish between sensations of pleasure and pain.

Why was Hellraiser banned?

Hellraiser was initially banned in Ontario by the Ontario Film and Video Review Board. By a 3-2 majority vote, the film was deemed "not approved in its entirety as it contravenes community standards". It was banned because of its "brutal, graphic violence with blood-letting throughout, horror, degradation and torture".

Are Cenobites genderless?

While the novella describes the Cenobites as being sexless (their mutilations having made their gender uncertain and their voices being indistinguishable), the movie is far more explicit as to each member's gender, mostly due to the actors playing each character.

Does Pinhead have a lover?

Merkova is a cenobite that appears in the Hellraiser comic series, primarily the ones about the Harrowers, she is the cenobite love interest of Pinhead, as shown in the series they care very deeply about each other.

Is Freddy Krueger A Cenobite?

Freddy is a member of the Cenobite council and the rival of Laughing Jack. He is also the most feared and dreaded enforcer of Zalgo, even more so than Pinhead. Freddy is played by Robert Englund.

Who was the first female Cenobite?

Grace Kirby is an English film and television actress. She played Female Cenobite in Clive Barker's directorial debut Hellraiser (1987).

Why did Kirsty Cotton become a Cenobite?

However, 20 years after her first encounter with the Cenobites, Kirsty agrees to take Pinhead's place in Hell as the Hell Priest after losing everyone she's ever cared about - becoming a Cenobite crafted based on his original style, and the new favorite of Leviathan.

Who is the strongest Cenobite?

Is Candyman a Cenobite?

Candyman is a Cenobite. Both stories which Hellraiser and Candyman are based off of are by Clive Barker. Each character only causes mayhem when they are summoned. To top it off all they know after their deaths are pain and pleasure.

Were all the Cenobites human?

The Cenobites are extra-dimensional beings who are mutilated and brainwashed into torturing humans for all eternity in the Labyrinth. All Cenobites were once human, with the exception of Angelique, the daughter of the demon god Leviathan.

Is Hellraiser a masochist?

The tortures in Hellraiser are indeed extreme and unending. Frank is tortured because he willingly wants to explore the extremes of pleasure that he believes to be found in pain. He, as a sadomasochist, exists in a symbiotic relationship with the dominant sadomasochists (the Cenobites).

Is Hellraiser an allegory?

As an ambitious allegory for the chaos and torment of addiction, “Hellraiser” works mainly because of A'zion, who gives her scattered character a deeply human desperation.

Does Kirsty love Pinhead?

All the evidence to me shows that Kirsty and Pinhead admire and do to an extent love each other. A kind of Romeo and Juliet thing going on, but even more of a horrific way of being in love.

Why does Hellraiser have nails in his head?

The use of nails and pins evolved out of one of Barker's short stories called The Forbidden, which featured a board hammered with nails at specific intersections of laid out squares. This aesthetic would resurface for the Pinhead character years later.

Is Pinhead a masochist?

While Cenobites tend to be obsessed with masochism and even practicing it to extreme lengths, Pinhead despises such obsession and tends to make himself as professional as he could be, in front of fellow immortals or mortals.

Are there female Cenobites?

Female Cenobite is one of the Cenobites and a character from the Hellraiser series. She was a follower of Pinhead.