The original Hellraiser, written and directed by Clive Barker as an adaptation of his novella The Hellbound Heart, introduces audiences to the Cenobites: a group of interdimensional beings devoted to performing sadomasochistic acts on themselves and anybody who summons them.
The Cenobites are disfigured, sexless, sadomasochistic entities tasked with capturing whoever solved the riddle of the demonic puzzle box known as Lament Configuration and submitting them to extreme physical torture, an act meant to reveal all of the hidden pleasures of intense pain.
One can hope, however, that director David Bruckner has remembered that the Cenobites are motivated by sex and sexual domination. The nails in Pinhead's face are meant as a means of pleasurable torment, her face constantly in pain, her face constantly stimulated.
Not only have the Cenobites completely mutilated themselves, but they'll do worse to anyone who summons them. Much like Frank, the Cenobites are predators, using their puzzle box to lure victims with the false promise of sexual rapture, but in the end, it's all about the Cenobites fulfilling their own pleasure.
The Cenobites (MASTERS OF PAIN) Hellraiser Explored
How did Pinhead become a Cenobite?
In the Hellraiser film series, Pinhead was once British soldier Captain Elliott Spencer, who became disillusioned with life and humanity during his experiences during World War I, leading him to summon the Cenobites and join their ranks.
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.
He was dragged into the Labyrinth and then transformed into the Cenobite Pinhead. In the decades that followed he obediently served the dark entity Leviathan as the new leader of the Cenobites, losing all memory of his past life as a human being in the process.
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.
In the mythos, only those who are so obsessed with solving a puzzle that can open a gateway (or 'Schism') can be considered. Those who have a taste for the outermost reaches of human experience and have no moral limitations for what they will do to achieve those desires would even be considered to become a Cenobite.
Bored by the mundanity of his existence, having solved the mysteries of the flesh, the iconic killer hatches a plan to claw his way free from Hell. Pinhead decides that he wants to permanently return to his human form and seek spiritual salvation.
The Cenobites are a monastic order in service to their god Leviathan. Leviathan rules an extra-dimensional realm called The Labyrinth. In the movie it is depicted as a giant living Lament Configuration, but presumably a god can take many forms.
According to Hellraiser lore, the Leviathan is a god who is responsible for creating Pinhead and his pain-loving colleagues. It is likely this deity who is responsible for Voight's transformation and it is also likely that they are turning him into a new Cenobite.
First book and first couple of films? No (or, at least, not any mention of it). Later films and the second book, however, have definitely adopted a traditional christian view of heaven and hell. Hell is Heaven in Hellraiser.
The angel Jophiel is a character introduced in 2018's Hellraiser: Judgment. Once the angel who guarded the Garden of Eden, it was she who banished Adam and Eve from Paradise after their fall from grace. She is introduced as a minor antagonist; manipulating events upon God's will.
The original book that it's based on, The Hellbound Heart, was suggestive of a female Pinhead, and the comic books also explored the idea. There's also plenty of fan art, wonderful works that all theorized the possibility of Pinhead as a woman. So it only felt appropriate to us.
The most straightforward is to reverse the Lament Configuration. In doing so, it will send him back to his world. Pinhead also abides by a strict code, and if a person summons him because they were forced, he won't go after the victim.
While Pinhead isn't a villain in the first two Hellraiser movies — he's a neutral representative of Hell — he switches to being an unequivocal, full-blown bad guy in Hellraiser 3: Hell on Earth. This is due to Pinhead being killed by Dr.
After killing J.P. and releasing Pinhead, Terri was turned into the Cenobite known as Dreamer. It was one of the worst Cenobite designs, particularly because Dreamer had no real powers in comparison to her brethren. She was also far more human in appearance than the rest, which didn't add much to her own malevolence.
Spanning several generations, this final bloody entry in Clive Barker's horror tour de force acts both as prequel and sequel to the original Hellraiser films.
This is Doctor Channard, the main antagonist of Hellbound: Hellraiser II. He has an insatiable thirst for the Lament Configuration and all it promises. So intense is his desire he literally descends to hell to obtain it. He slaughtered Pinhead and his three cenobite cohorts in about six seconds.
According to an interview in the book Taking Shape II, the Michael Myers (AKA The Shape) cenobite would have had his mask permanently affixed to his skin and had his arms replaced with knives.
Edward, then, is a Cenobite, which is why he has scissors instead of hands, he's so pale, and he wears black leather clothes that look very similar to the ones the Cenobites usually wear.
In in the original text, the Cenobites are unnamed and are described as asexual beings who have been marred and modified so horribly, they bear little resemblance to the human form. Barker is surprisingly vague in describing the Cenobites in great detail.
