Its plot involves a mystical puzzle box that summons the Cenobites, a group of extra-dimensional, sadomasochistic beings who cannot differentiate between pain and pleasure. The leader of the Cenobites is portrayed by Doug Bradley, and identified in the sequels as "Pinhead". Hellraiser was filmed in late 1986.

What is the story behind the Hellraiser?

In Hellraiser (1987), directed and written by Clive Barker, Frank Cotton escapes from the Cenobites, slowly rebuilding his body from the flesh and blood of victims. He recruits his sister-in-law and secret lover Julia Cotton as an accomplice in these murders.

What's the whole point of Hellraiser?

Unlike most horror franchises, Hellraiser is not the story of a solo slasher killing people off one by one. It's about a group of demonic creatures called the Cenobites from another dimension who are simply searching for carnal pleasures in other realities.

What is the plot of the Hellraiser series?

The overall plot of the franchise focuses on a puzzle box, the Lament Configuration. It opens a gateway to the Hell-like realm of the Cenobite lifeforms. The Cenobites are an order of former humans who have become monsters who harvest human souls to torture in their sadistic experiments.

Why is Hellraiser so disturbing?

Parents need to know that Hellraiser is extremely gory. Killing and mutilating befalls both humans and animals (rats), with bloody death by knife, hammer, and hooks. Nightmare imagery includes a vampire-like man without skin cannibalizing others to regenerate, and the cyborg-like demons called cenobites.

Movie Spoiler Alerts - Hellraiser (1987) Video Summary

What kind of demon is Hellraiser?

The Cenobites are fictional extra-dimensional, seemingly demonic beings who appear in the works of Clive Barker.

What is the point of the Cenobites?

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.

Why is Pinhead a woman in Hellraiser?

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.

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.

What is Hellraiser's message?

The actual title and meaning of Hellraiser is so much deeper than many realize. It's not merely about solving the puzzle box to summon the Cenobites and have them rip you to pieces, but it's the Hell you raise onto yourself; the Cenobites are merely there to help.

What did Hellraiser ending mean?

Roland's final transformation is symbolic in Hulu's Hellraiser reboot because it contrasts Riley's climactic decision. While Riley holds on to her humanity by accepting the pain and regret that will follow, Voight loses his sense of humanity at the end to avoid pain and turns into a savage extradimensional creature.

Is there a heaven in Hellraiser?

Judgment is the first Hellraiser film to include heaven in its mythology. According to Tunnicliffe, he took influence from The Scarlet Gospels, stating "I am in no way religious, but if you are writing a story that acknowledges the existence of Hell, then you have to acknowledge the existence of Heaven.

How did Pinhead become evil?

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.

Was Pinhead always evil?

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.

What does Pinhead want?

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.

Why is Pinhead so powerful?

By becoming a Cenobite, the individual is gifted a host of unique abilities, including immortality, the inability to age, invulnerability and teleportation. However, because Pinhead is the leader, he has unique skills that involve manifesting objects from thin air and mental control over chains and hooks.

Was Pinhead a man in the book?

Pinhead, like all of the Cenobites, is genderless, though described as having a feminine voice. Pinhead's physical appearance in the book is the same, but its actions don't even cover a whole page.

Who is the Cenobites God?

They are revealed to be former humans who have been converted into Cenobites by the supernatural power native to their home dimension; the source of that power is shown to be a deity named Leviathan ("the god of flesh and desire"), which appears as a massive, rotating lozenge with patterns of LeMarchand's box on its ...

Who is the strongest Cenobite?

Can someone become a Cenobite?

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.

Who kills the Cenobites?

So far the only beings that can injure or kill a Cenobite are the Cenobites themselves, supernatural creatures, or a high-tier deity such as Leviathan's sister or Leviathan himself, in case any Cenobites upset him. In the movie version when a Cenobite dies, they return to their human form.

Why are Cenobites deformed?

The Hellraiser franchise revolves around a mysterious puzzle box with the ability to summon a group of extra-dimensional demons known as the Cenobites. These beings are former humans warped by their own ambitions into sadomasochistic abominations that can no longer distinguish between pain and pleasure.

Which Hellraiser is bloodline?

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.

Who is Hellraiser God?

Leviathan, also known as the God of Flesh, Hunger and Desire, is the overarching antagonist of the Hellraiser franchise.