- Directed by David Bruckner
- Written by Ben Collins, Luke Piotrowski, David S. Goyer
- Stars Odessa A’zion, Jamie Clayton, Adam Faison
- Run Time: 2 Hours, 1 Minute
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUlgwJNdu2I
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This seemed more like another so-so sequel rather than a reboot or reimagining as some have called it. The new Pinhead and the other Cenobites looked really good. What we could see of them. The movie is dark and low saturated, which made visibility really bad on our television during daylight hours. It might have been better in a dark theater, but it was made for Hulu – made for television viewing at home. The story was okay, and the effects were cool, at least what we could see of them. Overall, it was kind of disappointing.
Synopsis
We begin in Belgrade, Serbia. A woman brings a man a suitcase of money for a special box. She says that she’s here for Mr. Voight, as he doesn’t do anything that he can’t get someone else to do for him. Later, the same woman talks to Joey at a party. She mentions that Mr. Voight would love to meet Joey– in ten minutes. Joey walks into the designated room and sees the small brass puzzle – but, it’s not a cube now; it’s long and has a complex shape. Voight walks in and tells Joey to go ahead and play with the box. Joey fiddles with the box, and Voight watches. As Joey completes the puzzle, a big blade comes out and goes through his hand. Voight locks the doors so Joey can’t leave. The walls open up, and chains come out. Voight picks up the puzzle as Joey is torn apart. Voight wants an audience with Leviathan.
Credits roll.
Six years later, Riley introduces her boyfriend Trevor to her brother Matt and his guy Colin and their roommate Nora. The four of them are sharing the place. Matt mentions that Riley has been sober for six months, and he’s afraid she’ll relapse if she keeps seeing scuzzball Trevor. Later Trevor tells Riley about a warehouse full of “millionaire shit,” and he wants to rob the place. They share some drinks while they’re at it.
Riley and Trevor enter the dark warehouse. Inside is a big safe. He doesn’t know the combination, so it’s a long time of hammer banging. Inside the box is… another box, and inside that box is the puzzle box, which is now square again. Trevor was hoping for cash, so Riley takes the cute little box until they can find an appraiser. When she gets home, Matt tells her to leave in the morning; he’s through with her crap.
She leaves immediately and packs up her car, pops a few pills, and goes to the playground to mess with the puzzle box. When it shoots out the blade, it misses her hand. She passes out and starts seeing strange people. “That blade was meant for you,” she hears. “If not you, bring us another.”
Meanwhile, Matt goes looking for Riley. He spots her passed out in the park. He cuts himself on the puzzle-box’s blade. As Matt goes into the restroom to wash the wound, the puzzle box moves on its own. Weird stuff happens, and when Riley follows Matt into the restroom, Matt is gone.
Nora and Colin want to wait for the police to investigate, and Riley says that the box had something to do with Matt’s disappearance. Colin blames Riley for not remembering what actually happened; all that other stuff must have been a hallucination.
Riley goes to Trevor’s place, but she’s still seeing scary figures. They decide to investigate the owner of the warehouse where they got the box. They track down Serena in a hospital – she’s the woman who bought the box for Voight and sent Joey in to be a sacrifice. She says she sorted out Voight’s estate after his death. Serena gets cut by the box, and Riley and Trevor leave. As soon as Serena is alone, the Cenobites come for her. “Save your breath for screaming,” one says.
Riley goes home and looks up Voight on the Internet. He vanished six years ago after a life of twisted debauchery. There was a string of disappearances right before he vanished too. Riley knows the box took them all. She goes to Voight’s former estate, which somewhat resembles the puzzle box. She breaks in and walks through the room where we saw Joey torn apart six years ago. She finds controls that change the configuration of the latticework – bars that seal off sections, and ornate bars that open and close over the skylight. She reads about Cenobites in Voight’s journal. She reads about the six configurations of the cube, the final one of which is “Leviathan: Audience with God.”
She hears Matt calling for her. She goes looking and instead finds Colin, Nora, and Trevor in the basement; they came looking for her. As Riley and Colin argue, Nora finds a secret door. Something happens to Nora in the dark and she comes out with the puzzle stuck in her back. They all run out to the van and try to drive away, but Trevor gets lost. The roads seem to be an endless maze now. Nora gets to meet the Cenobites via a cool interdimensional effect that was too damn dark right in the back of the moving van, including the new Pinhead, or “The Priest” as she’s called here. She pulls out a pin and sticks Nora with it. Nora’s body basically explodes in the back of the van; none of her friends really saw anything. But she’s gone now.
Trevor wants to go back to the house, but Colin and Riley disagree. Riley wants to throw the puzzle box away, but she hears The Priest’s voice. “Two more, and Matt is yours.” She wants Riley to sacrifice two more people. Riley then stabs Chatterer with the box, and he’s torn apart like the humans had been.
Trevor is wounded, so they carry him back inside the house. Voight, who isn’t dead, comes out of the walls and we find that Trevor and Voight have been working together. Voight has a device stuck through his chest, a sort of clockwork mechanism that is connected to his nerves causing pain that shifts randomly so that he never gets numb to it.
Riley calls the Cenobites, intending to stick another of them with the box’s blade. Instead, Voight gets the box and stabs Colin with it. Voight outs Trevor as an accomplice, and we see what happened to Voight six years ago. “I sought pleasure, but all they have to give is pain. It’s a trick. All of it,” he laments. “Their tastes are different from mine.”
Voight configures the box into Leviathan mode. Colin tries to leave, and Trevor goes out to get him. Voight demands an audience with Him. The Priest watches from outside as giant Leviathan comes down from the clouds over the skylight. Voight tells The Priest that he’s trapped them all in a cage and wants to be made right again before he’ll release them. But Riley opens the doors and lets the Cenobites inside. Voight gives up and just asks to die; The Priest says no. “Anything is better than this,” he whimpers. (“No, don’t say that to a Cenobite,” said Horrorguy Kevin)
One of the Cenobites catches Colin, but in order to get him freed, Riley sacrifices Trevor. The device in Voight’s chest falls apart, and the hole heals shut. Sweet relief! For a moment. A giant chain comes out of Leviathan and impales him. Trevor falls into a pit as Voight is pulled up through the skylight. The Priest exalts in the threshold he will cross now.
Riley, having made her sacrifices, talks to The Priest about her desire. She can have a wish. Does she want Matt back? She is tempted, but no. She knows everything they promise is a trick. Scoffing that she has chosen a lifetime of regret, all the Cenobites and their supernatural stuff just vanishes. Riley and Colin limp out to the car.
Inside Leviathan, Voight is made into a Cenobite himself. His skin is peeled off, modifications are made, and he screams. While displayed in a state of glory.
Commentary
A lot of the film was so dark that we couldn’t see what was happening. This is becoming an unfortunate trend with modern horror films. Although we get a pretty good look at Pinhead, the others are all so dark you can’t actually see much of them. Do they intentionally make films that can’t be watched in the daylight? This was made for freakin’ Hulu, not an Imax theater.
The story here is nothing like the original Hellraiser from 1987. The original got into themes of pleasure, pain, sex, and suffering. This was just mostly a bunch of people running around in the dark trying to avoid monsters. With the exception of recasting Pinhead (which has been done before), this could just be a continuation of the original series.
Colin seems to be a good guy, but none of the others, including Riley, were even remotely sympathetic. Almost nothing was explained about the box or the Cenobites, or anything else, which is why I say this might as well just be a continuation of the old series; this is not a reboot or reimagining.
I suppose if you’ve won the TV lottery and have a TV where you can actually see the movie, it might be good, but I have my doubts.