YMMV / Hellraiser (2022)

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • The pause the Priest has before she kills Chatterer. Was she taken aback by Riley finding a way to cheat the puzzle box? Was she actually mournful for her lost ally? Or was she elated to see her acolyte receive the "honor" of being sacrificed to their god?
    • Furthermore, does the Priest want Riley to join her ranks? She's way more lenient with Riley compared to Voight, expressing a slight bit of We Can Rule Together even during the scene on the bridge. Or, is she merely trying to trick Riley as she did for Voight?
    • When she details the "Lament" reward to Riley. Is she giving "The Reason You Suck" Speech of her own whim? Or is she hoping to guilt trip Riley into eventually regretting her decision, leading to another set of sacrifices for her to reap?
    • Or, perhaps, refusing any reward was a Secret Test of Character and she considers Riley a Worthy Opponent for it? At one point, she was willing to use herself as bait. That is something neither Voight nor Trevor ever considers.
    • Given the Cenobites and their Blue-and-Orange Morality, it could literally be all of the above. Their Deals With The Devil and going after people are heavily centered on the belief that they're legitimately doing their victims a favor by giving them a divine gift, and that tricking people into being Dragged Off to Hell is basically playful teasing and courting. As far as the Priest is concerned, she's "rewarding" Voight for being The Hedonist and having the cunning and gall to build a trap to hold the Cenobites hostage, and wants to equally "reward" Riley for all the unintentional suffering she caused her brother & friends, her drug addiction AND for being daring enough to offer herself as bait (i.e. tease the Cenobites); whether Riley takes her offers or goes on living with her guilty and uncertainty doesn't matter, so long the "exquisite" sensation of pain is present and there's a chance for the Cenobites to play again.
  • Thanks to the Adaptational Villainy, it can be hard to tell if the Cenobites actually enjoy killing the sacrifices presented to them, or if they are operating on the desires of their summoner. The latter seems to be supported by the Gasp when confronting Riley.
  • Voight warning Riley of the dangers of seeking the Leviathan's "reward". Was he actually trying to dissuade her from pursuing out of Even Evil Has Standards? Or was he trying to claim her reward for himself?
  • Is Voight really Too Dumb to Live by arranging a second audience with Leviathan, or does he just believe (incorrectly) that he has nothing left to lose and anything would be an improvement over his current situation? He does flat-out tell the Priest that "Anything is better than this" when asking to return his "gift". To be fair to Voight, he outright begs to just be allowed to die, so it's clear accepting new gifts was NOT his intention until the Priest made it clear that there are not takebacks and that his only choice was "exchanging" it for "Power" through the Leviathan Configuration.
  • Thanks to his status as a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing, it can be hard to trust anything Trevor says. Does he really love Riley? It seems to be evident in the scenes where he tries to get her to throw the box away, but he also brings her friends along to Voight's manor, no doubt to use them as victims, and was happy with her taking the box in the first place when he knew what it was capable of.
  • Is Matt just worried about Riley or does he obsess over "fixing" her life when? This is lampshaded in the film, during their argument.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The scene where the Priest gives Riley a vision of chains shooting out from a hole in her chest and hooking into Matt as he sleeps comes out of nowhere and doesn't occur when Riley sacrifices later victims.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: When Riley does some research and learns that Roland Voight is missing, presumed dead, it's pretty clear that he's going to turn up later on. Apart from anything else, you don't hire Goran Višnjić and then kill him after one scene and offscreen.
• Complete Monster: Roland Voight is a hedonistic millionaire who seeks to experience every sensation and pleasure. Discovering the Configuration Box, Voight bargains with the Cenobites, giving them innocent souls in return for the ultimate sensation. Through this, Voight has countless people sacrificed, having them suffering horrific deaths via mutilation. "Rewarded" by the Cenobites by being fused to a contraption, Voight plans to have them trapped within a labyrinth for his freedom. Hiring a thief named Trevor, Voight has him lure countless people to be mutilated and dragged off by the Cenobites. Voight's hedonistic desires stem from a sense of power over others, and he stands out as vile than the Cenobites themselves.
• Evil Is Cool: The Cenobites ooze with charisma and regalness during their screen time and their eldritch god, Leviathan, is cool simply for its abstract design.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • We see first-hand what happens when one chooses "Life", "Sensation" and "Power" when asking for a blessing from Leviathan. While we can only assume they would be just as gruesome as what happened to Voight when he asked for "Sensation" and "Power", what happens when one asks for "Knowledge", "Love" or "Resurrection"?
  • A common fan-theory is that "Resurrection" would actually play out like Frank's own "resurrection" in the original movie, and that this "wish" was included in the movie as a nod to the original story.
  • With The Reveal that the Cenobites were once human, how did the Priest and the other Cenobites become what they are now? It's almost inviting fans to draw their own stories and theories from the concept.
    • Hell, the reveal is actually open enough to invite delving more into it. Are all the Cenobites former humans, or only some? And either way, how does it happen? Is it really just the Leviathan configuration, or is seeking a gift more than once? Or perhaps all the configurations can lead to it, and the whole purpose of the box is a Secret Test of Character to find people who impress them enough to turn them into Cenobites? And if all the Cenobites were formerly human, how was the first one born?
• Funny Moments: While a depressing scene overall, Matt does realise that Colin and Nora turned down the television to listen to him and Riley argue, which he promptly calls them out on.
• Jerkass Woobie: Riley is abrasive and confrontational toward her brother, but she's also implied to be relapsing into drugs and having a hard time making ends meet. She also causes the deaths of nearly all her friends, a fact she very much realises and chooses to live with her guilt and regret.
• Just Here for Godzilla:
  • Many Outer Banks fans showed up to watch due to Drew Starkey's presence.
  • Sense8 fans were interested as soon as Jamie Clayton's involvement was announced. Her performance was later seen as another draw, after early reactions hailed it as one of the movie's strong points.
• LGBT Fanbase: While Hellraiser already had a queer following, due in large part to Clive Barker being openly gay, this film ups the ante by having a gay couple as prominent characters as well as featuring Jamie Clayton, a trans woman, as the new Pinhead. Needless to say, many gay and trans fans latched onto the film as soon as it came out.
• She Really Can Act: Jamie Clayton as Pinhead absolutely nails the character and provides her own spin separate from Doug Bradley's iconic performance, infusing the character with incredible magnetism and seductive charisma as well as terrifying sadism, a very dark sense of humor and some humanizing moments. Even those who didn't like the film had nothing but praise for her performance.
• Special Effects Failure: Courtesy of the tight budget, Pinhead's body mutilations look very plastic. It's especially noticeable when she's in brightly lit scenes.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: Reviews praise the film's gore, atmosphere, acting, and effects, seeing as a return to form for a franchise bogged down by Direct to DVD sequels.
• Tearjerker:
  • The whole reason the Cenobites are granted victims in this film? Because Voight hated his gift and wanted another audience with Leviathan. He hires Trevor to feed the box with his first target being Riley. But later Riley is offered a way to get her brother Matt back whom the Cenobites take when the blade doesn't cut her. What makes it worse is that the subsequent events of the film are partly her fault because she is forced to see things through or be taken herself, and she knows it.
  • Nora whimpers and pleads throughout her drawn-out death, a reminder that dying in Hellraiser is not a quick ordeal.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: The shift of the Cenobites from Greater Scope Villains to the direct antagonists, at least until Voight is revealed to be alive, has been criticised by some who see it as a result of Pinhead and the Cenobites getting degraded to generic slasher villains over the course of the franchise. Many were also not a fan of how they directly sought blood and pain, rather than seeking out those who desired them.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Roland Voight could've provided an interesting antagonist if he maintained a presence throughout the film. In the end, however, his desires and motives aren't explored beyond exposition, which makes for a wasted chance at fleshing out his character.
• Visual Effects of Awesome:
  • While the digital effects can be rough at times, the practical effect are insane, specifically the new Cenobite designs.
  • The effects for the gore are brutal and incredible, such as the shot displaying the inside of Nora's pierced throat, Voight's skin regenerating, and Trevor's arm degloving.
  • Leviathan, as well as the Labyrinth that appears around the mansion, are both gorgeous to look at.
• The Woobie: Nora. Probably the most chill member of the group, they are especially sensitive when the group discover Riley in Voight's manor, even telling Trevor that the group never really drinks when Riley is around. She's later stabbed by Voight with the puzzle box, resulting in a sort of drunken haze until the Cenobites finally present themselves to her, stringing her up with chains and torturing her with pins.

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