YMMV / Hellraiser: Revelations

• Broken Base: Revelations is one of the later-day Hellraiser sequels to split the audience the most. On one hand, there's people who find in it next to none redeeming qualities, pointing out that it has a low budget that shows, campy acting from overcompensating actors, and a replacement for Doug Bradley playing Pinhead that couldn't be more obvious and distracting if they'd tried. On the other hand, others argue that the script is a genuinely clever Call-Back to the first two movies that goes out of its way to adhere to their mechanics, characterizes the Cenobites as the pure Sense Freaks they originally were without all the "tormenting people just for the sake of it" stuff from most of the previous sequels, and puts new twists on old tricks like a victim of the Cenobites trying to exchange another for himself only for Pinhead to find the trade worthless.
• Fan Nickname: This movie's version of Pinhead is sometimes called something along the lines of "Mexican Bootleg Pinhead" due him going through an actor change, being introduced in Mexico in-story, and generally not feeling authentic.
• Mis-blamed: To an extent, Stephan Smith Collins failing as The Other Darrin. The way Pinhead sounds is just as much a part of his iconic presence as his look, but Doug Bradley doesn't sound like Pinhead either. Not only was the production too short on budget/time to bother with the usual post-processing that goes into Pinhead's voice, but the actor is dubbed over anyway. In the cheaper sequels they didn't bother with the processing on Bradley's voice, either. In fact, in more of the films than not, he's only slightly pitch-shifted. He managed to remain convincing even in Inferno, where they didn't do anything at all.
• Replacement Scrappy: The movie could have been a well-made success, and Stephan Smith Collins would still be seen an an inferior replacement for Doug Bradley.
• Sequelitis: While most of the franchise's sequels have been poorly received, Revelations is almost universally considered the nadir of the franchise due to extremely cheap production values, existing solely as a blatant Ashcan Copy, and recasting Doug Bradley with a new actor of dubious quality and significantly worse makeup.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Pinhead, oh Pinhead. Doug Bradley was a Tough Act to Follow.
  • Some feel Stephen Smith Collins doesn't bring the same presence to the role like Bradley did.
  • Even if Fred Tatasciore's dubbing could match Bradley's voice, it lacks the trademark and highly distinctive reverb from post production.
  • The changes to the costume and makeup haven't gone over well, with some critics saying it looks more like a cosplay of Pinhead rather than the real thing.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: Oddly enough, for a film that had a low budget and for most of the time showed it (right down to Pinhead's make-up), the effects used for things such as the box being activated and the hook chains are quite superior in comparison to those of previous sequels, which relied in conspicuous CGI for those. The fact that the director was a special effects and make-up artist probably helped. Hell, most people ended up finding Steven as the second Pinhead as having better make-up than the actual Pinhead!
• The Woobie: Steven starts as this, particularly in the flashbacks when he can't stomach Niko's "needs" anymore and Niko turns on him as a result. And then it turns out he's the second Pinhead.