Clive Barker’s Hellraiser first premiered in 1987, and it’s still regarded as one of the most frightening films ever made. Not only that, but the movie also spawned a massive franchise, with nine sequels so far. But with those sequels offering increasingly diminishing returns — last year’s Hellraiser: Judgement and several of its predecessors were released straight-to-video to critical drubbings — it was only a matter of time before a big budget reboot was proposed that would (hopefully) return the franchise to its former glory.
Now, we have confirmation that such a reboot is indeed on the way, and it’s likely to change up everything we know about series antagonist Pinhead and his terrifying Cenobites. David S. Goyer, whose previous screenwriting credits include the Blade trilogy and the Dark Knight trilogy, is set to both write and produce a new version of Hellraiser for Spyglass Entertainment, and it sounds like it’s going to open an entirely different kind of Pandora’s Box. “Having the chance to reimagine Pinhead and the Cenobites for a new audience is a nightmare-come-true,” Goyer said in a statement, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “[Spyglass chairman and CEO Gary Barber] is a true fan as well, and we’re committed to making something dark and visceral.”
So what would this reimagining of Pinhead look like? Naturally, we assume the character will still have pins in its head — one doesn’t just go changing an iconic character design all willy-nilly — but beyond that all bets are off. The ’80s-tastic leather is probably out, and there’s possibly a chance we could even see a female version of the character — or maybe even something that doesn’t resemble a human whatsoever. Pretty much anything is on the table at this point, but as long as Goyer sticks with his “dark and visceral” vision, we’re sure whatever it is is going to be absolutely terrifying.
