A new Hellraiser is coming to Hulu this Halloween, and fans of the much-loved horror movie series are excited to see one thing in particular – Pinhead. This reboot will see a new take on the character, played by Jamie Clayton. And we’ve now been given our first look at the character by Entertainment Weekly.
Unbelievably, this will be the eleventh Hellraiser movie, with the first being released in 1987 and the tenth coming out as recently as 2018. David Bruckner directed the Rebecca Hall horror movie Night House in 2020, and was a teenager when the original movie came out.
“It was so visceral and so impactful. It was a movie that really really scared me. It’s digging into things that are so troubling that I was almost afraid of the people that created it!” he told EW. Regarding the casting of Clayton, he says; “We felt a kind of anticipation around the fans to reimagine the character. We knew we wanted Pinhead to be a woman. Jamie was just the right person for the role.”
Bruckner continues; “A person’s identity can be really exciting for a role in many ways, but I have to emphasise that Jamie absolutely killed, that’s how we got there.” He did not want Clayton to copy the best-known Pinhead actor though. “What Doug Bradley did with the character is so iconic. We didn’t want to do a Doug Bradley impression, we just didn’t think that’s possible to do. There will be suffering, but you’re going to get a sense of what Pinhead’s desires might be in a way that hits a little different.”
Horror icon Clive Barker has been a part of the process. “Clive’s been very involved,” says Bruckner. “Clive came on before the shoot, when we were in prep, and was really just a wonderful resource for me. He was really generous with his time, and very welcoming of the idea that this was a new group of artists, and that they were going to run with this and land in different places with it. He was very supportive of that.”
Bruckner also promises that Clayton’s Pinhead won’t be the only Cenobite in the movie. Hellraiser will be on Hulu from October 7, perfect for spooky season.