Hulu Horror Reboot Pushes R-Rated To The Limit
Fanboys often debate the big film question: which franchises deserve to be rebooted and which don’t? After all, there are plenty of aging properties that could benefit from a new approach, but there is always the chance that the reboot will lose the spark that made the franchise so great in the first place. If you ever need to convince anyone how important reboots are, all you need to do is show them Hellraiser (2022) on Hulu, a movie that finally makes Cenobites scary again.
The Hellraiser Reboot
Hellraiser (2022) doesn’t shake up the essential franchise formula too much, giving us another hapless group of would-be victims who discover the Cenobites and their punishing puzzle. This time around, a woman is investigating the disappearance of her brother, but every step of the investigation takes her deeper into a more dangerous new life. Soon, she is straddling two worlds that are each trying to tear her apart as surely as a demonic puzzle box tears into its victims.
Perfect Casting Choices
The cast of Hellraiser (2022) is well-chosen for bringing the bizarre world of original Hellraiser writer and director Clive Barker back to life. Our main character is played by Odessa A’zion, someone best known to sitcom fans for starring in the brief-lived series Fam. Her opposite number (that fans can’t stop calling “female Pinhead”) is played by Jamie Clayton, someone best known for starring in Sense8 on Netflix.
Putting The Franchise Back On Tack
When Hellraiser (2022) came out on Hulu, it managed to impress critics, which is always an impressive feat for a horror movie. It has a critical score of 67 percent. For the most part, critics praised the movie for being a return to form and noted how director David Bruckner had finally gotten the franchise back on track.
Along those lines, I think Hellraiser provides the perfect example of when and how to reboot a franchise. The first film was startlingly original, but the next two movies felt like shallow attempts to put that classic puzzle box together into a brand-new configuration. Eventually, the franchise went off the rails altogether, losing its identity much worse than Friday the 13th (a fellow horror franchise with its own share of stinkers) ever did.
Cenobites Are Scary Again
In other words, this was a franchise with some great ideas but whose ideas were not being executed very well for a long, long time. Hellraiser (2022) reboots the franchise seamlessly, getting back to basics: the film is about sex, pain, and just how much they tend to overlap. The monsters our characters face are reflections of our own inner darkness, and it’s cool to see Cenobites that look scary instead of looking like expensive action figures.
Speaking of Cenobites, Jamie Clayton deserves special praise for making Hellraiser (2022) so spooky and alluring. It once seemed impossible for anyone else to play the role that Doug Bradley made famous, but Clayton pulled this off by focusing with singular precision on doing her own thing. Her character is unlike the old Pinhead in many different ways, and that makes it easier to appreciate the nuances and vibrant gusto of her performance.
Streaming Hellraiser (2022) On Hulu
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Will you find Hellraiser (2022) as much of a naughty delight as I did, or will you find this reboot a little too off the mark compared to earlier films? The only way to find out is to stream the movie on Hulu today. Afterward, you may find yourself hoping that other tired franchises get a reboot created with so much feverish devotion.
