Review: Hellraiser Rebute (2022)
By William Pattison
For Horror Bob’s Blog
Ok, now we finish our marathon of Hellraiser reviews with
the Hulu Hellraiser Rebute.
Haunted by pain and guilt, Riley has struggled for years to
break her addictions. After a heated argument with her brother, she and her
boyfriend stumble upon a mysterious box in an abandoned storage warehouse.
Convinced they have struck gold, their early retirement plan takes a dark turn
when Riley unwittingly unlocks its secrets. Suddenly, people around her start
to vanish or die. As she uncovers a disturbing connection between the artefact
and a shady American investor with a penchant for the occult, Riley uncovers a
terrifying truth: the enigmatic object serves as a gateway for the Hell
Priestess and the Cenobites. With exquisite suffering as the ultimate reward,
what if one person's angels are another's demons?
After the disastrous period Hellraiser needed a well
deserved Rebute and Hulu has done this brilliantly.
For one thing they have given us reimagined Cenobites that far
more resemble the ones in Clive Barker’s bovella. Their “clothing” is actually
made from their own skin. The Hell Priest is actually played by transsexual actress, Jamie Clayton, makes her Pinhead not really either gender,
like in the.story. all the other Cenobites, including an updated Chatterer are
some of the best put on screen in years.
Even the iconic puzzle box is updated. Now the box marks its
victims by cutting them and drawing blood. Also this box radically changes its
shat with each use. As well in this version of the puzzle also requires
sacrifices as well. And, at the end the survivor of the puzzle gets a choice of
fates, but in this game nothing is as expected.
What this film strongly reminds me of is the remake of Evil
Dead in that it is clearly Hellraiser but it is enhanced and in some ways more
brutal. It is the perfect Rebute after all the damage done to the franchise by
Dimension. I really see if handled by the correct hand this could lead to
Hellraiser being better than ever. The pain could be wonderous!
If you are a Hellraiser fan, this is the film you’ve been
waiting years for.
Keep on Creepin’ , Horror Bob’s blog…
