Warning: Spoilers For Hulu's HellraiserHulu Pinhead and his Cenobites soon went direct to video, beginning with 2000's Hellraiser: Inferno, from Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson.
A couple of these lower-budget outings have merit, but most of them - such as 2011's Revelations - are quite poor. While not the worst, arguably the dullest was Hellseeker. This cast Dean Winters as Trevor, whose wife Kirsty - played by returning franchise star Ashley Laurence - goes missing following a car crash. The story is about Trevor piecing together what happened, which really means endless "it was only a dream" jumpscares and an easy-to-solve central mystery. Hellseeker ranks pretty low in the series, but Hulu's revival appears to have borrowed some plot points, including the Cenobites demanding a certain among of souls in exchange for letting the main character live.
Hellraiser 2022 Draws On The Franchise's History
In short, Hellraiser 2022 revolves around Odessa A'zion's Riley, a recovering addict who accidentally opens the Lament Configuration puzzle box. This summons Pinhead (Jamie Clayton) and her Cenobites, who offer a deal; since the box requires five souls to summon Leviathan, if she sacrifices two more, she'll be freed. In Hellseeker, a twist reveals Kirsty offered Pinhead five souls to save herself from Hell, with the five people she has in mind having planned to murder her for her inheritance. In addition to the five souls story point, both films feature the main character being betrayed by a lover, who they in turn sacrifice.
Hellraiser and Hellseeker both crank up the jumpscare hallucinations in the first half, where Riley and Trevor both seeing random images of the Cenobites or their missing loved ones. One of the key images they both share is Pinhead (who technically isn't a villain) removing a pin from his head and sticking it into somebody's neck; Trevor in Hellseeker during another dream, and poor Nora (Aoife Hinds) in Hulu's Hellraiser. The reboot features many odes to the original series, with Goran Visnjic's billionaire Voight being a combination of past villains Frank Cotton, Dr Channard and J.P. Monroe. The mansion setting recalls 2005's Hellworld, while the final creation of a new Cenobite is straight out of Hellbound.
Hellseeker Was The Final Appearance By Kirsty Cotton
Hellseeker is the sixth outing in the saga and sold itself on the return of Kirsty from the first two movies. Sadly, Kirsty's return was a last-minute addition to the screenplay, so the character only has about ten minutes of screentime. She also bears little resemblance to the heroic figure seen in the original films and adding insult to injury, this proved to be Kirsty's - who became Pinhead in the comics - final appearance. If Hulu's Hellraiser earns a sequel, hopefully, this lackluster outing won't be the last fans see of her.
