Unsettling! Hellraiser (2022), Movie Review

Since the beginning of this year, fantastic horror movies have been released for fans of Horror and Gothic. I must say this year is the year for horror films and even after many years people will still think back to the horror movies released this year. From the look of things, more incredible horror films are coming to the screen that would blow your mind, especially in this spooky month. I am talking about this movie because it gave me a Halloween vibe and will be used as an entry to the #spookymonth contest organized by the Movies & TV shows community.

Watching this movie gave me a refresher course on two life lessons; "Nothing is for free, you have to give something out to receive" and "don't be deceived by honeycomb words". The Hellraiser movie portrays these two life lessons I mentioned above. There is no confusion about it. The movie is the unsettling kind of horror, a movie that will question how the human mind could come up with different unsettling ways to cause pain for ourselves.

After watching the movie, I had so many questions because my human mind couldn't really comprehend why? How? When? Without wasting much time let's talk about the movie quickly and I will be explaining some things I liked about the production of the movie.

Hellraiser is an American supernatural horror film that was released on September 28, 2022, during the Fantastic Fest which is an annual film festival in Austin Texas. This festival is for hosting writers, directors, and producers of films with genres like horror, gothic, cult, sci-fi, fantasy, and action. This movie was directed by David Bruckner with Hulu as its distributor and it was based on a book titled The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker. Hellraiser is a reboot of the Hellraiser franchise and the eleventh installment, but with a new story, new characters, and new settings.

The movie revolves around a certain young lady, Riley, who was a drug addict but encounters a puzzle box that changes her entire life within the space of twelve hours. Hellraiser started with a scene dating back six years ago of millionaire Roland Voight's home party where a sex worker Joey came across a mechanical puzzle box. Then Voight urged him to solve the puzzle, telling him there is a reward at the end of the puzzle. Joey solved the puzzle but then got stabbed by a hidden blade in the puzzle box. Afterward, he got brutally ripped apart by mysterious chains.

Fast forward to the present, Riley, a recovering drug addict, and her boyfriend, Trevor, encountered this same mechanical puzzle box in a warehouse. They both steal the puzzle box from the warehouse but then Trevor leaves the box with Riley for safekeeping to be sold later. Later, Riley gets to the apartment she shares with her brother but then gets into a heated argument with her brother Matt who was questioning her about her entire life and "her boyfriend". Out of rage, Riley spoke harshly to Matt and she was kicked out of his apartment.

Angry, Riley took her things and left. Getting to her car, she found a couple of pills and took them to get high. Afterward, she took the mechanical puzzle box, walked over to a park close by, and began to solve the puzzle of the box, but somehow her hands avoided the hidden blade. A group of deformed humanoids called the cenobites to appear to her and tell her she is theirs and she has to choose another person as the sacrifice or she will be the sacrifice. Then the pills she took kicked in but Matt finds her unconscious. He gets stabbed by the hidden blade while trying to wake Riley up and unfortunately, Matt later vanishes, being the new intended sacrifice. From there on after, things began to become unsettling, real, gore, bloody and violent. Will Riley survive? Will she get to the end of the puzzle? Does Matt return? You have to watch the movie to know.

My Opinion About The Movie And Recommendations.

This Hellraiser (2022) is not the same as the formal sequels in the franchise and yes it was a reboot but it was a reboot with a new storyline, new changes in characters, new changes in settings and CGI, and also new changes in the cenobites. If you have watched the other Hellraiser installments you know exactly what I am talking about. All the new updates were possible because of the screenplay by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski, the producers and also the director. They all made it happen in a very unique way that tells a different tale. From the look of things, the people in charge of producing the new Hellraiser sure have huge futuristic foresight and I think if they are given the chance, they are going to make it happen big time.

Let's talk about the characters. Riley the lead character was fantastic, she performed well even though one can't watch the whole movie and not feel like grabbing Riley from the screen and punching her. Her performance was amazing regardless of the pressure of being the lead actor in a movie from a famous franchise. She put in her best and was really into it. The other secondary characters did well, but not so much for me because I felt they all acted too erratic (the screaming, yelling, foul words) it was just too much for me. Then we have the cenobites. The cenobites for this Hellraiser movie were different, the outlook was more human, and using the flesh as clothing design was Ewww! It gave me the chills! Then we have the Pinhead. Having a woman play the role of the pinhead was a huge change in the storyline and I must say it was the best decision because Jamie Clayton made the Pinhead character more fierce and tough. She is also a good pinhead and quite intimidating.

The setting for this movie was amazing and expertly done! Kudos to the director for it. The setting made this new Hellraiser a whole new vibe. The changes in the environment when people are about to disappear (walls shifting to reveal a Gothic-like environment, ominous sounds, the sounds the cenobites make) and also the outlook of the cenobites.

My Opinion of this remake is that it was not a disappointment, it was actually a fantastic watch and it did justice to the legacy of the Hellraiser Franchise even with the new outlook. Everything about the movie was perfectly arranged in order and planned out perfectly. If I were to rate this movie it's 9 out of 10 and I would recommend it to horror fans.

Warning ⚠: if you don't have the heart of seeing blood, flesh being torn apart, and torture, do not watch this movie.