All the ‘Hellraiser’ Movies, Ranked From Worst to Best
“Hellraiser” is one of the handful of horror franchises that practically everyone knows about, even though hardly anyone’s seen most of its entries. That’s because this sprawling saga about supernatural extreme BDSM enthusiasts, whose pursuit of physical sensation blurs the line between pleasure and pain, hasn’t had a film in wide release in more than 25 years.
Since then, the series has been kept alive, ever so barely, by squeaking out low-budget straight-to-video sequels that have little (and sometimes practically nothing) to do with the original movies. To take a journey through the entire “Hellraiser” franchise is so ill-advised, you half expect it’s something Pinhead would put his victims through. And here they are, ranked from worst to best.
11. “Hellraiser: Hellworld” (2005)
The lousiest “Hellraiser” sequel takes place in the real world — yes, the one you’re in right now — where the movie has spawned a popular online video game. A group of gamers win a prize to attend a Hellraiser-themed party at a posh mansion, where they are murdered one by one by Pinhead and his Cenobites. The film understands nothing of gaming, little of parties, and very little about “Hellraiser,” and it culminates in a series of disappointing reveals. Look out for an early appearance by future “Man of Steel” star Henry Cavill, and for Lance Henriksen, who tries to give this half-baked, half-hearted sequel (which, like many of the straight-to-video sequels, is only superficially related to “Hellraiser”) a tiny bit of dignity.
10. “Hellraiser: Hellseeker” (2002)
Again, a lot of the straight-to-video “Hellraiser” sequels are clearly unrelated supernatural thrillers with Cenobites shoved in to keep the brand alive. So it’s tempting to give “Hellseeker” bonus points for bringing back the series’ original star, Ashley Laurence, as Kirsty Cotton, who defied the Cenobites on two separate occasions. But then again, you’d have to subtract those points pretty much right away because she dies at the beginning of the movie. Her husband survives a car crash and starts seeing demonic stuff, and it all leads to an embarrassingly obvious finale. It’s not Laurence’s fault that “Hellseeker” is so inert, but inert it is.
9. “Hellraiser: Judgment” (2018)
The final straight-to-video sequel before the Hulu reboot revisits many of the same plot points from the earlier, also subpar, sequels in the series. It also gets way too swept up in the latter entries’ bizarre insistence on instilling Clive Barker’s amoral psychosexual BDSM fantasy world with explicitly Catholic concepts, treating Pinhead like a demon from a biblical version of hell and pretty much missing the point entirely. It’s also worth noting that the A-plot, about a cop on the trail of a serial killer, is almost unwatchably dull. But returning writer-director Gary J. Tunnicliffe’s bizarre visualizations of hell’s perverse bureaucracy were the most interesting new images anyone had added to the “Hellraiser” series in nearly 20 years, so it’s not a total wash.
8. “Hellraiser: Revelations” (2011)
Tunnicliffe’s first “Hellraiser” sequel is an astonishingly cheap production, in which two families reunite to mourn their missing sons before one of the young men returns with creepy twists and turns on his mind. Doug Bradley didn’t return for “Revelations” (or “Judgment”), and his gravitas as the monster Pinhead is sorely missed; despite the incredibly low budget, the film does seem to understand that Barker’s story was originally about how the pursuits of the flesh can open Pandora’s Box — or, as it’s known in here, The Lament Configuration — and have unthinkable consequences not just for you but also for everyone you know. So “Revelations” may not be a well-made version of “Hellraiser” in any meaningful way, but at least it actually feels like “Hellraiser,” which is more than the other straight-to-video sequels can boast.
7. “Hellraiser: Inferno” (2000)
Future “Doctor Strange” and “The Black Phone” filmmaker Scott Derrickson made his feature-length directorial debut with the first straight-to-video “Hellraiser” sequel, and it’s a relatively functional murder mystery with Cenobite stuff shoehorned in for good measure. Craig Sheffer is a corrupt cop on the hunt for a ritualistic serial killer, and his investigation leads him to the mysterious puzzle box, grotesque hallucinations and an big ending that several of the other straight-to-video sequels borrowed wholesale, even though it barely worked the first time. The franchise’s ill-advised spiral away from Barker’s original vision begins here, with a competent film that somewhat works on its own but doesn’t fit very well into the series.
6. “Hellraiser: Deader” (2005)
The best straight-to-video sequel in the series also has relatively little to do with “Hellraiser” but, for once, doesn’t feel perfunctory. Kari Wuhrer stars as an investigative reporter on the trail of a creepy murder cult, and she falls prey to their supernatural schemes, culminating in a hellish finale but peaking earlier on with a genuinely disturbing sequence where Wuhrer finds herself horrifically stabbed in a bathroom. Of all the “Hellraiser” films that feel like they were unrelated tales, hastily rewritten to incorporate Barker’s iconography, this is the one that would’ve made the best movie on its own.
5. “Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth” (1992)
Pinhead and the puzzle box are trapped in a rather garish statue, and they are purchased by a sleazy nightclub owner who offers the villain sacrifices to bring about — you guessed it — Hell on Earth. Director Anthony Hickox is one of the better but more unsung horror directors of the 1990s, and he presents “Hellraiser III” with entertaining zeal. It’s an enjoyable sequel even when it resorts to laughable nonsense towards the end, like Pinhead transforming people into trendy early-1990s Cenobites by fusing them with compact discs and VHS cameras. The story veers pretty far away from Barker’s conceptualizations of Pinhead and his ethos, but compared to some of the other, genuinely difficult-to-sit-through sequels, this is practically poetry.
4. “Hellraiser” (2022)
After years of languishing in cheap, halfhearted, straight-to-video hell, “Hellraiser” finally returns to its top of the line, gory glory thanks to director David Bruckner (“The Night House”). Changes were made to the mythos, and the film seems infinitely more interested in the Lament Configuration and Cenobites as metaphors for addiction and recovery than as sadomasochistic sex monsters, but overall, it’s a thrilling production. Bruckner’s film is genuinely creepy and imaginative, but its prioritizing of plot over characters brings it down a smidge. Still, “Hellraiser” 2022 is the best the series has been in over a quarter-century, and whatever its minor flaws may be, it’s a strong restarting point for the franchise moving forward.
3. “Hellraiser IV: Bloodline” (1996)
There are very few red flags that burn more brightly vermillion than the words “Directed by Alan Smithee” (the code name the Director’s Guild used to use when a filmmaker disowned a project), but somehow this ambitious triptych, credited to Mr. Smithee, turned out to be one of the best in the series. “Bloodline” traces the history of the Lament Configuration from its twisted origins to the present and then so far into the future that the finale takes place on a space station. It sounds gimmicky, but the concept works and establishes “Hellraiser” as a nearly immortal story, hailing from the distant past and destined to play out in the distant future. How often does the fourth film in a horror franchise feel this epic?
2. “Hellraiser” (1987)
Clive Barker adapted his own novella “The Hellbound Heart” into one of the best horror movies of the 1980s. It’s the story of a wicked man who asked to be sucked into hell but crawled his way out, and who uses his lover, and his brother’s wife, to feed him blood and rebuild his flesh. The Cenobites are merely a subplot in the original “Hellraiser,” which focuses primarily on temptation and viscera, but the events are set in motion, the fascination takes hold, and this tragic tale still holds its infernal power. Barker directed a classic.
1. “Hellhound: Hellraiser II” (1988)
The first “Hellraiser” sequel is where all the pieces came together, formulating one of cinema’s most striking depictions of Hell, and inviting everyone in the cast — and the audience — to take a guided tour. Astounding makeup effects and weird opticals give “Hellbound” a gruesome and mystical quality, and the production design is frightening and labyrinthine. What’s more, the revelations about the characters and the monsters give this series a quasi-religious weight that (fittingly enough) attracts even as it repulses. “Hellbound” is a gooey film, a sensual film, a shocking film and a surprisingly powerful film, and thus far, it’s the epitome of the series.
