How Hellraiser taught star Odessa A'zion to love Cenobites and fear dentists
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Until recently Odessa A'zion had just a passing interest in the Hellraiser horror movie franchise, which dates back to 1987 with writer-director Clive Barker's original film. "I was definitely familiar with it, I feel like everybody knows Hellraiser," she tells EW. "But I wasn't obsessed with it." That changed after the actress scored the lead role of Riley in David Bruckner's franchise reboot Hellraiser (on Hulu now).
"I definitely became a little more [obsessed]," says the actress, 22. "It was so cool. Like, we were making it, and we were rewatching [the original movies] while we were making it. You see these things [and you're] like, we're doing that now too! It was really cool. Yeah, I love Hellraiser."
That obsession backfired after A'zion chipped a tooth while filming in Belgrade and, while visiting a local dentist's office, recalled the first of the franchise's sequels, 1988's Hellbound: Hellraiser II, and the villainous doctor portrayed by Kenneth Cranham. "The doctor was the scariest one in the second movie," she says. "So the whole time I'm like, please don't…"
Spyglass Media Group Odessa A'zion as Riler in 'Hellraiser' (2022).
A'zion was introduced to the horror genre by her mother Pamela Adlon, the actress and star-creator of the FX show Better Things.
"The first film that scared the s--- out of me was The Fly," says A'zion. "I was like, 'I want to watch a really scary movie!' and my mom was like, 'Alright, watch Brundle-fly!' That was the first one that I remember sitting down and watching and yeah, that freaked [me out]. One thing I'm very grateful about is, we didn't have to play with bugs in our movie, like the second Hellraiser. No way that I would do well with like maggots crawling on me. Ugh. No thank you."
A'zion's previous credits include the TV shows Nashville, Fam, and Grand Army, and she also appeared in the 2020 one-shot horror movie Let's Scare Julie. But it is her Hellraiser role of Riley, who unwittingly unleashes the pain-loving Cenobites by playing with the franchise's infamous puzzle box, which seems destined to put her on the genre map.
Director Bruckner describes the character as "a young woman who's struggling with addiction and compulsive behavior that comes in contact accidentally with the box and unfortunately begins to dabble with it, and chaos ensues." The filmmaker is full of praise for the star. "Riley is fiery, she's full of energy, she's a very restless spirit," says Bruckner. "We were very excited to discover Odessa, who plays the role really fearlessly, and I think has an onscreen energy like I have never encountered before. We liked to joke on set that Riley was the hellraiser, that it's all encapsulated in the lead."
Dental emergencies aside, A'zion has fond memories of the shoot and, in particular, of the scenes in which she appeared alongside the Cenobites.
"That was the coolest part, filming with the Cenobites, because they did such an amazing job with the prosthetics and all that," she says. "What you're seeing in the movie is not far from what we were seeing in real-life at all. It was all there, every little detail. Maybe they smoothed out some lines in the editing room, but it was amazing, they were right in front of us, exactly like that, because I think they wanted to pay respect to the originals in that aspect, because it was all practical then."
Jesse Grant/Getty Images Odessa A'zion
Remarkably, A'zion had not one but two horror films premiere Oct. 7. In addition to Hellraiser, the the actress also stars in The Inhabitant playing a descendant of Lizzie Borden (in theaters and On Demand).
"Isn't that weird? Like they're coming out the same day!!!" she says. "I'm not going to sit down and watch either because my brain would explode."
Shame. Sounds like it would be a killer double-bill.
Watch the trailers for Hellraiser and The Inhabitant below. Both films are out now.
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