Hellraiser is a reimagining of Clive Barker’s 1987 horror classic from director David Bruckner that will debut in the U.S. exclusively on Hulu on October 7 as part of the streamer’s annual "Huluween" celebration of fright-filled content.
In the all-new take on the classic horror franchise, a young woman struggling with addiction comes into possession of an ancient puzzle box, unaware that its purpose is to summon the Cenobites, a group of sadistic supernatural beings from another dimension. Jamie Clayton plays The Priest in the reboot, though she's not the only character to be feared here.
We recently sat down with all the movie's main cast members to discuss their work on the reboot, and got some insights into what it was like being on set with the terrifying Cenobites. Hellraiser has been scoring positive reviews, with everyone agreeing that those hellish beings are enough to give even the most hardcore horror fan nightmares.
Below, you'll find comments from Odessa A'zion, Brandon Flynn, Hiam Abbass, Goran Visnjic, Drew Starkey, and Adam Faison about sharing the screen with the Cenobites. Then, Pinhead herself, Jamie Clayton, reveals what it was like to be transformed into The Priest!
Be sure to watch each of the videos below for even more Hellraiser insights from the cast and director David Bruckner!
I’m pretty sure the Cenobites are going to be haunting people’s nightmares after watching this film, but as you both share the screen with them, what sort of impact did that have on the feeling on set those days?
Brandon Flynn: Yeah, it was very strange. The Cenobites…what you see in the movie is what they look like on set. The FX team were very specific in making everything practical and real and tangible. Most of the time, I felt bad [Laughs].
Odessa A'zion: Yeah!
Brandon Flynn: In all this heat, they had to be in these incredible costumes, but I think even the people playing them were in such awe and fascination of the incredible work that went into creating them.
Odessa A'zion: They would be in that makeup trailer getting those suits on for like 7 hours. It’s crazy. It was all very much right in front of you and incredible to look at.
Without getting into spoilers, you both get to share the screen with the Cenobites, and they’re absolutely terrifying; what were those days like for you both on set?
Hiam Abbass: [Laughs]
Goran Visnjic: We had fun being together as friends and going out and stuff like that. It was fun to see them dressed up! ‘Oh my God, is that actually you? I can’t believe it!’ It was fun before we started working and then the camera would start rolling and it was a little bit scary [Laughs]
Hiam Abbass: For me, there was something spiritual about that day when they came to my character. The whole process of what was happening without spoiling too much about the scene itself, I really lived it completely as something that was actually really happening to me. I needed to feel it that way otherwise I wouldn’t be able to go with it. It would have been fake. There was a process in it. That process is unknown to us somehow, but at the same time, doing it on screen felt like you were part of that process. Your character and person as an actor can not be separated from it.
The Cenobites in this film are terrifying, but what was the experience of coming face to face for the first time with them on set like for you both?
Drew Starkey: When was the first time you saw a Cenobite, Adam?
Adam Faison: Dude, all I can remember is Yinka [Olorunnife] plays The Weaver and seeing the prosthetics on her was so cool. She’s this black demon, this Cenobite, and I don’t think I’d ever seen that before and definitely not in real life. She’s so tall and did this scary guttural laugh and it was freaky on the day when we were doing it. I just remember being like, ‘Wow, she’s so in it and unrecognisable.’ She’s missing a jaw as you can see in the trailer. I think that’s the one I remember first. What about you, Drew?
Drew Starkey: I think David Bruckner, the director, surprised Odessa and I. He wanted a truthful reaction to The Chatterer, the first Cenobite that I’d seen in person. I can hear them walking him into the room and I know he’s behind me. There’s a moment where I had to turn and see him…Jason Liles, who plays The Chatterer, is 6’7” and this towering figure. It was awful. The prosthetics are so realistic and the skin looks so realistic it felt as real as anything in front of me. It was terrifying!
I’m sure you’ll be asked a lot about the work that went into your transformation, Jamie, but in terms of when you were made up as Pinhead, what about that presented the biggest challenge in terms of still being able to get your performance across?
Jamie Clayton: Oh, I love that question! The biggest challenge I think was not being able to move really [Laughs]. I mean, literally, I could barely move my face. My vision was obstructed by the contacts. We figured out a really good routine with the contacts where, if they were going to be setting up a new scene and had more than thirty or forty minutes, I could pop them out. You couldn’t pop them out and put them back in more than three times in a day, so we had to choose moments when I could take the contacts out.
The neck…once the neck went on, again, forget about it! The neck thing, even if we had two minutes when they were doing something, I was like, ‘Take the neck off, take it off!’ [Laughs] I just had to get it off. It was very challenging. You can’t expand in the suit and I couldn’t take full breaths. It’s moulded silicone and a latex suit that’s painted with muscle and then another suit that’s put on top. It’s very heavy and constricting. I felt very bound the entire time!
Hellraiser premieres exclusively on Hulu on October 7