Hellraiser (2019 Film)

Hellraiser is a 2019 British-American Supernatural Horror film written by Clive Barker and Kim Morgan. Produced by Guillermo Del Toro and directed by Matthew Robbins.

It is a remake of the original 1987 Clive Barker British Horror film is produced by original writer/director Clive Barker who in turn was the author of the initial source material: The Hellbound Heart, a novel story prototype for his film.

Set in Sussex, England and Marrakesh, Morocco, several scenes where shot between these locations as well as at Leavesden Studios in England.

Released theatrically on February 14th, 2019 and in select IMAX theatres to mixed to positive reception and a commercial box office success.

Plot

Jeremiah runs through a Marrakesh marquee with a stolen puzzle box, pursued by Moroccan authorities. He rendezvouses with his friends: Kirsty, Thomas, Rebecca, Callie, Liam and Moroccan friend Esco at their holiday villa.

The group after their villa party open the box altogether,with initially nothing happening. Kirsty though upon returning to her and boyfriend Thomas’ room finds it covered in blood, that goes unseen to Thomas and disappears before Kirsty’s eyes.

Jeremiah is then killed by four silhouetted figures in his room with chains that erupt from the puzzle box and rip him apart, as a pillar protrudes from the floor.

Esco is killed in the villa courtyard as a sudden earthquake seems to cause a collapse and fire in the villa, causing Esco to immolate to death.

Kirsty, Thomas, Rebecca, Callie and Liam return to Essex, England believing Jeremiah to have run off after his thievery on the trip and move on from Esco’s tragic death.

The box resurfaces as Kirsty’s home, where she resides with her sexually abusive uncle Frank, and his girlfriend Julia following the death of father and mother.

Kirsty with Thomas has the box confirmed by her college antiquity professor to be the Lament Configuration: a mythological object told in story to offer a gateway to the hell dimension ruled by the Cenobites: sadomasochistic, torturous demons.

Kirsty, Thomas, Rebecca and Liam witness at Kirsty’s Uncle Frank and Julia participate in a sacrificial ritual in the attic with the Configuration, offering three abducted male colleagues of Julia’s to the Cenobites: Pinhead the leader, a female second in command, lipless fiend Chatterer and obese, gluttonous monster Butterball. The men are killed Pinhead summons the telekinetic chains that killed Jeremiah, ripping one man in half at the waist, splitting one down the middle and the third disembowelling. The Chatterer beast then feeds upon the mens’ remains as a pillar protrudes from the attic floor.

A drunken Liam who had slipped away is able to get to this phone which is charging in the living room, which he uses to call the police.

Liam who had been revealed to struggle with various forms of extreme anxiety, during the trip is killed as Pinhead manifests in the living room and induces a panic attack that results in Liam succumbing to cardiac arrest, collapsing upon a glass coffee table.

 The Female, Butterball and Chatterer Cenobites attack the others one by one throughout the house, until the police arrive. The demons vanish and the officers ultimately rule Liam’s death natural causes.

Kirsty escapes Frank and Julia after the others are forced to leave, eventually being pursued across residential laneways and street alleys by Pinhead, before suffering a fall when frightened by the Chatterer, resulting in her hospitalisation.

As Thomas rushes to the hospital to get Kirsty, Rebecca races to Callie’s where she is killed by the Butterball Cenobite, who as she awakes and heads into her ensuite is tapped on the shoulder, resulting in extreme bloody vomiting, a death correlating with her struggles with bulimia.

Arriving after Callie’s death, Rebecca instead races to the hospital to join up with Kirsty and Thomas.

There after being overseen by Dr. Channard, the Cenobites all appear as Frank and Julia, in possession of the Configuration further solve it to result in Kirsty, Thomas and Rebecca being taken through a gateway in the hospital, to their hell dimension.

There the three are attacked by a tall, skinless knight demon entitled ‘Spike’ which severely injures Thomas.

Thomas sacrifices himself for Rebecca and Kirsty, which results in his soul after death being released from the dimension.

Rebecca is however drowned by the Female cenobite, in a waterlogged labyrinth room, after being mauled by the Chatterer.

Kirsty utilising the still pursuing and impulsively attacking Spike, kills Pinhead’s disciples one by one: Chatterer, then Butterball and finally the Female Cenobite.

As Spike resumes his place on a large set of flesh doors, Pinhead appears before Kirsty to claim her.

She offers a trade of her perverted Uncle, his girlfriend and his corrupt two police contacts, in place of herself, and the release of her other friends’ souls that have been claimed.

Pinhead considers and then accepts.

Frank who betrayed and stabbed Julia in the meantime, leaving her to bleed to death, is killed as several chains, remove him of his skin, a suction among the house causes the same death for Julia.

The officers leaving Callie’s crime scene on their way to the Cotton house are killed off-screen.

Kirsty on the outside walks along her and Thomas’ spot, the Essex Crossing Bridge where Kirsty throws the Configuration over into the water.

The Configuration however returns from there to the marquee in Morocco and the peddlar, Jeremiah had stolen it from.

A post-credits scene shows Pinhead commune in hell with his new disciples: A skinless Frank and Julia, and two body to body joint Officer cenobites.

Cast

• Charles Dance as Pinhead
• Jodie Tyack as Kirsty Cotton
• Mark Strong as Frank Cotton
• Harriet Walter as Julia Cotton
• Layton Williams as Thomas Edlon
• Jessica Barden as Rebecca Ludlow
• Sophie Kennedy Clark as Callie Lyons
• Jack McMullen as Liam Clayton
• Michael Socha as Jeremiah Danford
• Morwenna Banks as Female
• Ben Barnes as Officer Corbin Michaels
• Mike Bailey as Officer Martin Randolph/Si
• Alistair Petrie as Officer Weylin Combes/Amese

Soundtrack

1. Howa - Ali Jassim & Mustafa
2. Kouni Enti (Remix) - Maguy Bou Ghosn