Earlier this week the first teaser for the Hulu reboot ofHellraiser,which premieres on October 7,was released giving audiences a brief glimpse of the pleasures and pain waiting to be unleashed from the hellish puzzle box. Offering a 15-second glimpse of Pinhead in the background as a crescendo of music builds andHellraiserscrolls across the screen, it was hard to get a complete picture ofactress Jamie Clayton as the re-invented Cenobite.
Now, theSense8actress has taken to Twitter to release the first clear image of her take on the iconic character originally played by Doug Bradley.Entertainment Weekly also debuted the imagealong with a look at a new Cenobite known as The Masque.
RELATED:Hellraiser Reboot Gets A Premiere Date And A Short, Creepy Teaser
David Bruckner is at the helm of the reboot of the 1987 genre-pushing film. Bruckner has previously worked onThe Night House, The Ritual,andV/H/S. Hellraiseris based on the novellaThe Hellbound Heartby Clive Barker, with the original film also written and directed by Barker and sees the sadomasochistic Cenobites unleashed upon the Earth when young Kirsty’s equally sadomasochistic uncle Frank summons them using a mysterious puzzle box. Kirsty becomes trapped in Hell on Earth as her aunt Julia alsofalls prey to the box and the Cenobitesdemand Kirsty’s eternal torment.
In the re-imagining, a young drug addict struggling with compulsive behaviors, Riley played by Odessa A’zion, comes upon the box and unknowingly becomes the focus of the Cenobites and their unholy pleasures of the flesh. Actress Jamie Clayton will be taking the role of Pinhead, the leader of the Cenobites and you can take a look at the new character design in a tweet from the actress below.
The image gives the first clear look at the character redesign, still retaining the character’s crosshatched head scored with nails as well as sunken black eyes and a splayed open throat displaying a mechanical element of some kind. Not wanting to copyBradley’s iconic performance of the role, Bruckner went in knowing that they wanted Pinhead to be a woman in this version, and Jamie Clayton won the role. There has been a backlash on this decision from some franchise fans who through nostalgia and/or sexism have vocalized their displeasure at a trans woman being cast in the role. However, these fans seem to have missed the transgressive nature of the source material.
Original Pinhead himself Doug Bradley spoke about the decision at Silver Scream Con stating “It’s an interesting casting decision. Well, that only goes so far. We say ‘female Pinhead’ like we know what that means, but there are a million shades of femininity. Where exactly are they going to go with that?”
Along with the reveal of Clayton’s Pinhead, the first images of the new Cenobite The Masque were revealed, a figure who appears flayed and has only a flat mask of skin for a face being held up in a framework where his head should be. Bruckner also teased that there will bemore new Cenobitesjoining Pinhead on Earth. Bruckner directed the film with regular collaborators Ben Collins, Luke Piotrowski, and David S. Goyer penning the screenplay. The cast also includes Adam Faison, Drew Starkey, Brandon Flynn, Aoife Hinds, Jason Liles, Yinka Olorunnife, Selina Lo, Zachary Hing, Kit Clarke, and Hiam Abbass.Hellraiser will debut on Hulu on October 7.
