Is Hulu’s ‘Hellraiser’ Reboot Worth Your Time?

Kicking off in 1987 with the original Hellraiser, there are now eleven films in the franchise.  The most recent being a Hulu Original also titled Hellraiser which is labeled as a reboot of the 1987 classic horror film.

Get our free mobile app

Released on October 7th, I got a chance to watch the new movie over the course of a few days.  I don't usually watch films broken up like that, but my wife won't watch horror movies and I was incredibly busy the week it came out.  Because of that, I'm going a little easier on my review of it because I don't think I gave it a fair watch on my first go through.

I won't give you any spoilers for the most part, but out of the gate I will say to not expect a copy of the original.  A lot of reboot films simply redo what was done previously but with different actors and more modern effects.  With Hellraiser 2022, expect something familiar but vastly different than the original.

The new movie of course includes a puzzle box of sorts, and a pretty decent re-introduction to our antagonists, the Cenobites.  It stars Odessa A'Zion who finds herself in a bind after discovering the mysterious box with her boyfriend of sorts and her brother then disappearing.  From there the film takes you on a mildly boring ride as multiple others get pulled into the crazy world of beings from another dimension.

I say mildly boring because the film was paced like it was running through syrup.  Sure, it was fun to have a new take on an oldie but a goodie film, and there was some gore, but not like 80s gore.  Too much is digitized now with many newer horror films, and there is something just better and more real when actual props are used to scare us.  Hellraiser 2022 simply lacked any 'wow' factor, leaving me wanting more and unfortunately roped in enough and committed enough to the franchise, that I'll have to see any sequels to it.

If you've seen any of the other movies, or even just the first few originals like most people, the reboot is maybe worth a watch, just don't expect anything mind blowing or too different than what we've seen before.  I'll give it a solid 3 out of 5 stars just because I'm a fan of the franchise and the overall plot of the films.