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Collection: Corvid Blog
David S. Goyer's Hellraiser Reboot Opens Plenty of Speculation Around Which Form Pinhead Will Return in.
by 30Geek Collaborator May 13, 2019
If you're anything like me, reboots can make you a little anxious. For the most part, they leave you feeling as regretful as if you exhumed the corpse of a dead pet for one more cuddle. Hellraiser is one of the most critically acclaimed seminal horror films there is to date. So realistically, what is there to gain from the reinvention? Should avid fans of the original go out of their way to avoid seeing a beloved film being absolutely obliterated? We can't really say for sure at this point, but we're definitely feeling more fearful for Pinhead than we are of him. And that's a first.
The Cenobites will team up with Pinhead once more for the script written by David S. Goyer and produced by Spyglass Media Group. Goyer – who also had a heavy hand in how Batman Begins turned out will also be acting as a producer on the film. You can prepare to see Pinhead reimagined, but the production team has left us all in the dark when it comes to the details of which direction he will be pulling the hell priest in. Breathing new life into a franchise which has existed for over 30 years which produced 10 films may just by the most daunting challenge in Goyer's career so far. His full commitment to creating something "dark and visceral" is slightly comforting, but whether the same spine-chilling fear and suspense can be assimilated is a very bold assumption.
The reboot of the film may very well bring a new generation and a new audience to Pinhead and his anxiety invoking presence, but will this be another kick in the teeth for fans of 80s horror? I really hope not. Stephen King's work is constantly being reinvented – so really it should come as no surprise but after the 2019 adaptation of Pet Sematary got incredibly middling reviews, let's just hope Goyer has a better handle on things.
There's always the argument that Stephen King's work is classic, yet, in the 80s the gritty scene was set for the Cenobites. Now, we're living in a post-50 Shades of Grey world, where Ted Bundy is still fapped over as an icon, you can't blame me for worrying how the millennials will address the S&M aesthetic of Hellraiser, or perhaps that will be stripped away entirely? Maybe that would be for the best.
Whatever your religion, pray for Hellraiser folks.
Hellraiser's Potential Gender Transformation
As you can imagine, a lot of people are stretching their imaginations wondering how they could possibly reinvent Pinhead without utterly destroying his unique ability to slightly traumatise you.
One of the most natural logical jumps for many people is envisioning a female pinhead. Would Goyer really follow Doctor Who's lead and give Pinhead a gender swap? It's likely, and it's probably the best theory which fans have come up with so far!
The theory comes from the fact that in Clive Barker's books every one of the Cenobites were incredibly androgynous, and Clive Barker pointed to plenty of indications of Pinhead's more feminine side such as jewelled nails and having a feminine voice. The film also takes the slightly different making out that Pinhead was the leader, he wasn't, it was a far more terrifying female Cenobite. So, removing the usual archetypes of horror would be an incredibly bold move for Goyer to make, but many argue that this would allow Pinhead to be an accurate representation of the character which Barker first wrote.
We're definitely all for subverting stereotypical femininity – but whether or not it's a good thing Pinhead is being used to do it, we're a little sceptical. Remember the Evil Dead reboot? Ouch.
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