New Hellraiser is still queer but oddly sanitized

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Spooky season is well underway, and networks and streaming platforms are rolling out their horror-laden line-ups of films and series. In addition to AMC’s very gay new take on Interview with the Vampire, Syfy’s second season of Chucky, and FX’s upcoming 11th season of American Horror Story, Hulu’s remake of classic 80s horror flick Hellraiser arrived Friday.

The film is a new take on queer writer Clive Barker’s novella The Hellbound Heart and stars trans actress Jamie Clayton as a new version of the iconic Hell Priest, a.k.a. Pinhead. But it’s also apparently a significant departure from the 1987 film version, which Barker himself directed. According to its official synopsis, Hellraiser depicts a young woman named Riley (Odessa A’zion) who struggles with addiction and comes into possession of the puzzle box which summons Pinhead and the other demonic Cenobites.

Ahead of the film’s debut, here’s what critics are saying about the new Hellraiser. Read on…