PG-13 Pinhead!
Clive Barker’s Hellraiser is a modern horror masterpiece. It’s sublimely creepy. The sadomasochistic glee with which the movie toys with the cast is thought-provokingly entertaining. Pinhead stands head and shoulders above just about every horror movie villain ever created – I would take pinhead over Jason, Freddyy, or Myers any day! There is nothing wrong with this film, yet Hollywood is going to remake it.
To make matters worse, rumors have been flying that the remake was going to be a PG-13 affair and that an unknown Danish director known for making comedies was taking it on. This is a nightmare, but not the good kind. Luckily, I’ve got some good news.
The PG-13 rumors are false – this is going to be a hard R horror film. Also, there will be two directors on the film, Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer, the guys responsible for My Bloody Valentine 3D – okay, so at least the news about the hard R is good.
I recently rewatched the first few Hellraiser films, and it is clear that this is a franchise that has a lot more depth to it then has been allowed to show. The original film is tremendous, but the sequels are terrible. They attempt to humanize Pinhead, which is one of the most ignorant mistakes in all of horror. To take such a classic movie monster and eviscerate him by telling us about his past and make him sympathetic ranks as one of the biggest movie blunders of all time. So the idea of revisiting this character and franchise isn’t an entirely bad thing, but I would put good money on them screwing it up, so I’m voting against it.
