Most popular horror films give birth to entire lines of sequels and follow-ups. To date there have been six Exorcist films, nine Nightmare of Elm Streets, 10 Saws, and a colossal 13 Halloweens. It seems likely that the most unfortunate of these horror franchises is Clive Barker’s Hellraiser, cursed for years with a production arrangement where Dimension Films could retain the rights to remake the original film so long as they made a new sequel every couple of years. Those sequels did not have to be good; they certainly did not have to be expensive. Dropping a few hundred thousand dollars on an unwatchable sequel was a bargain if it meant keeping the rights for a more lucrative production down the road.

Dimension’s remake never did eventuate. Only two of their sequels – Hell on Earth (1992) and Bloodline (1996) – saw the inside of a movie theatre. In 2018, with the studio more focused on Dimension’s owner Harvey Weinstein facing multiple sexual assault charges than remaking Hellraiser, the franchise had its last gasp with Gary J. Tunnicliffe’s Hellraiser Judgement. Or so it seemed.

Jump forward to 2022, and creator Clive Barker has collaborated with Spyglass Media to relaunch the series with an all-new film. Technically a reboot, I suppose, since it does not remake the original film’s story, the new Hellraiser premiered online via Hulu and Amazon Prime. It lacks the aggressive sadomasochism and creative energy of Barker’s 1987 original or Tony Randel’s Hellbound (1988). On the other hand it explores some new ideas with the material, has a clear three-act structure, and remixes Barker’s creation in an entertaining fashion. It may be the third-best Hellraiser movie, but you really have to have seen fifth-through-eleventh best to know what a relief that is.

In many ways the film follows an expected route – a recovering addict named Riley (Odessa A’zion) comes into possession of a mysterious puzzle box, the solving of which causes a chain of violent deaths at the hands of a demonic group of creatures known as Cenobites. Riley follows this increasingly bloody path in the hope that she can retrieve her missing brother (Brandon Flynn) and this eventually takes her to a reclusive multi-millionaire with a taste for sex and violence (played by ER‘s Goran Višnjić). It feels less inspired by Hellraiser, however, so much as other popular horror films produced since. There is more than a hint of Gore Verbinski’s The Ring (2002) in Riley’s journey, and the more violent scenes feel a little more like James Wan’s Saw (2004) than Barker.

The film represents solid work by director David Bruckner, another graduate of the V/H/S portmanteau franchise, whose subsequent work on The Ritual (2017) and The Night House (2020) has shown off a hugely promising talent. While Hellraiser doesn’t match the quality of those works, I think it is honestly down to it being essentially a work-for-hire gig: there isn’t quite the enthusiasm demonstrated when working with his own ideas.

At the time of this remake’s release, a lot of noisy complaint on the Internet focused on the casting of Jamie Clayton (Sense8) as the lead Cenobite – a character previously played by a man. As seems to always be the case, Clayton is fine. Her performance gives a fresh approach to a very well-worn character.

It is inevitable that a studio-backed remake of something as transgressive as Hellraiser is going to lose the original’s edge, and understandably that will disappoint those long-term fans hoping for a return to form. Taken on its own merits, this is an enjoyable and straightforward horror movie. Perhaps it won’t linger in the mind like those first two instalments, but neither is it going to linger in the mind like some of the others.