The 2022 Hellraiser is a mediocre relaunch of the franchise. I didn't watch the original, but I'm sure it's all better than the last Hellraiser. Hellraiser can hardly be called a horror film, but it's not scary at all. There are not even screamers here. The meeting with the senobites should be clearly presented differently, and there is no information about them in the film. They are simply introduced into the plot as something mundane. Is it exactly a franchise relaunch or a fan movie? Mediocre cast, more than one recognizable actor, weak acting. And this has not yet reached the script. Which literally can fit on 1 piece of A4. Stupid dialogues, lack of motivation for the heroes and the uncertainty of their actions. Hellraiser is an empty, thoughtless project that is obviously created for the commercial purposes of exploiting the franchise. Do not spend your 1.5 hours of time on this.

This was kind of unnecessary, and here is why.

First, what made the first three or so Hellraiser movies work is you cared about the protagonists. Christie was sympathetic in that she was trying to save her father. Joey in the third you liked because she was trying to stop Pinhead, and she was played by Terry Farrell.

This film, I don't care about any of the characters. The protagonist is completely unlikeable, and you are just waiting for Pinhead and friends to pick off the characters.

The other problem are the Cenobites themselves. Yes, they had much better effects technology than they had available in the 1980's, but so what? Doug Bradley was commanding as Pinhead. The person they have playing the role now has nowhere near the sense of menace.

Yes, this movie has far better production values than most of the straight to video dreck that followed the fourth one, but what it lacks is compelling characters. The gore effects are nice, and they are truly in love with their CGI Lament Configuration. But in the end, if you don't care about the characters, even find them unlikeable, you really don't care how brutal their demises are. It just becomes cheap torture porn.

I guess one should appreciate the fact that they didn't try to make a scene-by-scene remake of the original but that's about the only positive thing I have to say about this movie because it's a total failure.

The plot has nothing to do with the original movie. It's basically yet another sequel, with Pinhead replaced (again) by a new actor (this time an actress).

The first half of the movie is a borefest and the second half is just a mess. All the atmosphere of the original movie is just gone. Cinematography is basic and there is almost lack of music (except fornhints and tiny cues of Christopher Young's original and superb score). The Cenobites are simple, non-scary and appear like a cheap TV movie.

The pacing is just awful and the plot is boring. By the time Pinhead finally appears - after more than an hour into the movie - I was already bored and from there it just got worse and I couldn't wait for it to be over.

I have no idea why people praise this movie so much. For me it was yet another failed and boring sequel.

Don't waste your time on this. Better rewatch the original or the firat sequel instead.