Hellraiser (2022) is coming to Hulu just in time for spooky season. This isn’t exactly a remake of the original, but it does harken back to them quite a bit. Riley discovers the puzzle box that has become such a staple of the franchise and well, things go a bit haywire from there. During the press day for Hellraiser (2022), the cast and filmmakers discuss what the Hellraiser franchise means to them.

Participating Talent:

• Jamie Clayton (“Pinhead”)
• Goran Visnjic (Voight”)
• Brandon Flynn (“Matt”)
• Odessa A’zion (“Riley”)
• Drew Starkey (“Trevor”)
• Adam Faison (“Colin”)
• Hiam Abbass (“Menaker”)
• David Bruckner (Director)
• Keith Levine (Producer)

What the Hellraiser Franchise means to the Hellraiser (2022) Cast and Filmmakers

Goran Visnjic says that when he was a teenager, he went into a local video store and discovered the VHS tapes of the first four Hellraisers. “In a few nights, my friend and I saw all of them. Number four was always my favorite because I’m a sci-fi fan, and this one is happening in space station.” He says this was the time of Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back so he felt a really huge impact of that one. Because of this, when the script came by, he was all in.

Hiam Abbass explains that she is going to disappoint everyone because she knew nothing about Hellraiser, or any horror movie for that matter, before filming this movie. “I grew up in a place where everything was frightening anyway, so like, if I was to escape in movies, I would choose something much easier on my psychology.” However, as an actor, she really badly wanted to do a horror movie. As if it was fate, after talking to her agent about it, a month later this offer arose.

Odessa A’zion says that she was always familiar with Hellraiser, but she didn’t grow up watching them. She did start watching them after booking this role, however. “If we’re talking about favorites, I’d say that mine might be the second one. It’s really crazy because there are a lot of differences in our movie, but they’re also like a lot of similarities.”

Brandon Flynn confesses that he has only seen the first Hellraiser, and none of the other nine. “The first one is so iconic. I always grew up watching horror movies. Cuz I think at nine years old I was just sadistic. I was watching when I was that age. When I got this script and got to watch it with like, fresh adult eyes, it took on a whole meaning — especially knowing why he wrote the novel in the first place.”

Adam Faison says that he “commiserates with Brandon on feeling like a little dark soul. I loved horror movies. AMC horror fest, I think is where I maybe saw Hellraiser for the first time. AMC would do these reruns of back-to-back franchises. So I think that’s probably the first time that I ever had seen the Hellraiser movies.” He explains that Director David Bruckner actually got him on to the novella, Hellbound Heart, which is the basis for most of Hellraiser (2022), and confesses it was cool getting to hear Clive Barker narrate an audio book.

Drew Starkey answers that like, Brandon, he was traumatized at an early age. “I’d say about eight or nine as well. My parents were big, big movie buffs. My mom worked in a video store through high school — the mid 80s through the early 90s. She was abig horror fan. But Hellraiser was always the one film that she was like, stay away from that. So as an act of rebellion my brother and I watched it when we were too young. But the imagery always stayed with me, like my entire life.”

Keith Levine explains that he has everyone beat, and saw Hellraiser when he was about five or six. “I have two older brothers so whenever we would go out, we’d watch VHS’ of horror films. And I remember vividly seeing Hellraiser for the first time.” He adds that he keeps his brothers updated on his film, even texting them the trailer and poster. “So it’s very much like childhood and I’m very much honored to be a part of this. It was a long road to get here. It’s surreal to be even here with all these faces, doing any of this. It’s always been a big part of my life, and hopefully, we’ll get to do more, and it’ll continue to be a big part of my life.”

Jamie Clayton admits that she was “a big scaredy cat when I was a kid. I got into horror in my 20s and 30s. There was a moment where I was really into horror, like Takashi Miike, The Audition, and all the Friday the 13th films, but I actually hadn’t seen Hellraiser. I watched it the night before I auditioned and I was like, Oh, why haven’t I seen this sooner. This is so beyond a horror film. There are so many layers and nuances to the story, and so much as implied. There’s a lot of glamour it’s very sexy.”

David Buckner says that he cannot compete with the rest of the cast because he didn’t see Hellraiser before the age of ten, knowing that it would have traumatized him. “There’s no way I could have handled that. I had a friend in high school that was my gateway drug to horror. He would force me to watch things — and even then I couldn’t. Hellraiser was inaccessible to me, it was too much. It wasn’t just the gore, it was the atmosphere, and maybe what the themes underneath were. Just the idea that there was a fate worse than death. That you would just go and suffer for an eternity like that would send me home thinking for the entire night.”

Buckner adds that he finally dove into Hellraiser as he was going into college and it was something that was so complex to him. He felt like it was different every time he saw it. “And so over time, it became this totally revered, inaccessible, icon in the horror genre. There’s a lot of special stuff going on here, and so honestly it was an honor and a privilege to be a part of the team to bring it back to life. Just getting to make a Hellraiser movie is something that I never thought I get to do so.”

Hellraiser (2022) comes to Hulu on October 7th, and you don’t want to miss it!

Tessa Smith

Tessa Smith AKA Mama's Geeky, is a journalist that covers geek and Disney culture on her own website, as well as freelances for other sites such as What's On Disney Plus and Screen Rant. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Marketing and loves all things geeky. She is a Disney Vacation Club member and a Founders Circle Member of Disney+. She is also an approved critic for Rotten Tomatoes and a member of the Critics Choice Association. Tessa lives in Upstate New York with her husband, two daughters, and two dogs named Sansa and Khaleesi.

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