Welcome to Day #19 of the 31 Days of Halloween.

Halloween Quote
“If human beings had genuine courage, they’d wear their costumes every day of the year, not just on Halloween.” —Douglas Coupland

Hello my lovelies and how are you today?  I hope you’re doing well, staying hydrated, enjoying some Halloween movies, and checking in with friends and family.

Today is a first for me in this series, and I’m doing a movie review of Hulu’s original Hellraiser.

MOVIE DISCLAIMER:  Hellraiser is Rated R and intended for mature audiences.  This movie contains adult language, mature themes of a graphic nature, and body horror, viewer discretion is advised.

Movie: Hellraiser
Streaming on: Hulu
Rated: R
Directed by: David Bruckner
Original Story: Clive Barker & David S. Goyer
IMBD: 6.1/10

STORY: A young woman must confront the sadistic, supernatural forces behind an enigmatic puzzle box responsible for her brother’s disappearance.

First, I love this Clive Barker series, which is Hellraiser 1-2, and possibly 3 because it dives into to origin of Pinhead, and how he came to be.  The rest are not great, and I wonder why they continued with the story with no real substance, but so it goes.

For Hulu’s Hellraiser, I could see where they were trying to go, but also what they missed.  Let’s face it there are very few movies these days that are original, and I don’t mind remakes. But since you can’t beat the original at least tell a better story.  I also read a few reviews after I watched the movie just to get a sense of what folks were thinking about the remake.

This movie get’s points for incorporating some new things.  One is a female Pinhead which is original, and two younger imperfect characters. 2022’s Hellraiser tried to come up with a different storyline as to why this box is important.  The definition of pleasure and pain is seen differently in the eyes of those who seek power.  And of course, this story starts because of that very notion.

What do men with power want…more power (The Matrix), and it’s also true in this new story.

Enter Roland Voight a billionaire with power, seeking ultimate sensation (pleasure) and willing to sacrifice another man for it. When you solve the puzzle box (meaning you’ve sacrificed enough people) you can choose to be granted Power, Resurrection, Life, Knowledge, Sensation, or Love for the rest of your life. Roland was unaware that pleasure is equivalent to excruciating pain for the Cenobites.

What is a Cenobite?

The Cenobites are disfigured, sexless, sadomasochistic entities tasked with capturing whoever solved the riddle of the demonic puzzle box known as Lament Configuration and submitting them to extreme physical torture, an act meant to reveal all of the hidden pleasures of intense pain. (Source: Fandom)

After which Roland disappears without a trace and the infamous puzzle box would be locked away until curiosity and greed would give it a new purpose. Once again praying on desperate people seeking knowledge and love, the box is activated.

The first Hellraiser (of course) explains best about the box and its meaning.  To experience ultimate power you must experience ultimate pain.

Overall while I was curious and interested in seeing the remake I don’t think it was great or worth owning, and who needs to see more body horror?  If you want to see Hellraiser my suggestion is to watch 1-3 and be done with it. My rating is 3.5/10.

I don’t want to spill too much when technically I already have, but if you’re curious checkout Hellraiser on Hulu and see for yourself.

BLOG UPDATE

Friends, as I get closer to the end of this series, I’m already thinking about how I want to change it up for next year, or if I’ll continue this at all.  Real talk, maintaining a blog is hard, and it takes work, and I’ve always said that once the work wasn’t enjoyable then LifeByWyetha would be making its last stop.

I still think about it, as we come to the end of the year and for me, a total of 10 years of blogging off via Blogger, Kaboodle, and then WordPress.  I do want to take this in another direction and I’ll be sure to share all the detail. More to come on this front but I just wanted to share my thoughts with you.

Well lovelies I’ll end this post here.  If you liked what you read don’t forget to like and subscribe.  I’ll see you back here tomorrow. — Stay spooky and Happy Halloween!

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