The first reactions to Hellraiser are in, and it sounds like all the blood sacrifices necessary to bring this not-a-reboot to the screen have been well worth it. Following a secret screening at this year’s Fantastic Fest, horror fans have taken to social media to share their opinions on the new Hellraiser, with many calling it the best since the 1987 original.

The overwhelming praise continues, with lucky viewers calling the movie a “bloody, jagged, and visceral vision” that returns the long-running franchise to form. Others describe the effort as a “sharp update to the original,” with many praising Sense8 star Jamie Clayton as the new Pinhead, calling her performance “perfection and a worthy successor to Doug Bradley.”

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This year’s Hellraiser will act as a new adaptation of the 1986 novella The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker. First published in 1986, the story was used as inspiration for the movie Hellraiser in 1987, which tells the story of a mystical puzzle box that summons the Cenobites, a group of extra-dimensional, sadomasochistic beings who cannot differentiate between pain and pleasure.

Hellraiser 2022 Will Reintroduce Pinhead & the Cenobites

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In Hellraiser, a young woman struggling with addiction comes into possession of an ancient puzzle box, unaware that its purpose is to summon the Cenobites, a group of sadistic supernatural beings from another dimension.

When it was first announced, many had understandably assumed that this year’s Hellraiser would be a remake of the beloved warped original. But director David Bruckner has since explained that this is not the case. “This is not a remake. I just didn’t think you could ever remake the original Hellraiser,” he said. “It’s too much its own thing and it would be, I think, perilous territory for filmmakers, because how do you top that? This is a new story in the Hellraiser universe.”

The ensemble cast behind Hellraiser includes Odessa A’zion (Fam, Grand Army), Jamie Clayton (The L Word: Generation Q, Sense8), Adam Faison (Everything’s Gonna Be Okay, Yes Day), Drew Starkey (Outer Banks, The Devil All the Time), Brandon Flynn (Ratched, 13 Reasons Why), Aoife Hinds (The Long Call, Normal People), Jason Liles (Stereoscope, Rampage), Yinka Olorunnife (The Transporter), Selina Lo (Boss Level, Q8 Unleashed), Zachary Hing (Halo), Kit Clarke (Leonardo), with Goran Visnjic (The Boys, Timeless) and Hiam Abbass (Succession, Blade Runner 2049).

A Hulu Original, in association with Spyglass Media Group, the film reunites director David Bruckner, screenwriters Ben Collins & Luke Piotrowski, writer/producer David S. Goyer and producer Keith Levine, all of whom were teamed on 2020s The Night House, along with producers Clive Barker and Marc Toberoff and executive producers Gary Barber, Peter Oillataguerre and Todd Williams. Chris Stone serves as co-producer.

Hellraiser is set to have its world premiere at Beyond Fest in Santa Monica, California on October 4, 2022. The horror outing is then scheduled to be released by Disney Platform Distribution via streaming exclusively on Hulu as a Hulu original film on October 7.