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The eponymic Pinhead is a supernatural repugnance motion-picture show monster far removed from his peer - a radical that would normally include slasher - killer like Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees . His lowly beginning from a disenfranchised human World War I vet to his eventual ascension as a High Priest of Hell are well known to fans , but there are a lot of story element about the eccentric that have remained shroud in relative mystery over the geezerhood .
Though theHellraiserfilm franchise has wane , the original trilogy stay a raw material of unspoiled old - fashioned , blood - soaked horror celluloid . It ’s time to put a microscope on this winkle Cenobite and break down some facts about the character , just in time for a HalloweenHellraiserbinge .
UPDATE: 2022/10/05 15:30 EST BY SHAWN S. LEALOS
Hellraiseris arrive back in 2022 , and this meter the intact franchise is receive a reboot . While the original franchise had a pair of beloved theatrical films , what followed wascountless continuation that mostly go straight to video . Now , Hulu is follow up its successful relaunching of thePredatorseries withPreywith a new tone atHellraiserand a reinvigorated - smell Pinhead . The fresh Pinhead will be very different , as the character will be female . This is based on the book ’s verbal description of the Cenobite demon , and should offer a fresh smell on the long - run franchise . It could also offer a look at more information about the iconic Pinhead for succeeding movie appearances .
Pinhead Wasn’t Supposed To Be A Poster Boy
The pic poster forHellraiserhad Pinhead front and center , but that is not what it was hypothesise to face like . rather , actorDoug Bradley saidthat director Clive Barker did n’t want the Cenobite on the notice . He wanted the skinned version of Frank to be on the posting and then provide the reveal of the Cenobites for the movie itself .
However , whileClive Barker want the skinned Frankor the puzzle loge on the poster , Bradley said he in person felt it was better to have Pinhead ’s face on there . He mentioned that the iconic Pinhead was the selling point , and helped the moving-picture show poster standout , while anything else would have looked like any other horror movie .
Doug Bradley Remained Hidden
Doug Bradley wanted to make Pinhead the focus of aid , so he did a match of things to keep the mystery . While filming the movie , he remained mostly hide out from the rest of the mould . While Pinhead was the main standoff of the picture , not even his fellow cast members knew who he was . He even showed up at a wrapping company , and the rest of the cast ignored him because they had no estimation who he was .
He kept the secrecy after the movie was released , as well . He said that the filmmakers and production crew only talked about Pinhead . They never mentioned Doug Bradley by name , andhe said in a tardy interviewthat no one knew who he was or that he played Pinhead for a long fourth dimension .
Pinhead Wasn’t Really Male
One of the things aboutthe newHellraisermoviethat has many fans concerned is the fresh approach to Pinhead . However , even Doug Bradley feel the tilt is wacky because this is Pinhead that fans are talking about . Bradley said in an audience withBloody Disgustingthat " there are a million shades of femininity . "
Bradley name that his Pinhead wear off a wench , and inquire if Pinhead even has a gender . Bradley called the entireHellraiserseries " transgressive " and that casting a transgender role player in Jamie Clayton is an " interesting piece of cast . " When looking at the reference novella , Barker describe Pinhead , " the character had the light and breathy spokesperson of an unrestrained girl . "
Pinhead Was Not The Original Leader
WhenHellraiserarrived in theater , Pinhead quickly became the fresh Jason , Michael , and Freddy , but with a brand - raw looking at . He was an reasoning and well - verbalize devil who offered torture and penalty to those who call him . However , in the showtime , Pinhead was n’t the leader of this group known as Cenobites .
In the novellaThe Hellbound Heart , Pinhead was just a minion to a more powerful master , known as the Lead Cenobite . This drawing card had chained hook across his face , stretch out all parts of his head . He also had irons from his oculus to his oral cavity , get his eyes to move when he spoke . Pinhead was just a blank ticket in the novella , but he hire the heart and soul of care in the picture .
He Precedes Hellraiser
Many fans think that Pinhead ’s first appearance was in Clive Barker’sHellbound Heartnovel and theHellraiserfilm that would come after . In fact , Pinhead was present in one of Barker ’s plays known asHunters In The Snowinvolving a eccentric address The Dutchman , an undead torturer . Though The Dutchman was not the real Pinhead , the character concept would afterwards evolve into the Cenobite audience jazz and sleep together to this day . The fact that The Dutchman character was played by Doug Bradley in the period of play way back in 1973 is just ice on the cake .
The utilization of nail and pin evolved out of one of Barker ’s unretentive tale calledThe Forbidden , which featured a board hammer with nails at specific intersections of laid out square . This esthetical would resurface for the Pinhead fiber years afterwards .
Novel Origins
The Pinhead of theHellraiserfilm franchise is not quite the same as the character in Clive Barker’sThe Hellbound Heartnovel . The only recognisable feature article is the model grid tattooed into the persona ’s head which serves as a guide for the bejewel pins that have been driven into the bone .
Also , Pinhead ’s gender is not fully established , with the novel describing its vocalization as " twinkle and breathy - the voice of an excited girl . " In the novel , Pinhead follows pedagogy from the Lead Cenobite and is not featured as the spectacular knob of Hell ’s elite group .
The Foreshadowing
Hellraisercrossed over with theever - popular Sherlock Holmes talesin the 2016 novelSherlock Holmes and the Servants of Hell , which saw the titulary investigator investigating a serial of miss persons cases centering around a man who mysteriously fly from inside a locked room .
Holmes would eventually feather off against the Cenobites , but Pinhead was not among them . Instead , his human forefather Howard Spencer is mention as one of the missing individual , which may have damned his Logos Elliot to pursue solving the Lament Configuration many geezerhood later .
He Was Driven By PTSD
Pinhead in human form was originally known as Elliot Spencer , a British soldier who participated in World War I to campaign for a noble cause . His personality was ardent and compassionate , with high regard for human beings and its well - being . These sensitive trait would be his undoing after he witnessed the inhumane carnage that select place at a Battle of Flanders in France .
The incident so shocked Spencer that he fell victim to a massive bust of PTSD , and forced him to flee his pain in the neck by pursuing root word pleasance wherever he could find them . He would eventually settle on British - rule India during the 1920s where he come across the puzzle box and lick the Lament Configuration , sealing his fate .
The Name
Clive Barker constantly have-to doe with to Pinhead as " The Hell Priest " in his novels , and " Lead Cenobite " in the firstHellraiserfilm . The name " Pinhead " came about after theHellraisercrew and rooter biotic community come to a consensus , but Clive Barker hat it and has never expressed any financial support for it . He did however lampoon the usance of the name for his follow - up novelThe Scarlet Gospels , by which the Hell Priest reacts negatively to the statute title .
primitively a term mean to revilement , " Pinhead " quickly took on a secondary meaning in lineal character to the Cenobite theatrical role . Ironically , the character of Joey Summerskill would utter the countersign as a unmediated revilement to Pinhead in the script forHellraiser III.Barker has submit that Pinhead does have an actual Cenobite name , but it has yet to be reveal .
The Look
The Cenobites at tumid were inspired by a mixture of Catholic getup , S&M gear , and tinder manner all rolled into one . It ’s the signature earmark of Hell ’s inhabitant - a hodgepodge of these dissimilar chemical element which give the films their pseudo - sexual esthetic .
Barker took thing a bit further with Pinhead who was heavily influenced by African fetish sculpture where the construct of pins and nails hammered into the human course is a common theme .
He Wasn’t A Villain
One would be forgiven for stare upon Pinhead and thinking he was a tested and true villain , but the quality is much for complex and multi - superimposed than that . Like all Cenobites , Pinhead is n’t inevitably malign or philanthropic , but a distorted mesh of the two locked somewhere in between light and dark .
For instance , Pinhead adheres to Hell ’s code not to torture or vote down anyone who does not actively search them out for the pursuit of dark pleasures . He can distinguish between Lunaria annua and dishonesty in people , and recognise the state of their sine to actively pronounce them as suitable of Hell ’s harassment . Only when Elliot Spencer ’s personality was separated from Pinhead did the graphic symbol become a sheer force of end and evil .
He Almost Faced Freddy & Jason
The long - rumoredFreddy Vs . Jasonfilm take year of bakingin the oven before it was finally resign in 2003 . The impulsion for the plastic film was suffer from revulsion fans who bid to see the two titans face off against one another - a fact spurred on with great enthusiasm after Freddy ’s glove is revealed to grab Jason ’s mask at the end ofJason go bad To Hell .
A similar idea involved Pinhead in former draft of theFreddy Vs . Jasonscript . While the last cinema left thing open , it was originally supposed to feature both characters arriving in Hell where they would be greet by Pinhead to lay out up a new cliffhanger . Sadly , the conception was dropped , but it could have played further into the root of Pinhead and how the Hell dimension functions , particularly with demonically infused beings like Freddy allowed to work amuck .
Painful Piercings
The sight of a character with big pins drive through his grimace and skull would make anyone cringe , but few fans gain just how far his mutilations truly go . Early concepts for the character showed Pinhead with some interesting piercings that proved to be too much for the final cut .
These let in a naval pierce with chains that descend downwards into Pinhead ’s nether - regions , suggesting a frame of genital mutilation . This would keep largely in whole tone with the S&M - inspired madness that permeated the film , but it ’s likely better that this titbit was will out .
Doug Bradley Almost Passed On The Role
Originally , actor Doug Bradley was repellent to the idea of flirt the part of Pinhead because he believed his life history would suffer if audiences could not make out his real face . He opt to act as one of the furniture movers shown briefly in the film , rather than take on the part of lead baddie .
Eventually , a modification of heart would lead to him assuming the Pinhead role , and the relaxation is chronicle . Ironically , Bradley was seemingly cast out by his co - star at a post - launch party because they did not make out him out of his make-up , which believably confirmed his not bad veneration . Nevertheless , Bradley would soldier on , finally becoming so familiar with the character that he was credited as a makeup creative person .
NEXT : Hellraiser - 10 Most Iconic Pinhead Quotes
