HELLRAISER (2022): Jamie Clayton cast as Pinhead

Jamie Clayton cast as Hell Priestess in Re-Imagined Hellraiser

The remake of Clive Barker’s Hellraiser (2022) gender-bends lead character Pinhead.

The Hell in Hellraiser no longer has a Priest, but a Priestess, none other than Jamie Clayton, the transgendered hero of the innovative cult favorite television series, Sens8. That’s enough of a surprise, but there may be more in store–with the demon’s gender now bent, will the filmmakers give her a different hell to raise?

It couldn’t be any worse than the hell under which this project languished for 15 years. Development Hell, that is.

Twice optioned in 2006 and 2008, the director’s torch had been handed off three times, for a time in the care of the Pascal Laugier, whose interest in the project, as a director in the New French Extremism Movement, is easy to understand.

Finally, the project landed in the lap of Clive Barker, who penned the novel, “The Hellbound Heart,” from which the entire Hellraiser franchise was launched. Barker insists that this current effort is not a remake, but a ‘re-imagining’ of the original story, having teamed up with writers Ben Collins, David S. Goyer, and Luke Piostrowski. If this is the case, then new esthetic possibilities can be culled from the ground up.

I share the majority opinion, both popular and critical, that the 1987 original goes beyond mere ‘torture porn.’ The novel seriously considers the connections between passion, pain and pleasure; that in the long run there is a purpose to suffering, and fosters growth in those with fortitude. (Incidentally, if you haven’t read “The Hellbound Heart,” you’re missing out.) In a similar spirit, the film transforms the gruesomeness and conveys the mythos of its source and the elegance of its prose.

There has been a fair amount of internet debate whether or not Ms. Clayton, as Pinhead, can compare to fan favorite Doug Bradley. Though the majority support the move, this is a pointless exercise, in my opinion. Bradley has certainly earned that loyalty (also my opinion, having screened the original), but there is every reason to expect that Ms. Clayton, based on previous merit, can make the part her own.

Besides, as Old Scratch, Clayton is in very good company. In the past a number of female devils has graced the screen, large and small. The more glamorous among them comes to mind, such as Julie Newmar in The Twilight Zone episode “Of Late I Think of Cliffordville,” and Elizabeth Hurley in a remake of the 1967 British film, Bedazzled. Interestingly, in the case of the remake, what went around, comes around: Harold Ramis chose to gender-switch the Devil from male to female.

Certainly the novel remains seminal enough to build on the story and explore variations on the theme. If the bold venture in casting against gender is the project’s benchmark, then there is no reason why this rendition shouldn’t pass the toughest muster.

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