-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
Horror fans, are the Cenobites aka Pinhead from Hellraiser evil?
- Thread starter Slayven
- Start date
Been a long ass time since I've watched a Hellraiser movie by they didn't strike me as evil. They're just a group of horny sadomasochists.
Holy shit there's 10 of them!? When was the last time one of them got a theatrical release? Are any of them modern?
I have a morbid curiosity about Cenobites and their lore but I 10000000% cannot deal with body horror shit so I'll never be able to watch any of the movies.
Yes. Just because they might prefer to be left alone doesn't mane they ain't evil. Like, don't they try to take Kristy at the end of 1 even after they get Frank? They had no reason to involve Kristy in their bullshit at all if they were not evil.
They just happen to also inflict themselves on evil people too.
They just happen to also inflict themselves on evil people too.
They're the school goths, just let them do their thing, man.
Bunch of fuckin degens
I'd say the cenobites seem to align with the lawful neutral spectrum, at least for the first 2 movies.
The cenobites didn't actively seek out 'victims', and they only appeared to those who open the box with intent. This is why they don't go after the mute girl in hellraiser 2 when she was tricked to do so by the doctor. Frank technically got his wish after opening the box, which is way more explicit in the book lol.
Even they describe themselves as 'demons to some, angels to others', which fits into the neutral spectrum before they become horror movie slashers later on.
The cenobites didn't actively seek out 'victims', and they only appeared to those who open the box with intent. This is why they don't go after the mute girl in hellraiser 2 when she was tricked to do so by the doctor. Frank technically got his wish after opening the box, which is way more explicit in the book lol.
Even they describe themselves as 'demons to some, angels to others', which fits into the neutral spectrum before they become horror movie slashers later on.
Last edited:
The Hellraiser hell was just one hell domain, lorded over by Leviathan with Pinhead as his pope and the cenobites as his black priests, there are other hell lords with other domains and such.
Hellblazer (coincidentally) ran with similar concepts, each mythology has a hell, they're all valid.
If you want an evil take on the Cenobite idea the Godhand from Beserk are probably a better choice. They cause plagues and force people to make a horrific choice at their lowest moments to turn them into monsters.
Tag yourself, im mars attacks version of dracula
I guess this is based on the movie continuity, as in the Barker books Pinhead is from the literal Christian Hell.
4 was the last to get a theatrical release, but they've kept making them. Judgement came out in 2018.
Comics were Barker written, still from Christian hell, others are other religion/older religion hells.
Haha, the whole mythology sounds absolute bonkers! :D
"They don't believe in evil," "they're beyond such concepts," "they're really more of a neutral."
Playing with a Rubik's cube is not consent to be tortured, y'all.
In the book Frank was warned about the cenobites, but that horny bastard opened the box anyways. He did get what he wanted, even though he got ripped apart after the biggest nut of his life. 👀
If you go by Clive Barker's newest continuity and lore, The Priest of Hell (Pinhead) is a representative of evil in the Christian cosmology. However, it can be very different in some media, especially many of the comics.
In their most neutral versions, Cenobites are worshippers of a kind of order that involves balancing all things and experiences. Everything has a place, pleasure and pain, good and evil, suffering and salvation.
Still, by human standards, they see nothing wrong with inflicting horrific torture when their calculus says it is justified. So on a human level they would be the very personification of lawful evil.
IIRC, in the original story compared to the movie, the Cenobites are surprisingly fair. They don't just drag Frank to hell when he summons them; they warn him he may not get what he expects, providing him an opportunity to back out. They don't betray Kirsty after she gives them Frank.
In their most neutral versions, Cenobites are worshippers of a kind of order that involves balancing all things and experiences. Everything has a place, pleasure and pain, good and evil, suffering and salvation.
Still, by human standards, they see nothing wrong with inflicting horrific torture when their calculus says it is justified. So on a human level they would be the very personification of lawful evil.
IIRC, in the original story compared to the movie, the Cenobites are surprisingly fair. They don't just drag Frank to hell when he summons them; they warn him he may not get what he expects, providing him an opportunity to back out. They don't betray Kirsty after she gives them Frank.
Ooh I like lore. I'll see if it's streaming somewhere.
Lol I figured as much
I do have a soft spot for 3. I know it's bad, but I still enjoy it.
3 isn't as good as 1 and 2, but it's lightyears ahead of the trash that followed. What I bothered to watch of those non-Doug Bradley Hellraiser movies was a complete travesty. Just awful.
There's a lot of 'good people on both sides of the lament configuration' Going on it this thread.
like literal eternal torture and suffering is a justifiable response to opening a puzzle, trspassing or even asking for it at first.
It's as immoral and evil as the god of the bible, which is incredibly immoral and evil.
like literal eternal torture and suffering is a justifiable response to opening a puzzle, trspassing or even asking for it at first.
It's as immoral and evil as the god of the bible, which is incredibly immoral and evil.
Just never ever watch the Video Game one known as Hellraiser Hellworld. Or the found footage one know as Hellraiser Revelations.
For some reason some people seem to like Hellraiser: Inferno and I have no idea why. That movie sucked shit.
I read the description of that one after my first post and... NOPE
yes, this is why Hellraiser is an otherwise incredible movie with roughly 5 minutes of bad nonsense tacked on near the ending.
the last bit outside the house is the good kind of nonsense though, that part rules.
Hellraiser 1 is my favorite horror movie. If you read the novel that the movie was based on, the Cenobites were never depicted as being neither good nor evil. They are basically dealmakers. If you solve the box looking to fulfill your deepest pleasures or desires, then they will deliver in exchange for exquisite pain and suffering.
Even Hellraiser 2 delved a little deeper into this since the character Tiffany had opened the box on behalf of Julia and Dr. Channard, and Pinhead stopped the other Cenobites from taking Tiffany because he knew she had no desire to open the box, so there was no deal to be made.
The ending was going to be very different starting from that part, but they ran out of money and couldn't get more from the studio to properly finish the film. So Clive and another of the directors got drunk one weekend and designed the final sequence. However, according to Doug Bradley (the man who played Pinhead) Clive wanted to have this mystery around the Cenobites motives so that they couldn't be perceived as the "heroes" of the story since they would ultimately save Kirsty. Hence why they go back on their deal and try to take Kirsty back once they kill Frank again.
Even Hellraiser 2 delved a little deeper into this since the character Tiffany had opened the box on behalf of Julia and Dr. Channard, and Pinhead stopped the other Cenobites from taking Tiffany because he knew she had no desire to open the box, so there was no deal to be made.
The ending was going to be very different starting from that part, but they ran out of money and couldn't get more from the studio to properly finish the film. So Clive and another of the directors got drunk one weekend and designed the final sequence. However, according to Doug Bradley (the man who played Pinhead) Clive wanted to have this mystery around the Cenobites motives so that they couldn't be perceived as the "heroes" of the story since they would ultimately save Kirsty. Hence why they go back on their deal and try to take Kirsty back once they kill Frank again.
Last edited:
I mean, they don't ask you for consent or let you stop, right? A good or neutral being would let you cry uncle or listen when you tell them there's been a misunderstanding imo.
And to think... I hesitated.
It's a shame that film was stripped of the budget it deserved.
Is Cthulu evil? Hastur? King in Yellow and all that?
Or are their concepts of life and death so beyond your tiny minds that you cannot understand the infinite??!!
We have such sights to show you, where we're going you don't need eyes to see... ect.
Or are their concepts of life and death so beyond your tiny minds that you cannot understand the infinite??!!
We have such sights to show you, where we're going you don't need eyes to see... ect.
Hard no. there one or two movies that basically are a psychological horror with pinhead only appear at the end.
It's competent. Plays out like a Silent Hill game too. Pretty damn good for a 4th sequel tbh.
Written and Directed by Scott Derrickson who wrote and directed Sinister and also Doctor Strange.
Yeah this is why the ending flopped for me. It was lame seeing these amazing practical horror movie monster designs being dispatched so easily and for no real reason for them to go nuts and try to kill her. Like tell her to leave the box and get the fuck out I promise you she will not bother arguing with the flayed BDSM demon
To elaborate, had it been a standalone movie it would've been an OK-ish psychological horror drama/thriller. But as a Hellraiser movie it just... kinda sucked.
Fair enough. It was super lame that it's follow up Hellseeker is basically the same movie.