the long awaited hellraiser the reboot is upon us, and fans lucky enough to attend Fantastic Fest were treated to the premiere of the upcoming Hulu-exclusive movie, and it seems to have been received quite well by those in attendance.

The film is full of new scares and a newly cast Jamie Clayton in the role of Pinhead commanding his army of cenobites to terrorize victims in ways appropriate for 2022. In the question and answer session that follows the film, the Director David Bruckner looks at how social taboos like BDSM that existed in the 1980s don’t necessarily apply in the modern age, and the challenge that presented in creating new cenobites and bringing back existing fan favorites.

“And in exploring that, we felt like our attitudes about, you know, that direct BDSM reference had changed. You know, black leather in particular and that whole subculture, something that’s not as edgy as it was in the ’80s. Now it’s something that’s pretty much on the table. You know, we can talk about it, it’s culture, time, communication. my mom is reading Fifty shades. Like, it’s just a different time.”

Bruckner also reflected on how the 2022 adaptation of the horror classic came to be, having previously worked with writers Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski on 2020. The House of the Night. Bruckner was unaware at the time that the aforementioned film is loosely based on a hellraiser pitch the writers made in 2012.

“Ben and Luke never told me it was loosely based on a hellraiser presentation that they had done in 2012. But, of course, the themes at all times were certainly relevant in many ways. And he started dating when the movie was over. I was like, that makes perfect fucking sense. And at that time, David Goyer had written a treatment for Spyglass for hellraiser. And they had come and made a draft. And then I got the skipped call in April 2020. And we just investigated, and it’s been hellraiser since then.”

The original hellraiser it came out in 1987 and was directed by Clive Barker with Doug Bradley playing the lead cenobite, Pinhead. Bradley recently shared his thoughts on the Pinhead mantle being passed on to Jamie Clayton.

Pinhead is one of the scariest slasher villains of all time, and he has the credentials to prove it, as he topped our list of slasher villains with the highest death toll.

hellraiser will officially premiere at Beyond Fest on October 4, and the terror will hit mainstream audiences on Hulu a few days later on October 7.