Hellraiser
Hulu | Release Date (Streaming): October 7, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
55
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
12
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
85
TheWrapDave WhiteOct 4, 2022
In Bruckner’s directorial hands and David Marks’ editing, more information is delivered than ever before, but no plot point is over-explained. Mysteries are allowed their ambiguity. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubLeigh MonsonOct 4, 2022
Bruckner, Collins, and Piotrowski plant their vision in fields that are no less rich, terrifying, or gorily violent than the hellbound story that started it all. Read full review
80
IGNMatt DonatoOct 4, 2022
Hellraiser is a reinvigorated reboot that gets the blood pumping, starting with Jamie Clayton’s worthy Pinhead performance that sets a fresh tone with immense reverence paid to Clive Barker's works. Read full review
75
PolygonKatie RifeOct 10, 2022
It has some great, grotesque visuals, which makes it a real shame that this film isn’t getting a theatrical release. And it accomplishes what many fans (including this one) wanted for the series, which was to pull it out of the creative purgatory where it’s been stuck for a couple of decades now. Read full review
75
IndieWireJude DryOct 4, 2022
It’s perfectly entertaining, using Barker’s inventive tropes to tell a solidly gory nightmare, but it’s a pale vanilla shadow of the original. Read full review
75
ConsequenceWilliam BibbianiOct 4, 2022
The latest Hellraiser is a massive step forward for the franchise after over 20 years of low-budget, half-hearted misfires. Old fans of the franchise and newcomers alike will no doubt rejoice in Bruckner’s respectful, albeit updated approach to the series, and of course its entertainingly extreme violence. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckOct 4, 2022
Fans will be relieved to know that this Hellraiser definitely doesn’t skimp on the gore, providing enough viscera and flayed skin to satisfy the most bloodthirsty viewers. Read full review
70
We Got This CoveredBeau PaulOct 4, 2022
Hellraiser is a fresh entry to the decades-old franchise and it's also a fresh breath of air to the many fans that have long suffered from below-par sequels. Read full review
65
CNETRichard TrenholmOct 4, 2022
The new 2022 Hellraiser does some cool stuff when it reaches the back stretch, although the two-hour-long film spends way too long spinning its wheels to get there. It won't tear your soul apart, but at least it's a drop of fresh blood for a series that didn't deserve to stay dead. Read full review
65
SlashfilmChris EvangelistaSep 29, 2022
Hellraiser was in bad shape, and what Bruckner has done here is lift the series out of the gutter to give it a touch of old-school charm. But I know he can do better, and I just wish this revival was more of an icky, gooey success rather than a moderately okay horror pic. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsOct 7, 2022
The cleverest additions to the “Hellraiser” canon will only be apparent to established fans since the makers of the latest movie awkwardly graft a sometimes-inspired monster movie onto the back of a trauma-focused character study. Read full review
60
Screen RantAlex HarrisonOct 7, 2022
Though it risks a slip into fully formulaic territory at times, the new movie is building to a far more interesting endgame than it appears to be, in which all the fleshing out of Cenobite lore and mechanics actually amounts to something quite profound. Read full review
60
The GuardianBenjamin LeeOct 7, 2022
It doesn’t always work, and at times it really really doesn’t, but it feels confident and unfettered in a way that so many horror films don’t these days. Read full review
60
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisOct 6, 2022
As an ambitious allegory for the chaos and torment of addiction, Hellraiser works mainly because of A’zion, who gives her scattered character a deeply human desperation. Read full review
58
ColliderAlyse WaxOct 6, 2022
Ultimately, the new Hellraiser isn’t entirely bad. It’s just bland. Forgettable. And in the world of horror films, isn’t that worse than being bad? Read full review
55
Paste MagazineJesse HassengerOct 5, 2022
One point in favor of Bruckner’s new Hellraiser is that it takes some time before it feels truly lost. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurrayOct 7, 2022
For all the flayed flesh and impaled skin in the picture, this Hellraiser isn’t sharp enough. Read full review
50
VarietyOwen GleibermanOct 5, 2022
The new Hellraiser works as metaphor, as flesh-annihilating spectacle. Yet it doesn’t work as a story. Read full review
42
The Film StageEthan VestbyOct 7, 2022
A chief problem with Hellraiser is that we never feel its lead’s dark past. Read full review
42
The PlaylistAndrew CrumpOct 4, 2022
It’s impossible to watch Bruckner’s adaptation without comparing it to Barker’s. Barker tapped into the darkest locus of human desire and expressed it on screen as shocking carnal violence. Bruckner sands down that perverted, forbidden lust into an accessible blueprint: Setup, kill, exposition, repeat. Read full review
40
EmpireKim NewmanNov 7, 2022
Not a write-off, but more like a respectful homage than a 2020s update in the manner of Candyman (2021). Perhaps a little disrespect would have been truer to the Clive Barker/Pinhead spirit, which is curiously muted in this outing. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Jen ChaneyOct 12, 2022
We get a reboot that takes no risks and steers away from the uncomfortable sexual jolts of its predecessor. This movie doesn’t raise hell. Honestly, it barely raises heck. Read full review
40
CNNBrian LowryOct 6, 2022
Hellraiser is obviously operating within fairly well-defined parameters, and leveraging 35 years of screen history, delivers on the most basic level in terms of special effects and gore, without – the “reimagining” claim notwithstanding – bringing much freshness to the formula. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreOct 4, 2022
There’s not enough that’s new to merit raising this corner of hell all over again. Read full review
12
Slant MagazineMark HansonOct 4, 2022
Any ambiguity over the veracity of the story’s events is quickly jettisoned to adhere to the demands of the leaden slasher-film plotting. Read full review
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