Get ready for some gory puzzle-solving, because the new Hellraiser movie is now streaming on Hulu.
Directed by David Bruckner, with a screenplay by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski, this 2022 Hellraiser movie is intended as a reboot of Clive Barker’s classic 1987 supernatural horror movie. It’s the 11th movie in the Hellraiser franchise, but, luckily, you don’t need to have seen all 10 previous Hellraiser films to understand the plot of the new movie. All of the crucial Hellraiser elements are present in the new one—there is a race of demonic creatures called the Cenobites, which are summoned via a puzzle box that opens a gateway to a Hell-like dimension—but some changes have been made. Don’t worry, it’s all been approved by Barker, who was an executive producer on the film.
That said, even if you have seen the original, you might not be able to follow the plot of the 2022 Hellraiser. There’s a lot going on, from evil puzzle boxes to chattering demons to bloody human sacrifices
If you had trouble following the story, don’t worry, because Decider is here to help. Read on for the Hellraiser 2022 plot summary and the Hellraiser 2022 ending, explained.
Warning: Major Hellraiser spoilers ahead. Duh!
WHAT IS THE HELLRAISER 2022 PLOT SUMMARY?
The movie opens with a young man named Joey, who is called into a very creepy room by a very creepy man named Ronald Voight (Goran Višnjić). Voight prompts Joey to solve his puzzle box, a sort of intricate, ornate Rubik’s cube. Joey does, in fact, solve it—and he is promptly stabbed by the box’s hidden knife. A portal to another dimension opens, and Joey is strung up by demonic chains. Voight looks up to the heavens and declares, “I am a penitent of the Leviathan. Grant me this audience. Grant me this boon.” OK then!
Meanwhile, elsewhere, Riley McKendry (played by Odessa A’zion) is a recovering addict living with her brother, Matt (Brandon Flynn), and her brother’s boyfriend, Colin (Adam Faison). Riley is seeing a new guy named Trevor (Drew Starkey) and her brother does not approve—he thinks Trevor is bad news, will get Riley into trouble, and cause her to relapse. He’s more or less proven right when Trevor recruits Riley for a job robbing an abandoned warehouse, where he believes there are valuable goods stored in a shipment. The two do the break-in, but all they find is the mysterious puzzle box from the opening, albeit in a different shape.
When Riley gets home, late and not sober, her brother reaches his breaking point and kicks her out. She finds herself popping pills in a playground in the middle of the night, and takes out the puzzle box. She manages to unveil the secret knife in the box and summons the High Priest, nicknamed Pinhead (Jamie Clayton), the leader of the extradimensional demonic beings known as the Cenobites. Pinhead (let’s just call her Pinhead for clarity reasons) tells Riley the blade was meant for her and tells her to come with them. “If not you, bring us another,” Pinhead adds. So this demon is not completely unreasonable!
In his apartment, Riley’s brother Matt wakes from a bad dream about Pinhead and is compelled to go looking for Riley. When he finds her, he picks up the box and is stabbed by the knife. The puzzle box absorbs his blood, and he is snatched by the Cenobites while Riley is unconscious. When she wakes up, her brother is missing.
While looking for her brother, more people get stabbed by the box and brutally killed by the Cenobites. Each death counts toward a new “Configuration” in the puzzle box, meaning a human sacrifice gets the box one step closer to being solved. Eventually, Riley herself gets stabbed by the box, and is told by Pinhead that the Cenobites can now claim her at any time. “If not you, another,” Pinhead says. “Choose.” Pinhead adds that Riley needs to only feed two more sacrifices to the box in order to get her “gift:” Her brother, resurrected.
There are six final configuration gifts to choose from: Lament, aka life; Lore, aka knowledge; Lauderant, aka love; Liminal, aka sensation; Lazarus, aka resurrection; and Leviathan, aka power.
WHAT IS THE HELLRAISER 2022 ENDING EXPLAINED?
Riley, Trevor, and Colin are being chased by the Cenobites at Voight’s mansion. When one of the Cenobites, Chatterer, is stabbed by the box and subsequently sacrificed, Riley realizes that killing the Cenobites technically counts as a sacrifice towards the box’s next configuration. Riley comes up with a plan to intentionally let the Cenobites into the mansion in order to offer her final sacrifice to the box.
But wait, there’s a twist! It turns out Riley’s terrible boyfriend Trevor was working for Voight all along. That traitor! Voight shows up at the mansion with a metal contraption in his chest that lets the audience know he is at the mercy of the box and the Cenobites. He needs to feed the box in order to be set free, and hired Trevor to do his dirty work.
Voight recalls how he solved the puzzle box with sacrifices six years ago, and chose “Liminal,” aka sensation. But it turned out that the Cenobite’s idea of “sensation” was actually weird body horror torture. Who could have guessed? Voight warns Riley that whatever the Cenobites have promised her, it will not be what she wants. Voight stabs Colin, marking him as the next victim, and summons the Cenobites. Voight demands Pinhead undo his “gift.” Pinhead says the gift can’t be returned, but it can be exchanged. Pinhead gives Voight “Leviathan,” aka power.
Meanwhile, the Cenobites come to collect Colin, but Riley steps in and asks them to take Trevor the traitor instead. She stabs Trevor, releasing Colin from his Cenobite prison. Pinhead shows Riley her gift for the final sacrifice—her brother, resurrected—but she rejects the gift. She accepts that her brother is gone, knowing that the Cenobite reward will not be what they say. Pinhead tells Riley this means she has chosen “the Lament Configuration,” aka life, and will always live a life of regret.
Riley and Colin leave the mansion, alive. Riley is unsure if she made the right choice not to bring her brother back.
WHAT HAPPENS TO ROLAND VOIGHT AT THE END OF HELLRAISER?
In the movie’s final scene, Voight is transformed into a Cenobite in a graphic, skin-peeling sequence. He’s raised up in light by the Cenobite’s god, what looks like wings behind him. This calls back to some lore mentioned earlier in the movie about how some thought the Cenobites were angels. They’re not, and they’re not demons; they’re just weird otherworldly beings with a fetish for peeling people’s skin off. And now, Voight is one of them. With a new Cenobite villain in place—setting up a potential sequel—the movie ends. Perhaps this means you can look forward to seeing Voight in a 12th Hellraiser movie.