10 Horrific Horror Movie Scenes You Can’t Unsee

Clive Barker’s directorial debut is regarded as a classic of the 80s horror movement. The Cenobites are cemented in horror history, with Pinhead being one of the most iconic villains up there with Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees. Hellraiser was also one of the most violent movies of the late 80s with some of the best special effects for it time. Whilst the scene of Frank ‘re-growing’ his entire body bit by bit is an iconic piece of Cronenberg-esque body horror, the most horrific scene is saved for the end.

In the beginning, Frank is torn apart by chains offscreen and, in a grand piece of cinematic irony, is torn apart by chains once again in the finale. This time, however, the ripping apart of Frank’s new body is shown in all of its gory detail as the pressure from the chains cause his body to violently explode in a cataclysm of blood and gore. It’s a scene that’s incredibly hard to forget once witnessed.

What’s interesting to note is that this scene was actually censored by the studio before the print was finished. In Hellbound: Hellraiser II, the flashback to this scene is shown in its gory entirety, with the head-splitting scene completely intact. However, since it’s only a flashback, it pales in comparison to the violence featured in the rest of the film, whilst the censored version has much more impact because of the build-up beforehand.