10 Precise Moments Horror Icons Stopped Being Scary
4. Hellraiser - Making Pinhead Human
Clive Barker's Pinhead is one of the most original horror movie monsters we've had on screen, with the director serving up a batsh*t crazy creature from another dimension obsessed with BDSM. Can't distinguish the line between pain and pleasure? Ram a load of pins in your face and see if that helps.
In the first Hellraiser movie, his ominous, gentlemanly presence was absolutely unsettling; Pinhead being the leader of a group of Cenobites who follow his dimension-exploring antics in pursuit of carnal experiences. The creepy clan of sex deviants soon suffered from sequelitis however, and Hellraiser: Hellbound offered up some backstory that nobody wanted.
Hellbound decided to make the Cenobites, and in turn Pinhead, human in nature - removing all supernatural and demonic assumptions attached to the characters. Whilst in films this works for realism, humanising these creatures made the Hellraiser series far less impactful, explaining away all mystery and intrigue that surrounded the original creations.