The Hellraiser Teaser Is Here With A Peek At Jamie Clayton’s Pinhead

At long last, fans can get a tiny glimpse of Jamie Clayton’s turn as the iconic Hell Priest, Pinhead, in the first-ever teaser trailer for Hulu’s Hellraiser remake.

The film, which reimagines Clive Barker’s classic story and film from 1987 (he both wrote the novella The Hellbound Heart and directed the original film based on it), is set to debut on October 7 as a part of the streamer’s annual “Huluween” celebration.

In this new take, directed by David Brukner (The Night House, The Ritual), “a young woman struggling with addiction comes into possession of an ancient puzzle box, unaware that its purpose is to summon the Cenobites, a group of sadistic supernatural beings from another dimension.” That’s according to the official synopsis, which makes clear that the new film is an adaptation or reboot rather than a straightforward remake of the source material.

The original film has long been considered a queer classic, even though there’s no textually queer content in it. Rather, it possesses a spiritual queerness borne of the fact that the original story, written by Barker, a gay man, was heavily influenced by his time working as a hustler and frequenting queer S&M clubs.

“I worked as a hustler in the 1970s,” Barker told The Guardian in 2017. “I met a lot of people you’ll know and some you won’t: publishers, captains of industry. The way they acted — and the way I did, to be honest — was a source of inspiration later.”

“Sex is a great leveler,” Barker continued. “It made me want to tell a story about good and evil in which sexuality was the connective tissue… Hellraiser, the story of a man driven to seek the ultimate sensual experience, has a much more twisted sense of sexuality.”

And of course, the aesthetic and costuming of Pinhead and his demonic sidekicks the cenobites were inspired by queer kink culture.

The new film appears to be keeping that queer spirit alive with the casting of trans actress Clayton (The L Word: Generation Q, Sense8) as Pinhead. It was a decision that caused outrage in some corners of the internet, where fans of the original are attached to Doug Bradley’s portrayal of the character. Clayton’s turn in the role is expected to remain more accurate to the novella, which describes Pinhead as decidedly androgynous:

“Its voice, unlike that of its companion, was light and breathy-the voice of an excited girl. Every inch of its head had been tattooed with an intricate grid, and at every intersection of horizontal and vertical axes a jeweled pin driven through to the bone. Its tongue was similarly decorated.”

We can’t wait to see this new, and potentially more authentic, take on the story.

Hellraiser premieres October 7 exclusively on Hulu. For a glimpse of Clayton as Pinhead, watch the teaser trailer below.

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