Hellraiser: Judgement director says film may get limited theatrical release

February 8th 2017, 1:48pm

Last Updated on July 21, 2021

It's been a while since a HELLRAISER flick was released theatrically. Actually the last film in the series to screen at a theater near you was HELLRAISER: BLOODLINE (aka HELLRAISER IV) way back in March of 1996. It grossed $4.5 million in its opening weekend and came in fifth place, which isn't bad at all, considering inflation and whatnot. But then the flick ended up grossed a mere $9.3 million in the US. From then on out it straight to video for Pinhead and crew.

Well that might be changing here soon as new Hellraiser Pinhead took his his Facebook recently to throw out this bit of info — oh, damn. His post was deleted. Too bad. Whatever, if I remember correctly he said something about how excited he was to have played the character and how the flick might be seeing a limited theatrical release in the future. By alas, the message, as I said, was deleted.

However, the new film's director Gary J. Tunnicliffe recently was on 60 Minutes With Podcast, and threw this out there:

“All I can say is, the movie is finished. It’s edited – got sound and music, and it’s all done. There’s a trailer, which I just saw. There’s a poster, which is really fucking cool. It’s utterly brilliant. I hope to god they use it. It’s not a big Photoshop thing, it’s like a Drew Struzan picture. It’s lovely. But apparently they did see it and think, ‘We may do a limited theatrical on it.’ But I don’t know. They will release it when they see fit. It could be soon, it could be later. It could be theatrical, it could not be. I’m sure I’ll be the last to know.”

Unfortunately, I don't live in a major city, so even if the new HELLRAISER does, in fact, hit theaters, even in a limited capacity, I will not be on the guest list. I am still looking forward to the flick as I have seen (most) of the Hellraiser sequels and I am always up for a new jaunt into the world of the cenobites.

Side note: HELLRAISER V: INFERNO is of particular note, not only because it is a genuinely good detective neo-noir, but because it was one of the first flick's Scott Derrickson (DOCTOR STRANGE, SINISTER) ever directed, I know you might be skeptical of Hellraiser sequels – even I haven't seen the last three – but give INFERNO a chance. It's better than you'd ever expect.

Check out our column The F*cking Black Sheep for a fun rundown on HELLRAISER 4-8.