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Pinhead, also known as the Hell Priest, is the main antagonist of the 2022 reboot horror film Hellraiser. She is the leader of a group of savage entities known as Cenobites who worship the eldritch deity Leviathan in an interdimensional hell known as the Labyrinth. She along with the rest of the Cenobites take sadistic pleasure in kidnapping and torturing anybody unfortunate enough to find one of the Configuration Boxes.
Background
Development
Pinhead originated from the book The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker. In the original novel, the character was not given a name, but was described as having a grid like pattern on their face and bejeweled pins. When Barker adapted his novel into the original movie Hellraiser in 1987, he altered the design a bit for actor Doug Bradley. Barker insisted on naming the character either Lead Cenobite, Hell Priest, or just The Priest, but the make up team would use the name Pinhead, a name that the public quickly figured out and began to spread as his official name. The name would first be uttered, in a derogatory manner, in the film Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth. Barker has openly detested the name.
Character history
Nothing is known about Pinhead's early life, but considering Cenobites are usually humans in their past lives, it can be assumed that she most likely lived a human life before discovering the Configuration Box and becoming Cenobite and serving the eldritch god Leviathan of the Labyrinth. It's also implied that she has abducted and tortured many unwilling people after they have solved and opened a Configuration Box and taken them all back to the Labyrinth so that they can either become Cenobites themselves or so she can continue to personally torture and mutilate them for all eternity.
Physical appearance
Pinhead appears as an average height, bleach-pale woman in a priestess robe made out of her own skin and flesh which obscures her genitalia on her body due to extreme mutilation. She is most uniquely known for her piercings, which are accompanied by a heavily detailed grid which were sliced over her entire head and at every intersection of horizontal and vertical lines a jewel pin is rammed which she could easily remove to pierce her victims with it. She also has two gold lockets painfully attached and lined vertically through the front and back of her neck, causing her to speak in an almost raspy and breathy monotone voice.
Powers and abilities
- Necromancy:
- Near Invulnerability:
- Immortality:
- Pain Immunity:
- Teleportation and interdimensional travelling:
- Telepathy:
- Alysidakinesis:
- Healing and biological manipulation:
Hellraiser
Charismatic and wealthy businessman Roland Voight grows bored with all of the constant orgies and debauchery that he constantly takes part in and decides he wants even greater pleasures, he eventually learns of a Configuration Box and is able to acquire it for himself through his lawyer Serena Menaker and after solving the puzzle, Pinhead and the Cenobites appear to offer him a choice between experiencing other-worldly pleasures by giving him the Liminal Configuration of sensation in exchange for him delivering to them several souls. Eventually, Roland succeeds in luring a male sex worker and tricking him into solving one of the boxes resulting in him being brutally torn apart by Pinhead's hook-chains. Roland eagerly awaits his reward only to be betrayed by Pinhead who has the Liminal Configuration Box impale him through the chest and continuously twist and contort his nerves through gears for as long as he lives and causing him unending agony for a sensation. After being unable to remove the box from his chest multiple times, he slowly comes up with a plan and builds a fortress-like prison for him to summon the Leviathan in his estate with plans to lure and trap Pinhead until he can convince Leviathan to remove the box from his chest and end his suffering. Over time, Roland would eventually be declared missing by the law and public eye and his estate is seemingly left abandoned while his lawyer Serena contracted lung cancer and is treated at a hospital while having to live with the guilt of getting box for Roland.
Six years later, recovering addict Riley McKendry struggles with her relationship with her brother, Matt of whom she lives with. One day at her boyfriend Trevor's apartment, he convinces her to help him break into an abandoned warehouse to steal an artifact from a safe located there, she agrees, and they head over to the warehouse at the dead of night, after breaking in and forcefully opening the safe, they discover a Configuration Box and Riley takes it home with her as she and Trevor go separate ways. After a fight with Matt, Riley leaves the house and heads to a nearby park where she plays around with the box, unknowingly solving it, causing a small blade to shoot out of the box, but Riley is able to miraculously move out of the way before the blade could pierce her, seemingly saving herself from being dragged into the Labyrinth. She eventually starts to fall asleep on the Merry-go-round as it spins and is shocked to see Pinhead and the Other Cenobites watching her. As she jumps to her feet, Pinhead tells her that she was supposed to be stabbed by the blade and as a result, she must now find them one more victim in exchange her life before Riley passes out.
To Be Added...
Trivia
- This is the first live-action version of Pinhead to be depicted as a female. Ironically, the book describes the cenobite as appearing androgynous with a feminine voice, making this version of the character closer to the source material.
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