Movies
Horror 101: Pinhead, the Cenobites, and the Puzzling Nature of the Hellraiser Franchise
Everything you wanted to know about the Hellraiser franchise: who they are, where they came from, what they want, and how that funny little puzzle box plays into it. Hellraiser is a sprawling franchise with comics and short stories galore, beyond the massive scope of its 11 films. To simplify things, we’re sticking to the films, except for Hellraiser: Judgement, because it left on a cliffhanger that doesn’t make sense in continuity and most likely won’t be continued—obviously, spoilers for almost all the Hellraiser films. Let’s get into it!
Welcome back to Horror 101, a series of articles where we explain horror movie legends and their lore. For beginners, the confused, or just those who need a refresher, these articles are for you.
It’s been a popular topic recently: finding someone who matches your freak. And horror is full of them, just straight-up nasties whose limits of experimentation know no bounds. But who are the unmatched freaks? The unrivaled weirdos, not just in this world, but across all realities?
If Clive Barker is to be believed, it’s the Cenobites.
And today’s Horror 101 is all about the stars of the Hellraiser franchise: who they are, where they came from, what they want, and how that funny little puzzle box plays into it. Hellraiser is a sprawling franchise with comics and short stories galore, beyond the massive scope of its 11 films. To simplify things, we’re sticking to the films, except for Hellraiser: Judgement, because it left on a cliffhanger that doesn’t make sense in continuity and most likely won’t be continued—obviously, spoilers for almost all the Hellraiser films. Let’s get into it!
WHAT IS THE LAMENT CONFIGURATION?
Before we can explain what the Cenobites are, we need to explain the thing that summons them. Known as the Lament Configuration, Hellraiser’s iconic infernal invention is a puzzle box, that when solved opens a gateway between Hell and Earth, allowing the Cenobites free passage between the realms. This passage can only be closed by reverting the box to its original form.
The Lament Configuration was made by a man named Philip Lemarchand (because, as with all bad things, the French caused it). Hellraiser: Bloodline shows us that Lemarchand was commissioned by a French occultist, De L’Isle, who performed an intricate and bloody ritual to summon a demon. This unleashed Angelique, the first of the Cenobites. Lemarchand was struck with guilt and cursed, with his bloodline becoming dedicated to destroying the passage De L’Isle created, but more on that later.
Regardless of where it is in the franchise, the Lament Configuration is an artifact of terrifying power. The 2022 remake of Hellraiser shows the Lament Configuration in several other forms, each granting the user one wish. However, the wishes are a bit on the Monkey’s Paw side, as the film’s secondary antagonist Voight ends up wishing through the Sensation configuration for endless pleasure. He is of course given the Cenobites idea of endless pleasure: being made functionally immortal and implanted with an advanced mystical torture device that never relents.
WHAT ARE THE CENOBITES?
Speak of the devil, and you’ll inevitably have to explain his lore. The Cenobites, known as The Order of the Gash or Pinhead’s Gash for short, are an order of interdimensional demons whose perceptions of pain and pleasure are one in the same. These grotesque (if not stylish) beings are brutal and efficient torturers whose idea of a good time involves putting their victims through hell and dragging them back to their dark world.
Each Cenobite is brutally deformed, usually complete with flensed flesh, barbs and hooks, missing or deformed body parts, and bloodless pale skin. They also almost always wear leather outfits to fit their extreme BDSM ideals. On a textual level, the Cenobites and how they ravage people has always been an allegory for addiction (and in particular, sex addiction, but it expands as the series goes on and gets broader). They are beings stripped bare of anything but desire, and the extremes they’ll go to get what they want, and their aesthetics are tailor-made to match that.
WHERE DO THE CENOBITES COME FROM?
All Cenobites were once human, victims of the Lament Configuration that were chosen as priests by Leviathan due to a lack of faith or having a particularly cruel streak. We learn in Hellraiser II and III that they’re created by fusing a demonic spirit, completely amoral and chaotic killers, with a damned human spirit, whose ideas of structure and order allow the ruinous power to be focused and execute Leviathan’s commands.
WHAT DO THE CENOBITES WANT?
If their victim’s spirits escape Hell, however, they will endlessly hunt for them, and take out anyone in their path to get them back. Though their name would make them seem like a dark order of monks, they mostly act as jailers for the Hell they reside in. The Gash follows a structured hierarchy and destroys threats to that hierarchy with impunity. At the top of it all is the boss called Leviathan.
WHO IS PINHEAD?
Though the Cenobites of The Gash seem unrestrained in their merciless methods, every depiction of them shows them led by a head priest: Pinhead.
While the novella and subsequent stories don’t give much of an origin to Pinhead, we find out in Hellraiser 2 that he was once an English soldier named Elliot Spencer, who grew callous with life and began seeking new pleasures. Running into the Lament Configuration on his hedonistic journey, he was killed by the box and turned into Leviathan’s servant during World War 2. Since then, he has been such an icon of horror that you can’t have a Hellraiser without him.
…Or her, or they, or it! In the 2022 remake, Pinhead (just called The Priest) doesn’t have any of this backstory, and is portrayed by Jamie Clayton instead of a traditional male actor one would expect. This is overtly a nod by director David Bruckner to the fact that in the original novella, Pinhead is androgynous with some feminine traits (but is only referred to with the pronoun “it”). The story version is seemingly gender nonconforming, while all the press and discussion about the film indicates remake Pinhead as female.
All of this to say, at the end of the day, a Pinhead is a Pinhead regardless of gender, and this franchise would be way worse without him, her, or them.
HOW DO YOU DEFEAT THE CENOBITES?
While it’s seemingly impossible to destroy the Cenobites, they can actually be slowed down and even swayed to your side. The simplest method of getting away from them is to, of course, revert the puzzle box to its original form and send the Cenobites back to Hell. The Cenobites have on one occasion been reminded of their formerly human lives, and turned on Leviathan for making them that way. However, this was only a temporary armistice as Pinhead eventually returned to his wicked ways.
But the most surefire way to stop the cenobites is one of the franchise’s most controversial moments: going to space and boxing them up like a gift. Remember how earlier in the article I mentioned the Lemarchand bloodline trying to negate the effects of creating the box? The Lemarchand family repeatedly tried and failed to create a puzzle box to do so, known as the Elysium Configuration: a device that could produce an unending source of light that would shut the pathway made by the Lament.
This came to a head in 2172, during the events of Hellraiser: Bloodlines. After multiple attempts, Dr. Paul Merchant had designed a space station known as the Minos. When the cenobites went to space to hunt down Merchant, it was revealed the Minos was the Elysium Configuration, and he had lured them into a trap.
Since this is as far into the future of their universe as the story goes, Pinhead and his Gash were all (or will be in about 150 years, give or take) trapped in the Elysium Configuration satellite, constantly being blinded by eternal light.
Live by the puzzles, die by the puzzles.
…WHY CD-HEAD?
Why not CD-Head? Look at him!
He is perfect the way he is.
And that will be it for today’s Horror 101 lesson. See you in the next class, and stay tuned to Horror Press’s social media feeds (@HorrorPressLLC on Twitter and Instagram) for more content on horror movies, television, and everything in between!
Netflix did not give me a lot to work with this month. I may have also zoomed through many of my favorite things on the platform these last few months. So, many of these are titles I have been meaning to check out, and I hope they are worth the wait. However, I cannot promise the carnage, chaos, and confusion I normally provide for this column. This means you’ll have to forgive me for having less razzle dazzle and a little more uncertainty while I list some stuff off the less beaten path. Gather around, and I’ll tell you what I am trying to get into this March!
Archive (2020)
In 20238, George Almore’s newest AI prototype is nearly complete. However, this humanesque machine is also hiding one of George’s secrets that must remain hidden. While I love some British sci-fi and believe we should watch as many of the 2020 movies that slid under our quarantined radar, I’m pulling up for another reason. I want to see Theo James in something that isn’t The Monkey. Literally. I didn’t enjoy that movie, and I seem to be the last person I know who was unfamiliar with James before that. So, I’m trying to rectify that and see what he can do in anything else. Hopefully, after catching this on Netflix, I will have a new movie that comes to mind when he is mentioned. Fingers crossed, friends!
Green Room (2016)
A punk rock band gets trapped in a venue where skinheads want to kill them. So many people have told me this movie is worth my time, but because it’s always too soon for violent racists in this decade, I keep putting it off. However, I am so curious to see what Patrick Stewart, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, and the late Anton Yelchin are doing in this movie. Green Room is also one of the few A24 horror movies that I have not seen, which makes it even more intriguing. While I doubt 2026 will calm down enough for this not feel too real, I think it’s time for me to be brave and cross this movie off my list already. So, I might have to grab a drink, a weighted blanket, and remote so I can open Netflix.
M3GAN 2.0 (2025)
Two years after M3GAN’s murder spree, she is rebuilt by her creator to take down a military-grade weapon made from her stolen tech. Is this movie as good as the original written by Akela Cooper? Obviously not. No one can do what Cooper does and we shouldn’t hold people to that very high bar. Is this movie way too damn long? Also, yes. However, was there still a lot of fun to be had along the way? I thought so. While M3GAN 2.0 isn’t the sequel we wanted, I’m happy to rewatch it for free at home. We lose a lot of the threads I loved in the first one, but I’ll be damned if this isn’t the new Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day anyway. In a perfect world, Akela Cooper will reopen the computer (after receiving a very large check from Blumhouse) and give us a third installment to bring our dancing diva back into the horror fold.
Life After Beth (2014)
A man discovers his dead girlfriend is back, and that might be for the worst. I never watched this horror comedy, but I’m sad and hoping Aubrey Plaza can change that. After all, if she can’t wake us up after a long winter, then who can? I also imagine Plaza as a zombie is kind of great. Along for the ride is Molly Shannon, so between the two of them, I expect some chuckles and guffaws. Maybe the powers that be at Netflix knew we could all use a laugh, and that’s why this is waiting for us on the other side of February. Or possibly they wanted to apologize for that last season of Stranger Things. Or maybe it’s just a wacky coincidence, and I’m looking for meaning where there is none. Either way, I have a date with this movie, and you might want to check it out too.
Teen Wolf (2011-2017)
Getting bitten by a werewolf turns life upside down for a high school student and his best friend. Hear me out! I doubt there is a world where I will watch all six seasons of this. Hell, I doubt I’ll even finish the first season. However, I skipped this MTV moment when it originally aired. Which is why I didn’t know who Dylan O’Brien was when Send Help was announced. So, I’m using this Netflix account to see where he started now that I have seen him in something. You can join me in this or mark your time as safe and watch something else. I don’t blame you either way, and I hope you’ll respect my privacy during this adventure.
That’s what I’m doing with my Netflix account this month. Here is hoping April gives us more scary movies because some of us deserve it. Most importantly, I deserve it.
Shudder is still that girl even in March. Our beloved streamer is adding classics like The Fog and Messiah of Evil. They are also adding a couple of films that are precious to my generation, like May. The app always has an eclectic lineup, but this month is an embarrassment of riches. At least if you are like me, and looking at a list of movies you have had on your watch list forever. That is why it took me a hot minute to figure out which five titles should be this month’s priority. However, I cracked the code and think I have something old, something new, and definitely at least a couple of things that will turn blue. Check out what I am trying to see on Shudder this month. Also, be sure to let me know if you are as geeked about these titles as I am.
The Best Movies to Stream on Shudder This Month
The Last Horror Film (1982)
A New York taxi driver stalks an actress during the Cannes Film Festival. I love 80s slashers and have been on a quest to watch them all. This one has eluded me for a couple of years, and I am so happy Shudder is finally letting me cross it off my list. I am not expecting this to break my top 1980s slashers. I’m not even counting on it to be one of the best movies about a stalked actress of that era. However, I’m excited to finally see it for myself with an adult beverage in hand.
You can watch The Last Horror Film on March 1st.
Fade to Black (1980)
A film fanatic begins murdering people who betray him while stalking his idol. I finally caught this on Shudder in the last couple of years and will be using its return as an excuse to rewatch it. Very few movies cater to the slasher kids and film nerds as well as this one. Fade to Black is the kind of psychological horror comedy that is the reason 1980s horror remains unmatched. The costumes, the obsession, and the kills are the most fun you can possibly have on a Shudder Saturday. Do yourself a favor and hit play immediately.
You can watch Fade to Black on March 9th.
Hostile Dimensions (2023)
Two filmmakers travel through alternate dimensions seeking out the truth about a missing graffiti artist. This found footage film has been on my list for years, and I am so grateful that Shudder is finally letting me see it. I have heard so many great things, and the FOMO was killing me. Hopefully, Hostile Dimensions lives up to the hype. Otherwise, I have to ask my nearest and dearest to explain themselves and then stop accepting recommendations from them. Will it scratch the found footage itch I have this month? There is only one way to find out, and that is why I will be sat the day this drops on the app.
You can watch Hostile Dimensions on March 9th.
1000 Women in Horror (2025)
Women have been an integral part of the genre since Mary Shelley started thinking about Frankenstein. However, we do not always get the credit and respect we deserve. Which is why I am thrilled 1000 Women in Horror is celebrating the badasses who revolutionized horror films. Not only is the documentary opening the libraries for us, but it’s also bringing current faves along for the ride. Akela Cooper, Toby Poser, and Jenn Wexler are just some of the names I know who are about to inspire so many women to get serious about making their movies. I cannot stress enough how happy I am that Shudder is adding this to its lineup.
You can watch 1000 Women in Horror on March 20th.
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
College friends backpacking through Britain are attacked by a werewolf. As a werewolf film enthusiast, I know they are not all made equally. That is one of the many reasons why this is easily one of the best werewolf movies the genre has. The transformation alone is worth the price of a Shudder subscription. So, it shouldn’t come as a shock that this is one of the five titles I’m most excited to see this month. Hell, it’s probably in everyone’s top five to be completely honest. I cannot think of a better way to close this month out than with a top-tier werewolf flick.
You can watch An American Werewolf in London on March 31st.
I told you, Shudder is that girl. Whether you’re on spring break, taking a mental health day, or just dissociating, this app has got you covered. Make sure you dig into some of this sick, twisted, and cool cinema. As for me, I will see you next month with more recommendations.
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