Hellraiser: Judgement (2018) - Cameo time for Pinhead

This is the second film in the 'Hellraiser' franchise that doesn't feature actor Doug Bradley as the lead antagonist, 'Pinhead.' The last one wasn't that good and felt like a story that had originally been for the series, but adapted with the evil 'Cenobites' thrown in for continuity's sake.  This one suffers from the same criticism.

It's about a trio of police officers trying to catch a serial killer.  You won't even see a Cenobite until around fifty minutes into the film.  In fact, if you turned the movie on any time before that, you may not even realise it's a horror film.  Yes, there is a new character called 'The Auditor' who is genuinely quite creepy and nicely different in horror terms to Pinhead and his look.  However, it's just not enough.

Then, when Pinhead finally shows himself, it's almost for just a few minutes at the three quarter mark and then a bit at the end.  Maybe if it was Doug Bradley behind the make-up it might have been passable, but with a lesser actor in the role, the film really doesn't stand a chance.

The first 'Hellraiser' was a classic and is normally thought of as 'the best' the franchise has to offer.  I personally enjoyed the first three, but after that I found you could take or leave what came next.  This one is definitely one I won't be revisiting.  There are a few nice practical effects towards the end, but it's nothing you haven't seen in previous instalments and it's too little to save this decidedly average entry.

4/10 You can watch this film while you're doing the ironing (you'll still get the general gist of it)