The Philosophy of Hellraiser

Let's talk about pain.

[CJ-Jones]

Thomasin is an artist of pain, and her medium is claws.

[uchydpq]

Your cat biting the shit out of your fingers when you were talking bout humans willingly putting themselves through pain was masterful, 10/10, love their acting choices.

[serenedoge]

“We have such sights to show you.”
It’s right there on the tin, really. That’s not a threat.
It’s a *_joyous invitation._*

[connerblank]

The real horror of Hellraisers was never "These people exist, and _they might come for you~"_ It was always supposed to be a more existential "There are people who _want this, _ and with the right circumstance, it _could be you."_

[jesterlampoon-tj]

"When you live in pain for so long, it becomes familiar. Familiarity is comforting. And so, I find comfort in my despair."

[davidjsaul]

One of the things I disliked most about some of the sequels was studios making the cenobites basically cookie cutter slasher villains instead of them being creatures just doing their job and only going after those who seek them.

One of my favourite scenes in the series is in Hellbound when Pinhead stops the cenobites going after the mute girl because it wasn't her who was actually seeking them despite her solving the box.

[ClichéGuevara-]

When I was at theatre school in the early 90's, I was assigned a prop making task of carving a wooden dagger from a piece of 1" x 4" pine. We were given a template to trace the design onto the wood, and after that we were on our own. This bears relevance.
My good friend was a huge Clive Barker fan, and had just purchased a copy of Weaveworld in anticipation of Barker's appearance at a local book store for a signing & sales . I stood in line beside him as he had his book signed, and then suddenly I was there, facing him, with nothing in my hands. Clive looked at me and i reached into my backpack and produced the piece of wood, with the dagger drawn on it.
"Never signed one of these before.", he offered.

I'd like to think that, all these years later, he still hasn't been asked to sign a small piece of wood with a dagger drawn on it.

That's all.

[BayaRae]

"Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die."
Hellraiser is a divine comedy, if you think about it.

[jeffdeupree]

The line that sums up the cenobites is ‘explorers on the edge of experience.’ Future Hellraisers need to really meditate on that line.

[jamesvaughn]

"... if you're frightened of dying and you're holding on you'll see devils tearing your life away, but if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels freeing you from the earth. It's just a matter of how you look at it."


“The only thing that burns in hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life: your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away, but they're not punishing you, they're freeing your soul.”
― Meister Eckhart

[erynblackbriar]

The focus on sensation is what most people don't get. That's why the remakes ending made me emotional: the cenobites are appalled because the protagonist chooses to bear the guilt for her actions. A being purely bent on pain and suffering should be satisfied, but they're not because guilt is purely intellectual, it's a self imposed torture born of thought.

[montlejohnbojangles]

Legitimately impressed at your ability to read script while being mauled by a tiny monster. Bravo.

[richietozier]

One thing I always found interesting was that Leviathan, the Cenobites' boss, wasn't a god of evil, pain, or death, but of order. Typically in mythology, gods of order are seen as "good" deities who are placed as gods to be followed and worshipped. But in Hellraiser, the ultimate "big bad", so to say, isn't an entity that destroys structures, but one that maintains them

[epsech]

I’ve honestly always liked the IDEA and world building of Hellraiser more than the movies themselves, including the original ones. This analysis is just reinforcing in me that there is an absolutely amazing story waiting to be told when the marriage of all of these points come together. Many of them have each element, but I still don’t think we’ve quite gotten the best Hellraiser movie.

[ianbyrne]

Hellraiser is my favorite cosmic horror. Because unlike alot of it, it doesn’t just ape Lovecraft’s visual styles and themes. Clive Barker actually considered his own fears and philosophies and made something that fit into that.

Lovecraft was terrified of the concept of an indifferent universe, one that was beyond his comprehension, just as he was afraid of rot and oceanic creatures, and that all informed his writing.

Barker made a universe that is dictated by pain and the blending of sensation beyond all reason. Brutal order and hedonistic stagnation in a way that is not indifferent, but *joyous.* The cenobite are only concerned with who chooses to join them, they themselves were once humans who sought out this edge of sensation. It’s a different form of cosmic existentialism and I love it for that.

[roble]

I think the biggest issue with how people write the Cernobites is they forget the pretty damn important fact that they seek unlimited pain AND pleasure. They seek extreme sensations of all sorts, not just the negative ones.

[caileymarietattoo]

I’m a tattoo artist and when you mention how pain is part of the appeal you were 100% correct. My most loyal and consistent clients are the people who generally enjoy the process of the pain. I like to think it’s a spiritual experience for tattooer and the person being tattooed. Something humans have done as long as we’ve existed and I feel blessed to get to participate in it. The only art that is as permanent as our lives. Very cool video I really enjoyed it 💖

[AGothNamedWednessday]

I always hate when people call them demons, you really hit the nail on the head. I always describe them as BDSM angels because (originally) they don't have malicious intent. Their intent comes off as malicious to _us_ but isn't _inherently_ malicious, they bring the euphoria and horror of where extreme pain and pleasure meet, they don't see this as bad, its neutral at least, beautiful at best. I love love love how you talked about Jamie being cast as Pinhead and why she was perfect casting. It's something I haven't really been able to articulate. Thank you so much for recognizing the important influence of Clive's Queerness on Hellraiser, so many people don't take that into account even though its a pivotal part of why Hellraiser _is_

[TheEsotericaChannel]

When an amazing analysis is so deserving picked up the by the real god - the algorithm - I'm thankful. Thanks for such profoundly insightful analysis.

[noided]

The moment you started tackling the concept of Cenobites NOT being demons, you'd won. Immediate sub. This was beautiful. Definitely going to go on a bingewatch of your content.