It's normal nowadays for a studio to resurrect old, familiar franchises in order to give them a second life up on the big screen. We saw an example of that last year with the new Halloween film, which sparked new life into the horror franchise. It looks like another horror icon may be getting a new film soon. Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson tweeted an image teasing that he might be directing a new Hellraiser movie.
Fitting right in with Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and other movie monsters, Hellraiser is a series of horror films that centers around a creature named Pinhead. The storylines of the films follow a puzzle box that is a gate to the hell-like dimension of the Cenobites, an order of formerly human monsters who harvest souls to torture in sadomasochistic experiments. Pinhead is the leader of the Cenobites and the face of the franchise.
The first film was released in 1987 and spawned nine sequels, the most recent of which was released last year. However, despite the longevity of the franchise, the films vary in quality and, after the fourth film, every sequel was released straight-to-home video. Scott Derrickson himself directed the first film to be released direct-to-video -- Hellraiser: Inferno, which came out in 2000.
However, it sounds like the franchise could be making a comeback. Earlier this year, it was reported that Blumhouse -- the extremely successful horror film studio -- was interested in making a new Hellraiser film. Now we've got this tweet from Scott Derrickson seemingly teasing his involvement in said film.
Scott Derrickson didn't make any sort of announcement to go with the social media post, but it's doubtful he would just randomly share the picture if he didn't have something in the works. While Derrickson is maybe best known as the director of Doctor Strange, he's directed plenty of horror films like Sinister and The Exorcism of Emily Rose.
Scott Derrickson knows how to get scary and he seems like a good fit to continue with the Hellraiser franchise. Plus, I'm sure that fans of the series are eager to see a real high-quality theatrical release.
Assuming that Scott Derrickson is directing a new Hellraiser, one would assume that this would come after Doctor Strange 2. While not officially confirmed, it's long been rumored that Doctor Strange 2 is in the works with Derrickson back in the director's chair. Without either film actually being confirmed, it's tough to guess what Derrickson's schedule would look like.
Either way, a new Helllraiser might be in-bound. Get a blast from the past with the trailer for the very first film in the series.
Make sure to stick with CinemaBlend and we'll keep you updated on all the latest movie news as soon as it becomes available to us. For everything that is definitely coming to theaters this year, be sure to check out our handy 2019 movie release guide.
