Hellraiser: Judgment Star Explains Why Pinhead Is Horror’s Greatest Icon

When it comes to the horror genre, there are many, many icons. From A Nightmare on Elm Street‘s Freddy Krueger to Friday the 13th‘s Jason Voorhees, and Halloween‘s Michael Myers to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre‘s Leatherface, over the years we’ve seen countless characters go down in the books as being some of the most frightening, memorable and legendary creations to ever grace the silver screen. But in the opinion of Hellraiser: Judgment star Paul T. Taylor, one individual stands above them all. His name? Pinhead.

Perhaps biased seeing as he plays the character in the aforementioned film, Taylor recently sat down with Cinema Blend to explain why ol’ Pinhead is horror’s greatest icon. In short, the actor believes Clive Barker’s creation is right at the top simply because he’s so much more than just a slasher. His purpose isn’t just to murder to his heart’s content. His purpose is to serve a higher God.

To me, he’s least like a slasher. He’s not a killing machine. His purpose is to serve a higher God. That changed over the years with some of the lesser-known Hellraiser sequels or lesser-liked Hellraiser sequels. That sort of changed the meaning. Number three, he started becoming more of a slasher. They kind of went the Freddy Krueger route with him and made him the star of the movie, which I personally think was kind of the start of, I don’t know, it wasn’t my favorite thing in the world to see it.

Continuing on, he said:

In the first movies, what I would say, to answer your question is, it is his eloquence, and his stillness and the threat is terrifying. All he has to do is stand there, and he’s terrifying and that exquisite makeup, that exquisite pain that he’s in, it’s more twisted.

While Taylor does make some valid points here, it’s hard to argue that Pinhead is more iconic than characters like Freddy or Jason. Besides, he’s certainly seen better days, with the aforementioned Judgment failing to make much of an impact after landing on Blu-ray and DVD earlier this week.

Matt Donato, our resident horror fiend, found Gary J. Tunnicliffe’s gruesome horror pic to be lacking in bite, writing that Hellraiser: Judgment is a “stuffy police procedural masquerading as a torturous Pinhead franchise entry.” That’s disappointing, then, as horror enthusiasts have been waiting for Pinhead and the Cenobites to return for an awful long time. Perhaps this will turn out to be the franchise’s final nail in the coffin?

Time will tell, but if you’ve yet to see it, Hellraiser: Judgment is now available across Blu-ray and DVD. Also, be sure to hang around after the credits to catch a bonus scene featuring The Auditor.