The good and the bad

THE GOOD

- The characters don't feel like formulas designed to check virtue boxes. They feel like real people. Thanks for that.

- Riley is the best part of the movie. Great casting. Everybody was talking about Pinhead and in the meanwhile Riley stole the show.

- Good pace and acting. The first 40 minutes (before the standard Hellraiser plot begins) feel like an indie drama. Like a very well done and well acted indie drama. Biggest problem with this movie is that the drama part works much better than the horror one.

- The director David Bruckner could be the next James Wan. He's good and it shows.

THE BAD

- The cenobites look like guys in a plastic suit, or like CGI. They probably wanted to avoid adult rating, but that's not the way to do it. If they wanted to avoid gore, they should suggest instead of show (like shooting them under a very dim light).

- The plot is more or less a remake from the old movies. Nothing really new, no real surprises, just a predictable Hellraiser plot. And that's a pity. The story feels like a rehash, it could have been much better.

- They check some woke checkboxes but it's not exaggerated. The characters feeling real makes a difference: it doesn't feel like pure diversity entities filled with virtue vs evil white males, as usual in modern Hollywood productions. They feel like real people with flaws and strengths.

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In a nutshell: "I like these characters, I care about them, they caught me with their problems and relationships... why somebody decided to throw them in the middle of some unoriginal Hellraiser plot?".