Horror Icons: Pinhead

”We’ll tear your soul apart” - Pinhead.

He has many names. Some call him the prince of pain, others call him the angel of suffering. His creator calls him the Hell Priest, but horror fans know him as Pinhead, Leviathan’s lord of Hell. He is the center figure of the Hellraiser franchise and he is one of the biggest icons of horror.

In his human life Pinhead was born Elliott Spencer in 1887 during the Victorian Era of Britain. Elliot was a captain in the British army during World War 1. He was known for being a very well spoken, kind and empathetic individual who was well in tune with his humanity and that of others.

As he would later confess, the horrors of the war destroyed his generation and the soldiers who survived gained unhealthy attachments such as drinking and drugs. Elliott, who had completely lost his faith in humanity had a gone a step further, he sought after forbidden pleasures. This led him to the discovery of the Lament Configuration, a mystical puzzle box, which just so happened to be the gateway to a private area of hell known as the Labyrinth. The Lament Configuration was created by a French toy maker named Philip Lemarchand.

Once Elliott got the Lament Configuration in his possession he opened it and the power of the box gruesomely turned him into a Cenobite, a demonic explorer of flesh which stems from the realm of the Labyrinth. He would later be referred to by the nickname Pinhead, due to his demonic appearance of pale white flesh and a grid of needles stuck across his entire head. Pinhead would be joined by other Cenobites as they collected the souls of everyone who opened the Lament Configuration with the intent of exploring it’s sadomasochistic service of pleasure and pain.

Pinhead and the Cenobites first hit the big screen in 1987 in Hellraiser, written and directed by Clive Barker, who wrote the novella The Hellbound Heart, the novella which was the basis for the Hellraiser film. We are first introduced to Pinheaded and the Cenobites as the spiritual intermediaries of the ensuing conflict of the film’s antagonist, Frank Cotton and his family. After this initial introduction the story ripples into a series of events that turns Hellraiser into a franchise that gives us more of Pinhead.

Originally portrayed by the charismatic Doug Bradley, Pinhead was certainly a unique slasher for his time. He wasn’t the silent chaos of Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees or Leatherface, but he also wasn’t a witty joker with the one liners like Freddy Krueger, Chucky, The Leprechaun or Pennywise the Clown. Pinhead was sophisticated and very articulate. He also thrived off his wisdom of the depravity of human nature that leads to such acts like opening the Lament Configuration.

Interestingly enough, when you get past the surface of Pinhead you learn that he is not the villain of the Hellraiser series, but the judge over both the antagonist and the protagonist, though he does occasionally kill for fun and chaos in the cars of the third and fourth entries of the series when his humanity was separated from his demonic alter ego. His weapon of choice is normally his chains which stick to the shadows. He also specializes in psychological torture which he inflicts on those who open the ill fated Lament Configuration and are condemned to the existence of realities like limbo or purgatory.

I’ll never forget when I first saw Pinhead as a kid. My dad was a big Hellraiser fan and in turn I became a big Hellraiser fanatic. I always thought Pinhead was incredible because of his wisdom, knowledge and understanding of humanity and in that regard he actually scared me because he spoke to my own sins in my youth. To this day Pinhead’s legacy continues and has even been recently revamped. Pinhead is still one of the most notorious slashers and greatest icons of horror.