Once you’ve reached the tenth entry in a franchise, you can really only expect eternal suffering while you watch, especially in a horror franchise. But it’s a relief to say that Hellraiser Judgement isn’t an hour and a half of pain; it’s actually a very solid entry.

There’s nothing particularly new or interesting about the plot (as a serial killer murders people by the ten commandments, both the police and Cenobites hunt for the perpetrator for different reasons – it’s Se7en meets Hellraiser), but it is slickly made, and we’re not just talking about the layer of grease that seems to stick to the film. It’s far better put together than any film by this point in the franchise has any right to be. It’s not at the level of the first three but it does keep you interested and entertained.

Hellraiser Judgement certainly isn’t a subtle film. It’s all exposed breasts and exposed cartilage, with scenes made purely to shock and unsettle, and while it never reaches scary, it does create some effective images and sequences that you’ll enjoy and remember as long as you don’t mind plunging your hands into the muck. It even has some Cenobite admin, which is something we haven’t seen before and is surprisingly enjoyable.

The extras for this release are a blooper reel and some deleted and extended scenes, so nothing to write home about but I don’t know how much interesting insight could really have been offered behind the scenes of this film. Hellraiser Judgement certainly isn’t a miraculous rise from the dead for a series long buried, and now Pinhead is just a horror figurehead it should really be left to die unless we have a miraculous reboot from intelligent filmmakers like Jordan Peele, but if you’re curious, it’s a fun enough watch.

Release Date: March 1st