'Hellraiser' Ending Explained: Regret Is The Cruelest of Tortures 

What would you choose?

The following contains spoilers for the 2022 version of Hellraiser. Proceed at your own risk

'Hellraiser' Ending Explained: Regret Is The Cruelest of Tortures

David Bruckner's Hellraiser is finally available on Hulu, bringing horror fans a reimagining of Clive Barker’s bestselling novel The Hellbound Heart. While the story completely deviates from the book and Barker’s faithful 1987’s film adaptation, Hulu’s Hellraiser still keeps all the elements that helped the franchise to become so iconic, that means the Hell Priest (Jamie Clayton) and the Cenobites, and a cursed puzzle box capable of opening interdimensional rifts to Hell. The Hellraiser reboot also updates the original mythology, introducing new kinds of puzzles and rewards for the people who summon the Cenobites. Of course, with so many new elements playing a central role in the reboot’s plot, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But no need to call for some dubious supernatural help, as we are here to explain the ending of Hellraiser and tell you everything that happened during that gory final conflict.

RELATED :‘Hellraiser’ Review: A Terrifying New Pinhead, But That’s About It

If Not You, Then Another

Hellraiser follows Riley (Odessa A’zion), a recovering addict who’s really struggling to move on with her life. She’s so desperate for cash that she agrees to help her boyfriend, Trevor (Drew Starkey), steal cargo from a warehouse frequently used by billionaires. The only prize the couple finds is the Lament Configuration, a cubic puzzle box that can open rifts to a hellish dimension ruled by Cenobites. The Cenobites, to those needing refreshment, are beings so tortured they can no longer distinguish pleasure from pain and who use human sacrifices to explore the limits of the body. That leads to gruesome deaths, and since the Cenobites are always in dire need of fresh meat, they reward the people who can solve the puzzle box and bring them new sacrifices.

Image via Hulu

At first, Riley doesn’t know what she has found in the warehouse. However, once her brother Matt (Brandon Flynn) accidentally becomes a sacrifice for the Cenobites, Riley begins to investigate the matter. As she discovers, the box once belonged to Roland Voight (Goran Visnjic), a billionaire who disappeared six years before the film’s main events. Voight sacrificed five people to the puzzle and was granted an audience with Leviathan, the god who oversees the Cenobites’ dimension, also known as The Labyrinth. As the new owner of the box, Riley is walking the same path.

As Hellraiser explains to the audience, there are six different configurations for the Cenobite puzzle. Each time one puzzle is solved, a blade cuts the hand of the puzzle’s owner, binding their blood to the Cenobites. If this person wants to escape a bloody fate, they must choose another sacrifice to take their place. After that, the puzzle will change the configuration by itself, taking the owner of the puzzle closer to an audience with Leviathan. Riley is not cut the first time she solves the puzzle, which leads to the accident where her brother becomes the first sacrifice. The second sacrifice is Voight’s old secretary, Serena (Hiam Abbass), who inadvertently solves the second configuration of the puzzle. The third sacrifice is Riley’s flatmate, Nora (Aoife Hinds), who becomes a victim in Voight’s old house, where Riley and her friends try to figure out how to save Matt. Surprisingly, Voight is alive and doing whatever he can to get a second audience with Leviathan.

When Voight solved the final configuration of the puzzle six years ago, he was presented with the choice of a gift. He could have chosen “life,” “knowledge,” “love,” “resurrection,” or “power,” but instead, he opted for “sensation.” Voight’s money had already allowed him to taste every pleasure he could find on Earth, and he hoped to find new delights coming from another dimension. Leviathan, however, attached a machine to Voight’s body that stretches all his nerves, bringing him unstoppable pain. There’s no difference between joy and suffering for the Cenobites, and by choosing sensation, Voight doomed himself. That’s why he paid Trevor to find a new victim for the puzzle, Riley, so he could order the Cenobites to take his gift back.

Image via Hulu

Riley only finds out about Trevor’s deception when it’s already too late. Her blood is absorbed by the third configuration of the box when Pinhead, the Hell Priestess, pushes her hands to finish the puzzle. After that, it’s up to Riley to choose the two victims who’ll take her place or accept a fate of torture in the Labyrinth. The fourth sacrifice, chosen by Riley in a moment of pure ingenuity, is the Chatterer (Jason Liles), a Cenobite himself. After learning that Cenobites can also be sacrificed, Riley tries to use Voight’s home as a trap. The billionaire has built unique grates all around the house that prevent the Cenobites from coming in, but Riley lures one of them inside, willing to use him as the fifth sacrifice. However, before completing her plan, Voight takes the box and cuts Colin (Adam Faison). The truth about Trevor is revealed, and Voight lowers the house’s defenses, inviting the Cenobites in.

Choose Your Prize

Once the Cenobites are inside the house, Voight demands a new audience with Leviathan, tells the Hell Priestess he was tricked by Leviathan, and orders the Cenobites to remove the sick machinery that’s attached to his body. The Hell Priestess explains to him she cannot accept his gift back, but she can exchange it for a different prize. Voight trades his “Sensation” prize for “power,” which heals his body and ends his suffering. At least for a few seconds, because Voight is soon chained and sucked into Leviathan itself. For the Cenobites, power equals dominance over those who suffer. So, by picking power, Voight is actually choosing to become a Cenobite himself, a twisted being forged in pain until its soul is so corrupted that it can only find pleasure in other people’s misery.

Image via Hulu

Meanwhile, Colin, the fifth and final sacrifice, is being chased by the Gasp (Selina Lo), a Cenobite eager to claim her prize. Before Colin dies, Riley reminds the Gasp that she’s the box's owner, and it’s up to her to choose a sacrifice. Colin was chosen by Voight, so that is not supposed to count. The Gasp allows Riley to trade Colin's life for another person, and the woman decides Trevor should be killed instead. He did, after all, put them all in this dire situation.

Only five sacrifices are taken by the Cenobites, it’s time for Riley to claim her prize. Just like everyone who was ever granted an audience with the Leviathan, Riley has six prizes to choose from: “life,” “knowledge,” “love,” “sensation,” “resurrection,” or “power.” The Hell Priestess tempts Riley with an image of Matt, telling the woman she should choose to get her brother back. However, after seeing how Voight’s prize is actually a curse, Riley is confident that any choice will only lead to more misery. So, she refuses to choose. As it turns out, her lack of choice equals “life,” also known as the Lament Configuration. Riley is commended to a life of regret, always wondering if she made the right choice or if she should have tried to resurrect her brother. A grim ending for a grim movie.

Hellraiser is available right now on Hulu. Check out the movie’s trailer below: