A deleted scene from Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 put Pinhead and the Female Cenobite in surgical scrubs, but went missing for decades, intriguing fans. When it comes to horror sequels, the general rule is that they don’t measure up the original. To be fair, that’s also true of most movie sequels in general. It’s hard to recapture the magic that made something a hit the first time. Yet, 1988 sequel Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 is, depending on who one talks to, just as good if not better than Clive Barker’s original Hellraiser film.
While the first Hellraiser was more of a dark romance that happened to include extreme gore and perhaps the coolest group of demons in cinema history, Hellraiser 2 takes advantage of the stage already being set to really let loose and go crazy. Hellbound, especially the unrated cut, boasts absolutely jaw-dropping kills and stunningly creepy visuals, especially once heroine Kirsty Cotton has ventured into Hell itself. Hellbound’s depiction of the titular netherrealm as a blue-lit maze where a different horror resides around every corner is also inspired.
One cool visual fans wondered about for years though was the above pictured sight of Pinhead donning surgical scrubs. It’s an odd, but eye-catching image, and still photos of both Pinhead and the Female Cenobite in this attire were used as part of the marketing, and on some home video boxes, despite no such scene appearing in the final film.
Hellraiser 2 Deleted Scene Put Pinhead in Surgical Scrubs
The deleted scene in question, or at least the surviving elements of it, can be seen above, after finally being rediscovered a few years back during the creation of Arrow Video’s excellent “Scarlet Box” Blu-Ray release of the first three Hellraiser films. For decades, fans wondered what the mysterious images of Pinhead in scrubs meant, leading to all kinds of urban legends about what the scene entailed, including the lead Cenobite performing some kind of grotesque surgical procedure. The truth, though, is a bit more mundane.
In actuality, the scene, which appears partially above but is unfinished and lacks a score and sound effects, was to have Kirsty and Tiffany run into two people wearing surgical scrubs in the basement of the hospital while trying to leave, which were meant to morph into Pinhead and the Female Cenobite. According to Pinhead actor Doug Bradley and Hellaiser 2 director Tony Randel though, everyone involved felt the scene came out poorly, especially the special effects used to complete the transformation. Thus, the decision was made to cut the sequence from the film. However, production photos taken on set during its filming survived, leading to decades of fan speculation.
More: Why Hellraiser 2 Kills Pinhead Super Early
