1987’s Hellraiser was writer/filmmaker Clive Barker’s most famous creation. His macabre tale of demonic creatures (“Cenobites”) who come for people’s souls to take them back to an eternity of sadomasochistic pain became an instant horror classic. The film started one of the most popular franchises in horror history with the Cenobites, especially their leader “Pinhead,” being some of the most revered creatures in all genre filmmaking.

  • Hellraiser is coming back with a new movie arriving on Hulu in 2022. However, this isn’t another one of the long line of sequels for the original movies. This time, the producers have rebooted Hellraiser for a new generation, and have changed things up so that Pinhead is now a female, an interesting turn based on the demon’s description in the source novella. However, one thing that won’t change is the creative ways the Cenobites are brought to the world of the movie. Whether the new Cenobites match the creepy factor of the ones in the movies that come before is yet to be determined, but to do so they have some iconic demons to compare with.

Clive Barker took the gruesome feel of horror films to violent and shocking heights with his twisted and horrific Cenobite creations. Audiences had never experienced such terrors, and there are some truly terrifying Cenobites in the Hellraiser series.

CD - Hellraiser III

In Hellraiser III, a brand-new Cenobite appeared called CD. This one was a creation by Pinhead himself after he crashed J.P. Monroe’s popular nightclub and massacred everyone, including the DJ himself. This was one of the first all-out slaughter scenes in the franchise, thanks to Pinhead no longer cleaving to his honor.

The name CD was based on his look, which included CDs lodged in his skull, creating what looked like a halo around his head. He also used CDs as projectile weapons to kill his victims. It was creepy, but also campy and showed a lack of the serious nature of the first two Hellraiser movies.

Surgeon - Hellraiser: Hellseeker

Not to be confused with The Doctor, who was Dr. Channard, the Surgeon appeared in one of the straight-to-video releases, Hellraiser: Hellseeker. However, like Channard, Surgeon was a former doctor named Deacon Vrainian, a skilled surgeon who accidentally killed his wife during surgery and lost all hope, turning his life over to the Cenobites.

However, this ended up resulting in his transformation into a very creepy Cenobite in his own right. Because he didn’t want to see his life and pain anymore, Pinhead sealed his eyes closed. He is terrifying, with a permanent sneer, and he is a terrifying part of the Hellraiser universe.

Conjoined Twins - Hellraiser: Bloodline

The Conjoined Twins made their debut in Hellraiser: Bloodlines. Before their transformation into Cenobites, they were twin brothers who worked as security guards, and they accidentally walked in on a conversation between Pinhead and Angelique. This caused Pinhead to merge their bodies together forever.

The look of these twins is unlike any other Cenobite, and has a similar feel to the grotesque burned remains merged together in John Carpenter’s The Thing. While the flesh attaching their heads is a little strange, the two bodies acting as one is as creepy as it gets for the demonic beings.

Barbie - Hellraiser III

Barbie showed up in Hellraiser III as one of the foot soldiers that Pinhead created as he started to slaughter people on Earth. He was the bartender at J.P. Monroe’s nightclub, and ended up turned into a Cenobite with barbed wire wrapped around his face and head.

This was a good replacement for Butterball, but was nowhere near as iconic. Regardless, the barbed wire was a nice touch and the fact he could blow fire from his mouth was an interesting twist to how Cenobites killed their victims.

The Wire Twins - Hellraiser: Inferno

The Wire Twins are a really creepy design. Their faces are pierced together with long, painful-looking steel wires, and they have long serpentine tongues.

Sadly, while twisted and perfect-looking for the series, they aren’t used well. Appearing in Hellraiser: Inferno, the 5th film in the series, the Wire Twins torment a police detective, but viewers never really see enough of the carnage that we know they can inflict. However, as is, they are really creepy.

The Chatterer Beast - Hellraiser: Bloodline

Appearing in Hellraiser: Bloodline (part 4 of the series), The Chatterer Beast is a four-legged monster born of human flesh who is now, quite literally, a dog from Hell.

It doesn’t have a backstory and its origins are unclear, but the Chatterer Beast is a vicious and frightening Cenobite that is relentless in its bestial carnage, and its design is as unique as it is grotesque.

Butterball - Hellraiser/Hellbound: Hellraiser II

The aptly named “Butterball” was a Cenobite who appeared at Pinhead’s side in the first two Hellraiser films, what fans consider to be the two best of the series.

With his eyes sewn shut and bloody gashes all over his stomach, Butterball upped the creep factor as one of the original three Cenobites. Disfigured and full of rolling, rotted, skin, the character had no lines and moved slowly, which made him even scarier.

Torso - Hellraiser: Inferno

Hellraiser: Inferno was the series’ 5th film and most fans consider it to be the beginning of a decline in quality. As the films got worse, so did the Cenobites. However, Torso stands as one of the creepiest of the later films.

The character has a peeled-back face and had his body altered to where he is nothing but arms, head, and torso. As he crawls his bloody crawl, it is quite a terrifying sight that elevates the film when he is on the screen.

The Engineer - Hellraiser

The franchise began in 1987 with Clive Barker’s jaw-droppingly violent Hellraiser. One of the most unique Cenobites in the entire franchise is “The Engineer,” a fully non-human Cenobite.

Guardian of The Leviathan, The Engineer is a masterfully designed creature that was the first to ever open the gates of Hell, allowing the Cenobites to rise up and seek out their souls. Creepy and gruesome, this creature is one of the standouts of the entire series.

Angelique - Hellraiser: Bloodline

While her design is excellent and the actress gives it her all, her origin tale is rather amazing. Part 4 was subpar as a film, but this character was a series standout. Angelique was never a human but a “design” of parts meant to summon a demon princess until Pinhead found her and made her an official Cenobite.

Angelique’s look is great (except for too human of a face) and is one of the creepiest and most vicious of all Cenobites, as she was “born” to raise a demon and has been hunting souls for 400 years.

Chatterer - Hellraiser/ Hellbound: Hellraiser II

With a completely grotesque, scarred, and bloodied face of exposed chattering teeth with his skin pulled back by wires, Chatterer is a fan favorite Cenobite and appeared in the first two films in the series.

This character has the most tragic and creepiest of all the Cenobite backstories. As a young boy, he solved the puzzle of the box and fell prey to the bloody horrors of the Cenobites. Now he comes from Hell to torture the souls of humanity. Chatterer has the ability to create more Cenobites in his image, giving each one the grotesque smile. In presence and in the story, Chatterer is truly one of the creepiest Cenobites.

Female Cenobite - Hellraiser/ Hellbound: Hellraiser II

Given no name but “Female Cenobite,” this character has no known backstory but is terrifying in her presence. With her ripped-open throat, Female Cenobite was one of the original three and her very presence is high on creep factor. Her chilling delivery of the line “Maybe we prefer you.” is one of the most popular lines in the franchise and helped make her one of the most feared of all the Cenobites.

The character appears in Hellraiser: Revalations (the 9th film in the series) but is played by a different actress and isn’t used nearly as well as she was in the first two films.

Dr. Channard - Hellbound: Hellraiser II

Dr. Channard was evil already. Appearing in part 2, Channard is a demented doctor who lives to resurrect Julia Cotton (the wife from the first film) and used patients from the mental hospital where he worked to feed what Julia has become.

Eventually transformed into a Cenobite after meeting Pinhead and his crew, the doctor becomes even more sadistic, as he revels in his own look (a bloodied face wrapped in barbed wire and a tentacle with whirring blades) and ability to bring pain and torture to his victims.

Pinhead - The Hellraiser Series

Originally born to be just one of the Cenobites, Pinhead was so loved by fans of the first Hellraiser film that Barker and the company decided to make him the main character. Doug Bradley played the character in all the films except for parts 9 and 10.

Pinhead is the head of the Cenobites and is responsible for every tortured soul that had the misfortune of encountering this “Manson Family” from Hell. He is, indeed, the face of pain. Pinhead’s look and line deliveries (“We will tear your soul apart”) are the stuff of nightmares and helped to make him one of the most iconic horror characters in film history.

Next: 10 Most Iconic Pinhead Quotes