PINHEAD (LEADER OF THE CENOBITES)

Pinhead is a fictional character in Clive Barker's Hellraiser universe. He is portrayed in the movies by actor Doug Bradley.

In the original film, Pinhead did not have a name; he was simply credited as the "Lead Cenobite". Pinhead was a name coined by the make up crew that applied the prosthetics on Bradley to distiguish the cenobites.

The History of Pinhead

Pinhead originated as Captain Elliott Spenser (c. 1893-1930), an explorer and a British Army veteran who served in World War I living in the far east. His transformation into Pinhead, a.k.a. "Lead Cenobite", "The Angel of Suffering" or "The Dark Prince of Pain", came about through his opening of the Demonic Lament Configuration. In the Hellraiser comic book series, he is depicted as being the latest incarnation of the Cenobite spirit Xipe Totec, an entity derived from Aztec mythology.

The character of Pinhead presented something of a departure from the horror movie villains who preceded him. Unlike Leatherface, Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers, he can and does speak. However, he speaks very little and is rarely comical, as Freddy Krueger or Chucky are. When he does indulge in humor, it is notably dry.

Another difference between Pinhead and other film killers, supernatural or otherwise, is his need to have been purposely summoned, as The Lament Configuration must be opened for the Cenobites to enter the (real) world. Pinhead kills not indiscriminately, nor for vengeance; he kills because he was conjured from Hell by the opener of the puzzle box. The act of opening The Lament Configuration is not in and of itself reason to be killed: in Hellbound: Hellraiser II, Pinhead stops the Cenobites from killing Tiffany, an emotionally traumatized girl who opened the box only after being manipulated by Dr. Channard. “…it is not hands that call us, it is desire…” Later on in the film Pinhead is killed off by Dr. Channard who is then already a cenobite himself.

Pinhead's other difference from typical horror killers is his ability to be reasoned and bargained with. In both: Hellraiser and Hellraiser: Hellseeker, the character Kirsty bargains with Pinhead to offer him more "souls" in exchange for her own (in particular, her human adversaries), thus ending with him sparing her life.

Pinhead does not kill quickly; he and the Cenobites are well-versed in torture. Death does not end the suffering of his victims, either, as the victims are brought to Hell/The Labyrinth, where, Pinhead says, "We have an eternity to know your flesh."

Pinhead's Powers and abilities

Pinhead is an extremely powerful being, and as such, has access to several supernatural abilities. He is nearly physically unstoppable and invulnerable. Pinhead is also very strong; although, he rarely engages in physical combat, instead letting hooks and chains do the combat. His favorite attack form is creating chains with hooks attached to perforate opponents and savagely mutilate them, often pulling them in several directions to rip them apart. These chains are subject to his total mental control and he may direct them any way at will. The chains may even change shape after having attached to a victim.

His magics are also used for creating objects out of thin air, teleporting, creating explosions at distances and fooling opponents with illusions. Pinhead knows a lot about magic rituals and the rules about magic. To give him an additional edge over his opponents he also has the ability to read their minds. Still, he is very charismatic, and thus he easily terrifies hordes of humans and yet can persuade anyone to do nearly anything.

In Part 3 and 4 he creates Cenobites from his victims; these are often physically manipulated to resemble something related to their human lives and they may be granted several new abilities in the process. He is rarely without an entourage of such beings.

It is not known if his power exceeds other Cenobites, but it is presumed so. He spent time as the leader of the Cenobitic order. However, whether his power helped him attain that rank or the rank granted the powers is left unsaid. It is known that he was once killed by the Channard Cenobite after betraying Hell.

When the Pinhead character's unhuman evil (Unbound Pinhead) manifests in the world in Hellraiser III, it seems to have nearly unlimited and highly versatile powers; He could telekinetically control vast areas, transmogrify matter, create and control fire, animate objects, and the like. His human side suggests that he is no longer bound by the rules governing other Cenobites (suggesting others among them might have such power).

The Personality of Pinhead

Pinhead is a truly diabolic and satanic creature. He is obsessed with pain and calmly observes (sometimes raging into terrible laughter) the victims squirming around as he just hooked them with chains and hooks (while giving some tormenting comment). He acts extremely proud and arrogant and sometimes underestimates his opponents.

He speaks in a very persuasive, eloquent and grand manner and is almost impossible not to listen to. However, he is often much too overconfident and plays along with his victims before terminating them which usually is his undoing. There is nothing he enjoys better than observing 'the sweet suffering' of his opponents. Humans are only flesh with which to toy and enjoy. The only reason he wants to come to Earth is that it contains multitudes of flesh which he will make suffer. He very rarely speaks to his subordinates and if he does it is issuing an order. Only Cenobites of equal ranking as himself, as for example a Cenobite Princess, may be spoken to as an equal.

Pinhead: Ruler of Hell?

Since the first film, Pinhead's role has varied with each installment. In the original Hellraiser, Pinhead was simply named "Lead Cenobite" and was part of a collective group whose purpose was to give pleasure and pain to those who opened the Box. They were not "evil" as such, simply a force that existed to explore experience. The second film followed this but the third film radically changed the original concept, making Pinhead and the Cenobites into typical Hollywood monsters. In the fourth film he is presented as a demon of Hell who wants to take over Earth and by the fifth he is simply out to torture those who solve the box. The seventh film goes back to the originals, with the Cenobites being responsible for pleasure and pain, but still borders on the demonic portrayal of the middle installments. In the Hellraiser comic book series we see that Leviathan might be considered the overlord of the cenobite world.

Other appearances of Pinhead

* Doug Bradley once made a cameo appearance, in full Pinhead makeup, on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where Pinhead expressed an interest in Leno's hangnail.

* Pinhead was also featured at the 1992 MTV Music Awards. However, he couldn't convince David Spade (who was the doorman) to let him in.

* Pinhead (not Doug Bradley. a fake one) appeared on Spiketv's Scream Awards to introduce My Chemical Romance

* Pinhead appeared on an episode of Robot Chicken in which he and other slasher movie killers are portrayed in a spoof of Big Brother, the reality television series.

* Pinhead appeared in The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror V segment "The Shinning" as one of the "ghouls" attempting to corrupt Homer.

* A Pinhead look-alike named Python is seen in the Playstation Portable game "Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops".

* In the videogame The Suffering: Ties That Bind, if Torque looks thouroughly through the building where he meets Ranse Truman, he may find a shelf with a severed head on it, the head will have nails partially driven in, like Pinheads.

Pinhead Trivia

* Clive Barker has voiced his intention to kill off Pinhead in a future short story, saying: "I want to give Pinhead a good send-off. I want to do it right. If we are going to get rid of the old guy, let's do it with some style."

* Pinhead and the Cenobites are referenced in the song "Whatthefuck!?!?" by the Horror Rap duo Twiztid, who are known to use horror and slasher villains as part of their iconography. The lyrics are as follows: "Leaving competitions tangled in chains, like I was pinhead. A cenobite, living at night, afraid of sunlight."

* Pinhead, and his preference for "ripping out veins with hooks and chains," is also referenced in the song "Runnin' Up on Ya" from the Same As It Ever Was album by Irish-American hip-hop group House of Pain.

* One draft of the horror film Freddy vs. Jason, as revealed in Crystal Lake Memories, involved Pinhead appearing at the end of the film, where he stops a fight between the two title characters: "Now, gentlemen, what seems to be the problem?"

* In Bride of Chucky, Chucky asks: "Why does that look so familiar?" after shooting nails into a victim's head.

* A recent episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy has them solve a sort of Rubik's Cube that summons Pinface, Grim's former neighbor who has bowling pins sticking out of his head.

Below are links to other horror icon bios that you might be interested in.

THE CENOBITES (THE SURGEONS FROM THE BEYOND) The Cenobites are demons who appear in the works of Clive Barker, including the novella The Hellbound Heart and the eight Hellraiser films. They are also mentioned, in passing, in the novel Weaveworld. They are mentioned by Immacolata who calls them, "The Surgeons from Beyond." (Detailed Bio)

DR HANNIBAL LECTER Dr. Hannibal Lecter is a fictional character appearing in four novels by author Thomas Harris and their film adaptations. The American Film Institute calls Lecter (as portrayed by Sir Anthony Hopkins) the most memorable villain in film history.Lecter is a brilliant and cultured psychiatrist turned cannibalistic serial murderer, nicknamed "Hannibal the Cannibal". (Detailed Bio)

CANDYMAN Candyman is a 1992 horror movie starring Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd and Xander Berkeley. It was directed by Bernard Rose and is based on the short story The Forbidden by Clive Barker, though the film's scenario is switched from England to the United States (specifically Chicago). (Detailed Bio)

THE TALL MAN The Tall Man is a villain from the Phantasm series of films written, directed, photographed, co-produced and edited by Don Coscarelli. The Tall Man was portrayed in the film and its sequels by Angus Scrimm. (Detailed Bio)

MICHAEL MYERS Michael Myers (also known as The Shape), is a fictional serial killer from the Halloween horror series. The killer has appeared in seven films, with an eighth film currently in pre-production, as well as comic books and other media. One of the first true slasher villains, his killings usually take place on or around the night of Halloween, and in many of the films his primary targets are family members. (Detailed Bio)

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