The new Hellraiser isn’t even out yet and I’m already falling in love with the new Pinhead, Paul T. Taylor.

Taylor has the daunting role of playing the franchise’s most popular character, Pinhead, in Gary J. Tunnicliffe‘s forthcoming Hellraiser: Judgment. He’s been extremely vocal lately, doing a series of interviews about strapping on some leather and bringing hell back to audiences.  In all of the pieces, Taylor is full of joy, proving very easily that he’s a legitimate horror fan who is hoping to do good by fans.

While we’ll get to that in a second, Taylor did reveal something quite interesting in a new interview with TrunkSpace. While explaining how Hellraiser: Judgment won’t confuse newer horror fans, Taylor explained that this new sequel is a good jumping off point for more films, confirming plans for a sequel (assuming Dimension Films were to greenlight it).

“Some people may not understand exactly who Pinhead is,” Taylor said when asked if ‘Judgment’ was a good jumping off point. “They may want to go back and look at ‘Hellraiser’ 1, 2 and 3… maybe even 4… and see some of the history. But, at the same time, it is a new chapter. It’s an unexplored part of Hell, I would say, introducing some new characters and some new mechanisms behind where Pinhead and all of that comes from. And, it’s also a jumping off point for a sequel following this one that could continue the story that it tells because it’s a true ‘Hellraiser’ script with a beginning, a middle, and a sort of ambiguous end. And these new characters they introduced could be in future ‘Hellraiser’ films.

He also likens the film to torture porn, which I thought was a bit surprising:

“I think people are going to be fascinated with it and the gore elements that we get from like the ‘Saw’ movies and the things that are total, what I would say, on the border of horror porn,” he added. “There’s some elements of [‘horror porn’] in it and that will please many ‘Hellraiser’ fans and many fans of just what contemporary horror can be these days where it’s just a gross-out.”

Speaking of effects, Taylor is a fan of practical work and confirms that, to his knowledge, there’s little to no CGI.

 “ ‘Judgment’ is using, of course, real effects, but also there is a possibility of using CGI,” he explained. “I don’t know how much CGI is used in this. I only know that where I shot, we used real effects, which I was really happy about because, I mean, you go back to the first few ‘Hellraiser’ movies and that’s all real effects. It’s like REALLY well done…I prefer real effects over anything. If you can make that stuff look real… there you go.”

As discussed earlier, Taylor is just a joyous person who refuses to let fan negativity take him down. While he will bring his own interpretation of Pinhead to the screen, he did honor Doug Bradley’s work.

 “I was warned from the very beginning about [fan reactions]. My first meeting with Gary J. Tunnicliffe, the director, when I went out to LA to get my head cast done so they could do the makeup… or actually maybe it was a conversation over the phone even before that… he said he had my back and that he was on my side, but he did warn me that the hardcore fans were going to be brutal. So, I went into it with open eyes and an open mind. I’m not afraid of anybody. I mean, it’s just words and, you know, words can hurt, sure. If they see the film and they don’t like me as Pinhead, that’s their prerogative to spew hate, but really, every actor is different. As much as I’m going to try to do sort of an homage to Doug Bradley’s Pinhead and ‘Hellraiser’s’ history, this is a new film and I’m a different actor. I can’t be Doug Bradley. Hopefully I bring myself to it and people like what they see. I just hope that I’m appreciated in the role for the work I did do. I really, truly believe that more than one actor can play one role… in any case. There are so many actors and so many talented actors, it’s silly to think that only one person could play the Frankenstein’s monster, for example. Look how many people played him. So, yeah… people are entitled to their opinions, but I’m not worried.”

He later adds: “I’m more excited about people who DO like me as Pinhead than I am worried about people who don’t like me as Pinhead.”

The film also stars A Nightmare On Elm Street‘s Heather Langenkamp, along with Damon Carney, Randy Wayne, Alexandra Harris, John Gulagher, Mike Jay Regan, Diane Goldner, Andi Powers, Jeff Fenter, Helena Grace Donald, and Grace Montie (read about their roles).

In the new sequel, “Detectives Sean and David Carter are on the case to find a gruesome serial killer terrorizing the city. Joining forces with Detective Christine Egerton, they dig deeper into a spiraling maze of horror that may not be of this world. Could the Judgment awaiting the killer’s victims also be waiting for Sean?”

Watch for release news as it comes in.