Things got interesting two nights ago when A Nightmare On Elm Street‘s Heather Langenkamp revealed she was set to star in the next Hellraiser movie with FX guru Gary Tunnicliffe sitting in the director’s chair.

We did extensive research and was able to learn that filming had already begun on Judgment, a film that Tunnicliffe attempted to crowd-source back in 2013.

It was pretty clear after hours of digging that this in fact was going to be a new Hellraiser film, only we didn’t know to what extent.

Fangoria was able to connect with Tunnicliffe who confirmed that he is in fact in production on Hellraiser: Judgment, and that Langenkamp will be featured in a role!

While the information shared is vague, what stands out the most is his fear that us horror fans feel like this is another half-assed Hellraiser sequel, as was Victor Garcia’s 2011 Hellraiser: Revelations. What we should feel good about is that the Judgment screenplay was Tunnicliffe’s passion project, which means there’s been a lot of heart-filled time spent on it. I just hope the Cenobites – including Pinhead – don’t feel pigeonholed into the movie.

Speaking of Pinhead, Tunnicliffe responded to Doug Bradley’s agitated Facebook post as to why he won’t be returning as Pinhead, adding that they found “a classically trained stage and film actor who brings a great physical presence and more than a hint of Peter Cushing and Ralph Fiennes” to replace him.

I was thrilled and excited to call Doug and let him know I was writing and directing HELLRAISER: JUDGEMENT , I considered Pinhead HIS role and I was looking forward to working with him and bringing him back to the fans. Legally, we needed a simple non-disclosure agreement signed (very much common place now with production companies) but he immediately balked. I have no idea why, I’ve signed way more binding NDA’s than that myself, most actors and crew on productions of any size usually have to now.

Doug wrote back to me…

‘I’m going to make myself liable for a million bucks I don’t have just to read a damn script?… I don’t think so’
I was stunned, after all it was my ‘damn’ script and it let me know how he felt straight away. I wrote to him saying I was sorry he felt that way and the next day the search for a new Pinhead began.

A few weeks later, we found him: a classically trained stage and film actor who brings a great physical presence and more than a hint of Peter Cushing and Ralph Fiennes. I can’t wait to get him bound in leather, gridded up and in front of the camera and on screens!

He doesn’t reveal who the new Pinhead is, but it can’t be worse than what we saw in Garcia’s Revelations. Furthermore, do we really need Pinhead? Jon says “No.”

“This is not a simple recycling of the HELLRAISER formula; this is a film that will boast some of the strangest, most bizarre, horrific and thought provoking sequences ever seen in a horror film, a horror film that owes it’s inspiration to the works of Heironymous Bosch, and Francis Bacon as well as Cronenberg, Fincher and Lynch (the David’s, as we nickname the influences here) as well as obviously and foremost Clive Barker.”

Clearly responding to our assertion this could be rushed and that it’s based on his Judgment screenplay, Tunnicliffe promises that Hellraiser: Judgment “isn’t a re-hashing of an old script nor was it rushed into production. It’s a completely original piece and so far it’s looking pretty amazing…

“To the fans, I would say this… I know you’ve been let down, and trust me, I have too, but simply give me a chance,” he adds. “I know we can NEVER make a film as great as the first two HELLRAISER’s, I wouldn’t even attempt to do so, but I think we have a fun script here an opportunity with an amazing cast and crew to give you all something that feels a little familiar, a little different, completely terrifying and is a worthy part of the HELLRAISER Canon… oh and of course if you want blood?… well you’ve got it!”