Hellraiser Cenobites Ranked By Nastiness

The Chatterer Cenobite has a grisly look and a haunting, sad past. His face shows only scars, except for teeth exposed by wires that pull his lips into a constant, chattering grin. His origins are even more disturbing.Hellbound: Hellraiser IIWe see what the Cenobites were like before they became what they are. The Chatterer was a little boy who solved the puzzle box and ended up at the mercy of the Cenobites.

Appearances: The original Chatterer Cenobite appeared only in HellraiserandHellbound: Hellraiser II, where Dr. Channard killed him. However, similar-looking Cenobites appear in later Hellraiser sequels, including Hellseeker, Deader, andHellworld, as well as the 2022 reboot.

Origins: The movies give little detail on Chatterer's origins. We only know he was a young boy before becoming a Cenobite.

What Makes Them Nasty: Later films show the Chatterer Cenobite was favored by Leviathan because he could remake others into Cenobites, often looking like himself. This led to other Chatterer-like Cenobites, such as the Torso, "one of the most brutally alteredformer humans" among all the Cenobites.

Pinhead is the nastiest Cenobite. Doug Bradley played Pinhead in eight appearances.HellraiserPinhead did not always play the main villain. He was credited as "Lead Cenobite" in the first film. Even while the sequel was being made, creators planned to make Clare Higgins' Julia Cotton the main villain. The studio and filmmakers only realized they had a star once fans reacted strongly to Pinhead.

While writing the screenplay for the 1985 film UnderworldClive Barker planned a special effect where syringes grew from skin. He mixed this with images of Congo nkondi figures to create the character known as Pinhead on set. This name stuck and became canon. Pinhead leads the Order of the Gash, acting as the main Cenobite, and Doug Bradley delivers his best lines as Barker's friend.

Appearances: Pinhead appears in every Hellraiser movie, from the first to the newest. Doug Bradley plays him in all but the last two.

Origins: In his past life, Pinhead was Captain Elliot Spencer, who fought in the Battle of Somme during WWI. The bloodshed and loss of life he saw on that battlefield pushed him to seek the Lament Configuration and become a Cenobite. In Hellraiser III, Pinhead and Captain Spencer split into two entities. They fuse back together gruesomely before the film ends.

What Makes Them Nasty: Pinhead leads ten or more films as a Cenobite, causing much nastiness. He did not top the visceral gruesomeness of his revenge on Frank Cotton at the first film's end. Two security guards confront him; they become Cenobites.Hellraiser IVPinhead tells the guards, "pain has a face," and that is the end.

Most Cenobites began as humans. Angelique was a demon, the princess of hell and Leviathan's daughter. Duc de L'Isle summoned her to earth. She had a female corpse. Pinhead turned her into a Cenobite. As a Cenobite, she wore a leather outfit. She had the top of her head peeled open, showing her skull.

Appearances: Angelique appears inHellraiser: BloodlineAngelique tries to stop the descendants of Phillipe Lemarchand, a French toymaker who made the Lament Configuration.

Origins: Angelique is unique among Cenobites because she was never human. Her human body served a ritual to summon the demon princess Angelique, daughter of Leviathan.

What Makes Them Nasty: Angelique spent 400 years trying to destroy Phillipe Lemarchand's bloodline. She wanted to stop him from making an anti-Lament Configuration, called the Elysium Configuration. A deleted scene shows her making fake Cenobites to trap Lemarchand's best friend. They then give Lemarchand a drum made from his friend's face.

The Wire Twins are twin Cenobites. Their revealing costumes have thin wires piercing their frames and faces. They also have long, black, serpentine tongues.

Appearances: Pinhead and the Torso Cenobite show up with the Wire Twins in Hellraiser: InfernoThere, the Wire Twins torment a crooked police detective named Joseph Thorne.

Origins: The packaging of a toy lineThe Wire Twins feature in the toy line. They are called "Leviathan's sisters of tormented pleasures, two perfect twins in their human form who stumbled into the dark world of the Labyrinth."Elsewhere, people say one or both twins might have been a centerfold in their past life, people who worshipped the beauty myth but wanted something more.Elsewhere, people say one or both twins might have been a centerfold in their past life, people who worshipped the beauty myth but wanted something more.

What Makes Them Nasty: The Wire Twins enjoy the Order of the Gash's sadomasochistic ideals. They mix sensual pleasure with sharp pain.

Butterball is an obese Cenobite. He was part of Pinhead's group in the original HellraiserButterball wears round sunglasses. Taking them off shows his eyes are sewn shut. He has a bloody gash in his stomach held open with hooks.

Appearances: Butterball appears in the first two Hellraiserfilms and Dr. Channard killed them in the labyrinth at the end ofHellbound: Hellraiser II.

Origins: The films offer little on Butterball's life before becoming a Cenobite; however, he was human, just like the other Cenobites.

What Makes Them Nasty: Butterball.Butterball became obese, taking that size to disturbing levels as a Cenobite. His skin now shows waxy folds and flesh bulges. He has sewn-shut eyes and a bloody gash on his stomach. He was supposed to say a line to the "Female Cenobite" when she tells Kristy "perhaps we prefer you," but heavy makeup made speech impossible.

Dr. Channard was not an angel before becoming a Cenobite. He obsessed over the Lament Configuration. Channard used his links at the mental hospital he worked at to bring back Julia Cotton and bring home mental patients for her to eat. A puzzle-obsessed young patient solved the box for him, allowing Channard to avoid the Cenobites he thought were coming. Julia betrayed Channard, and Leviathan, the god in the labyrinth behind the puzzle box, horribly transformed Channard into a Cenobite.

When Kristy, the main character in the first and second Hellraiserfilms show Pinhead and the other Cenobites were human. They fought Channard, but he beat them all. This makes him one of the nastiest Cenobites.

Appearances: Dr. Channard appears only in Hellbound: Hellraiser II.

Origins: Before becoming a Cenobite, Dr. Channard was a neurosurgeon. He craved blood and enjoyed dissecting animals as a child. His focus on the Lament Configuration and Leviathan pushed him to test his patients.

What Makes Them Nasty: Channard enjoys his new state as a Cenobite. Nothing he does is nastier than his own change. Wires wrap around his face. A dripping, phallic tentacle with a whirring blade fastens onto his head.

She gets few lines. Fans call the "Female Cenobite" "Deep Throat" because of the peeled-open throat wound she has. She delivers chilling dialogue during her two appearances, helping Pinhead explain Cenobites to Kristy.

Appearances: She has no real name. The Female Cenobite appears with Pinhead and the rest of his original group in both Hellraiserand Hellbound: Hellraiser II. A different Female Cenobite shows up in Hellraiser: Revelations.

Origins: The films do not give the Female Cenobite an origin. Like the other Cenobites, she returns to human form when Dr. Channard kills her in Hellraiser II.

What Makes Them Nasty: The Female Cenobite has lines, unlike others. She can say things like, "Perhaps we prefer you," when Kristy offers to lead them to Frank.

The later.Hellraiser.Fans mostly dismiss the sequels. Still, they added new Cenobites, including this Chatterer variant from the first few films. Toy packaging for the Torso shows he is "one of the most".This is brutally altered former humans.These former humans among the Cenobites are little more than a torso, head, and arms.

Appearances:The Torso Cenobite appears inHellraiser: InfernoIn this film, the Torso Cenobite is one of a few Cenobites, including Pinhead, who torments an unscrupulous Denver police detective named Joseph Thorne.

Origins:Packaging for the Torso toy states this twisted Cenobite was made by the Chatterer "in his own image." Now, it searches the Labyrinth for its master.

What Makes Them Nasty:His face mimics the Chatterer Cenobite's, skin has gashes, and his body is missing from the waist down. That is nasty.

A doglike monster, the "Chatterer Beast," formed from human flesh acts as Pinhead's pet.

Appearances:InHellraiser: BloodlineThe Chatterer Beast first appears stalking John Merchant's wife, the descendant of the man who first made the Lament Configuration.

Origins:The film does not clarify where the Chatterer Beast came from.

What Makes Them Nasty:It is a big dog monster with chattering teeth made of human flesh. What does not make it nasty?What doesn'tmake it nasty?

Mark and Michael Norrington, former twin security guards, saw Pinhead and Angelique talking. Pinhead sensed they did not want to separate. He turned them into the Siamese Twins Cenobites. Their faces merge and twist; one looks happy, one looks sad, showing masks for drama.

Appearances:The Siamese Twins Cenobite shows up inHellraiser: Bloodline, with Angelique and the Chatterer Beast.

Origins:Twin brothers Mark and Michael Norrington wanted to avoid being separated. Pinhead made them Cenobites so they would never be apart.

What Makes Them Nasty:When the Siamese Twins Cenobite meets Captain Edwards on the Space Station Minos, they split briefly. They rejoin Captain Edwards, crushing him gruesomely in the middle.

Barbie became a Cenobite because he worked as a bartender, or because barbed wire wrapped his face, or because he barbecued people—maybe all three reasons. This "pseudo" Cenobite came from Pinhead inHellraiser IIIHe looks cool with the barbed wire, perhaps replacing Butterball. Molotov cocktails beat CDs, cigarettes, and cameras as weapons.

Appearances:The Barbie Cenobite is a foot soldier Pinhead created when he arrived on Earth inHellraiser III, where series screenwriter Peter Atkins plays him.

Origins:Barbie was the bartender (also played by Peter Atkins) at the Boiler Room nightclub. Pinhead attacked the club, making Barbie a target.

What Makes Them Nasty:Being wrapped in barbed wire is intense. He also breathes fire.

"I always wanted to go further with the Cenobites, right from day one, and we've certainly done that withHellraiser III," Special Effects Coordinator Bob Keen said in the film's press kit. ForHellraiser III, Keen and his effects team built a new group of "pseudo" Cenobites for Pinhead. Pinhead returns to America, causing chaos in the Boiler Room nightclub, where he makes homebrew Cenobites from club patrons and others nearby.

Most "pseudo" Cenobites looked goofy. The designs just show what the Cenobite did as a person. The DJ has CDs sticking out, the cameraman has a camera in his head. Pistonhead, the Cenobite from club owner JP, keeps the sadomasochism of the original designs; the piston in his head shows that.

Appearances:Like the other "pseudo" Cenobites, Pistonhead only shows up inHellraiser III.

Origins:JP Monroe was a sex-obsessed club owner. He worked to free Pinhead from the Pillar of Souls, where Pinhead was trapped after the events ofHellraiser II. JP planned to sacrifice his ex-girlfriend Terri to free Pinhead. But when she gained the upper hand, he became the sacrifice, turning into Pistonhead.

What Makes Them Nasty:JP was a bad man. Pinhead implies he killed his parents for their money. As Pistonhead, we see him torment Joey, but the piston in his head looks nasty.Hellraiser III's protagonist Joey, but that piston in his head looks pretty gnarly.

Pinhead made a crew of "pseudo" Cenobites on Earth when he needed minions. The Dreamer Cenobite came from Terri, a homeless girl who wanted to dream. Terri's boyfriend, who became the Pistonhead Cenobite, tried to sacrifice her to Pinhead. Instead, she beat him, and Pinhead made a deal, giving her the ability to dream. She accepted, saying, "you wouldn't believe what I can dream of now..."

Appearances: The Dreamer "pseudo" Cenobite appears in Hellraiser III, Pinhead used victims to make new minions on Earth.

Origins: Terri, a homeless girl who moved around and connected with JP, the owner of the Boiler Room club, found Pinhead after Hellraiser II, Terri befriended Joey, the main character in Hellraiser III, only to be lured back by her boyfriend after a mix-up. JP tried to sacrifice her to Pinhead, but Terri won and made a deal with Pinhead to gain dreaming ability.

What Makes Them Nasty: Since "dreaming" is hard for a Cenobite theme, the Dreamer looks like the Female Cenobite from prior films. She has a lit cigarette in the hole in her neck, which she uses to burn people.

Fans often see the Dreamer as a low point in Cenobite design when they mention Hellraiser III Casual horror fans usually ask, "Is that the one with the CDhead Cenobite in it?"

Appearances: Thankfully, the CDhead only appeared in Hellraiser III , alongside the other "pseudo" Cenobites Pinhead created.

Origins: He was the DJ at the nightclub Pinhead attacked, killing everyone inside. His own CDs rose up and chased him to become CDhead.

What Makes Them Nasty: This design looks like something made for '90s action figures. He ejects CDs and throws them at people. That's about it.

When Pinhead needed "pseudo" Cenobites from his targets for Earth, he used what he had. These "pseudos" mostly just took parts of their lives, like a TV news cameraman who got a camera on his face and said silly lines like "ready for your closeup."

Appearances: Like other "pseudo" Cenobites, Camerahead appears in Hellraiser III .

Origins: Daniel "Doc" Fisher worked as a cameraman for the news agency where Hellraiser III 's main character Joey worked, and he approached her with a story. He ran into Pinhead and became Camerahead.

What Makes Them Nasty: The camera on his face seems to shoot things that cause explosions. That is nasty.