Hellraiser's Director Found A Filming Location With Major Cenobite Vibes
"Hellraiser" is getting the reboot treatment from Hulu.
Clive Barker brought the supernatural horror franchise to life in 1987 with the original release of "Hellraiser," an adaptation of his novella "The Hellbound Heart." The franchise went on to spawn nine sequels and numerous comic books. The most recent release, 2018's "Hellraiser: Judgement," was met with little to no reaction even from the series' most devoted fans. Needless to say, the franchise got a bit out of hand, and it's no surprise that 20th Century Studios wants to take things back to the beginning.
Although Barker won't be directing the "Hellraiser" reboot, the original creator will serve as a producer on the film. In 2020, the studio brought on David Bruckner to direct the reboot, having previously directed "The Ritual" and "The Night House." Jamie Clayton, who previously worked on "Sense8," joined the cast as the iconic horror villain Pinhead. Odessa A'zion, Brandon Flynn, Goran Višnjić, and Drew Starkey joined the cast and filming concluded in 2021.
The trailer for the reboot dropped, and it looks like Bruckner is taking the franchise back to its roots. Part of accomplishing that required the production team to find the perfect shooting location to summon the Cenobites, and that they did.
Belgrade is the new home of the Cenobites
The "Hellraiser" team settled on the Serbian capital of Belgrade to shoot the reboot.
While promoting "Hellraiser" with Entertainment Weekly, director David Bruckner revealed that the shooting location gave off the perfect vibe for the film. "Belgrade has some really interesting architecture, that feels very Hellraiser actually, that we were able to incorporate. I hope there's a look across all the spaces and locations that feels slightly adjacent to reality as we know it. There's a grounded realism but occasionally you'll see numerous Roman-esque archways throughout various environments."
Belgrade's architecture made it the perfect place for Brucker's "Hellraiser" reboot. The city, as Bruckner states, has an incredible diversity of modern-day buildings paired with 19th-century architecture. As Bruckner stated above, that blend is what drew the "Hellraiser" team to Belgrade, and the location gives the film the perfect mix of realism and fantasy.
Belgrade has become an increasingly popular filming location for major Hollywood pictures. Films that used the area for either principal or secondary photography include "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery," Netflix's alien movie "Extinction," and the horror movie "The Forest." The city's diverse environments allow for a wide range of settings to be depicted there, plus the production costs are incredibly low.
Not only are more and more production companies forming in Serbia, but the low costs are making it an international hub for movie making. Production teams come for the diverse shooting locations, but stay for the cash rebate that follows filming. Not only are movies getting a large sum of money back from filming in Belgrade, but with many production companies setting up shop in the city, shooting there is cheaper than any of the surrounding countries (via KFTV).