ComingSoon Senior Editor Spencer Legacy spoke with actor Adam Faison about his role on Hulu’s hellraiser and queer representation in horror films. hellraiser is now streaming on Hulu.
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“A remake of Clive Barker’s 1987 horror classic in which a young woman struggling with addiction comes into possession of an ancient puzzle box, unaware that its purpose is to summon the Cenobites, a group of sadistic supernatural beings from another dimension”, says the text. synopsis of the film.
Spencer’s Legacy: What is it like to be a part of a franchise as iconic as Hellraiser?
Adam Faison: An incredible experience. I feel like it’s actually kind of amazing sometimes because you’re like… it’s such a big franchise that you don’t realize it until you see all the reactions online and the articles, it’s great. And the artwork! People have already been doing Pinhead artwork and haven’t even fully seen what it’s going to look like: the Priest of Hell, excuse me. It’s been great to see the reaction and that fans are excited about the trailer. I can’t wait for you guys to see the movie in its entirety.
You and Brandon Flynn have amazing chemistry in the movie. Did that come naturally or did it take work?
It was literally a week and then we started filming, so everything went very fast. But we had a great time. We had a little intimacy coordinator, so that was fun because they really help you get in the zone. All that means, at the end of the job too, is our job to give to each other. A short time or a long time, hopefully, it naturally gets there. I think we were both very generous in the scenes and I’m happy that it was translated.
Earned the Hellraiser top honor of having a torture scene. How was that? How did you get into that mental space for that?
Guy? Man, it was twisted. I have to say it was really painful… I mean, being up there and holding your arms up for five minutes. the first five [are] like, “wow, okay.” And then you start getting to 10, 20 and then it becomes [an] time, whatever, and your arms are like… I mean, a lot of the screaming was real because I was letting all the pain out on those takes.
I feel like it was a real master class to stay in it, you know? I think if we took off the gear, then we went to lunch, and then we got snacks or whatever…sometimes it was nice to stay there because, not only because of your mental capacity, just to stay in the zone, but also just physically , removing everything each time would have taken much longer. I think we were all like, “Let’s stay on this.” And I’m glad that translated for you into that too because it was a difficult time.
Colin makes it to the end and is one of the few. How was the first time you knew you would be one of the survivors?
I’ll be honest, I cried. I was like… I love horror so much and… I don’t know, I like living in it. It never happens, you know? I’ve died in horror movies before and you’re like, “Oh, okay.” But it seemed that he was special enough or that he was developed enough to feel that he earned his keep was so special. I think a lot of times too, especially queer characters, we’re being joked or killed or best friends and then you never see them again, or you deliver some jokey dialogue and then you walk away.
So it was really cool to have agency and feel developed and then feel like I was going to be able to do this. This was me, getting to do this. It was a great gift and I’m very grateful to, uh, David. [Bruckner, Hellraiser‘s director] for giving me that opportunity.
Personally, where do you expect Colin to go as a person after that movie?
Man, I thought of this actually. I really hope that if someone else trips over a box or possibly gets the box back in his possession or something, he knows what to do. They Laurie Strode-it. They’re like, “You know what? We know. We’ll know. And we can help whoever falls. Or if it’s us, we basically figured out how to beat him again. So I think to use all of that past knowledge and maybe use it to inform the next iteration of what happens, I think it would be great to feel like, “Oh, we have some knowledge here.”
It would be great to see Colin as a mentor.
Right? Right. He acts as a mentor, hopefully not in the Ali Larter way in Final destination at the beginning of the second, where he says: “I’m not going to help you. They have all died. But eventually it ends up helping… maybe there’s something to that! Like they were hesitant at first, like, “we don’t want to fuck with this again.” But then we say, “Okay, shit, let’s see how much this is affecting someone. Let’s help them or something.” It would be great to give some of that sweet wisdom, you know?
Which cenobite is your personal favourite?
The Cryer. The Cryer. The crybaby, the crybaby, the crybaby, the crybaby. Also, I think the first Black Cenobite, which I think is the best thing ever. Only to see that the Black prosthetics and jaw are missing and the lack of eyes as well. There were almost these kind of bug eyes with pins in them. You see her in the trailer very briefly. God she just killed him and I was so in awe of her.