During the film's big action climax, he disappears entirely: the 'Chatterer' and 'Butterball' characters provide the on-screen thrills as Kirsty makes her way out of the house of horrors. Indeed, as anyone with Pinhead tattooed on his arm or back will tell you, the character (only named 'Lead Cenobite' in this first film) barely appears in the movie at all - his screentime hovers at around five minutes, and he's only the 'Lead' compared to the other three because he gets to talk. You could actually remove them from the story entirely and there would still be enough for a solid horror film about a woman going to extreme ends (namely: the casual murder of a few poor horny guys) in order to resurrect her lover - who also happens to be her brother-in-law. With a fresh and much more mature pair of eyes I understood just how damn well the movie works, teasing us with glimpses of the Cenobites and brilliantly using them as a mere device within a tale of domestic horror. The sequels appealed more to my sensibilities at the time it wasn't until I actually got around to watching the entire movie again in 2008 (!) that I realized the original is indeed the best (though Hellbound comes close). However, I didn't care much for it at the time I may have been getting to 'that' age where all of the sexual subject matter would have appealed to me, but the more adult themes went a bit over my head, and it was also nothing like I was expecting - I thought Pinhead was a Freddy-like boogeyman who murdered folks! Who's this Julia lady doing all of the killing? I recall it was over a Christmas break that I rented the first three films, putting me at about 13 and in my 8th and final year of Catholic grade school.

It was sometime after Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth came to video that I finally introduced myself to Clive Barker's world of Pinhead, the Lament Configuration, and lots and lots of people who loved to have sex.

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