ComingSoon Senior Editor Spencer Legacy spoke with actor Adam Faison about his role in Hulu’s Hellraiser and queer representation in horror movies. Hellraiser is now streaming on Hulu.
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“A new take on 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,” reads the film’s synopsis.
Spencer Legacy: What’s it like to be part of a franchise as iconic as Hellraiser?
Adam Faison: An amazing experience. I feel like it’s actually sometimes mind-blowing because you’re like … it’s such a huge franchise that you don’t realize until you see all of the reaction online and the articles, it’s so cool. And the artwork! People have already been making Pinhead artwork and haven’t even really fully seen what she’s going to look like — the Hell Priest, excuse me. It’s been so cool to see the reaction and that fans are even just hyped about the trailer. I can’t wait for them to see the movie as a whole.
You and Brandon Flynn have incredible chemistry in the film. Did that come naturally or did that require work?
Literally, it was a week, and then we went into shooting — so it was all very quick. But we had a great time. We had a little intimacy coordinator, so that was fun because they help you very much get into the zone. All that is to say, in the end of the job too, it’s our job to give to each other. Little time or a lot of time, hopefully, it naturally comes there. I think we both were very giving in the scenes and I’m happy that it translated.
You got the ultimate Hellraiser honor of having a torture scene. What was that like? How’d you get in that headspace for that?
Dude? Man, it was gnarly. I have to say, it was truly painful … I mean, just being up there and keeping those arms up for even just five minutes. The first five [are] like, “whew, okay.” And then you start getting to like 10, 20 then turns into [an] hour, whatever, and your arms are just like … I mean, a lot of the screams were just real because I was letting all of the pain out in those takes.
I feel like it was a real master class in staying in it, you know? I think if we took the rigging off, then we went to lunch, and then we got snacks or whatever … sometimes it was just nice to stay in it because, not only for your mental capacity — just staying in the zone — but also just physically, to take off everything every single time would’ve taken a lot longer. I think we all were like, “let’s just stay in it.” And I’m glad that it also translated for you in that because it was a gnarly time.
Colin makes it to the end and he’s one of the few. What was it like when you first learned that you’d be one of the survivors?
I’m going to be honest, I cried. I was like … I love horror so much and … I don’t know, just like getting to live in it. It never happens, you know? I’ve died in horror movies before and you’re like, “Oh, okay.” But it felt like he was special enough or that he was developed enough to feel like he earned his keep was so special. I think a lot of times too — especially queer characters — we’re either jokes or we’re killed off or we’re the best friend and then you never see them again, or deliver some quippy dialogue and then leave.
So it was really cool to have agency and to feel fleshed out and then to feel like I was going to get to do this. This was me, getting to do this. It was such a gift and I have so much gratefulness to, uh, to David [Bruckner, Hellraiser‘s director] for giving me that opportunity.
Personally, where do you hope Colin goes as a person after that movie?
Man, I thought about this actually. I really hope that if somebody else stumbles upon a box or if he possibly he comes into the possession of the box again or something, that they kind of know what to do. They Laurie Strode-it. They’re like, “You know what? We know. We be knowing.” And we can help whoever it falls into. Or if it’s us, we figure out basically how to beat it again. So I think using all that past knowledge and maybe using it to inform the next iteration of whatever happens, I think would be really cool to feel like, “Oh, we’ve got some knowledge here.”
It would be great to see Colin as a mentor.
Right? Right. Acts a mentor, hopefully not in the Ali Larter way in Final Destination in the beginning of the second one where she’s like, “I’m not going to help you. Everyone’s died.” But then eventually ends up helping … maybe there’s something in that! Like they’re reticent at first, like, “we don’t want to fuck with this again.” But then we’re like, “Okay, shit, we see how much this is affecting someone. Let’s help them out or something.” It’d be cool to give some of that sweet wisdom, you know?
Which Cenobite is your personal favorite?
The Weeper. The Weeper. The Weeper, The Weeper, The Weeper, The Weeper. Also, I think the first Black Cenobite, which I think is the dopest thing ever. Just to see the Black prosthetics and the jaw missing and the lack of eyes too. There was almost these sort of like bug eyes with pins in them. You see her in the trailer very briefly. Gosh, she just killed it and I was like so in awe of her.
