What actually happens
A psychiatric hospital with a mattress problem
The movie starts in the 1920s, when a British military officer named Elliot Spencer opens the Lament Configuration and becomes the Cenobite called Pinhead. The story then jumps to Kirsty Cotton, who has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital after her father was killed by Frank Cotton. Dr. Channard and his assistant Kyle MacRae interview her, and she tells them everything that happened. Her one request is that they destroy the bloody mattress where her murderous stepmother, Julia Cotton, died. Dr. Channard, who is quietly obsessed with the Lament Configuration, listens with great interest and does not destroy the mattress. He has it moved to his own house.
Reading this instead of watching it is the correct decision. Scaredy Cat makes that decision automatic, for free.
The razor on the mattress
The scene to brace for is early. Channard talks Mr. Browning, a patient with a mental illness, into lying on the mattress and cutting himself with a razor. The blood frees Julia from the Cenobite dimension, still without her skin, and she consumes Mr. Browning to regain strength. Kyle has sneaked into the house to check Kirsty's story. He sees the whole thing from his hiding place and runs away in terror. Back at the hospital, Kirsty meets Tiffany, a mute young patient who is remarkably good at puzzles. That night Kirsty wakes to see a skinless figure she takes for her father, who writes in blood that he needs rescuing from Hell. Kyle comes back and tells her he now believes all of it, and the two of them go to Channard's house.
Dr. Channard's patients, as a buffet
Julia has seduced Channard, and he has been bringing her more patients to eat so she can finish regenerating. When Kirsty and Kyle arrive, Julia is fully regenerated. She kills Kyle and knocks Kirsty out. Channard and Julia kidnap Tiffany and make her solve the Lament Configuration so they can enter the labyrinth where the Cenobites live. The Cenobites let Tiffany go for the moment, because they see that the wish behind the puzzle was Channard's, not hers. In Hell, a gigantic diamond-shaped entity called Leviathan rotates in the sky and fires black beams that make Channard recall his past atrocities. Julia calls it the god of flesh, hunger and desire. Kirsty wakes up holding the Lament Configuration and follows them in.
A labyrinth with a mean landlord
Pinhead and the Cenobites find Kirsty and tell her she can look around. Julia betrays Channard to Leviathan, which turns him into a Cenobite while he screams, and she reveals that her job is to deliver souls to Leviathan, his included. Kirsty runs into Frank Cotton, who admits he only pretended to be her father. Julia tears out his heart to pay him back for an earlier betrayal, which lets Kirsty get away, and then a vortex pulls Julia off and leaves her empty skin behind. Kirsty and Tiffany reunite and try to escape, but Channard, now a full Cenobite, ambushes them. They run into Pinhead and the others, and Kirsty hands Pinhead a photograph of Spencer, which she took from Channard's study. Pinhead slowly remembers he was human, and so do the others. Channard turns up and calls Tiffany to him, which shocks her into speaking again. The Cenobites fight him and lose, and as each one dies the body turns back into the human he was. Spencer shares a last look with Kirsty before Channard's scalpel-wielding serpents finish him.
The ending, explained
Channard corners both girls. Kirsty finds Julia's flayed skin and wears it over her own to hold Channard's attention, which buys Tiffany enough time to work the Lament Configuration a second time, backward. Channard gets his serpent-like tentacles tangled and tears himself apart while trying to pull free, and the door to Hell finally closes. The girls leave the hospital. A last scene follows at Channard's old home, where two moving men are clearing out his belongings. The mattress pulls one of them in, and the other watches a strange pillar rise up. One of the faces fused to it is the vagrant who had been following Kirsty, and he asks the man what his pleasure is.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Hellbound: Hellraiser II scary?
Yes, Hellbound: Hellraiser II is a 6 out of 10 with a medium dread level. It has plenty of jump scares and a lot of body horror, mostly involving skin and the Cenobites.
How does Hellbound: Hellraiser II end?
Kirsty and Tiffany close the door to Hell after Channard tears himself apart, and they leave the hospital. Pinhead and the Cenobites are killed by Channard first, after remembering they were once human.
Does the dog die in Hellbound: Hellraiser II?
No dog dies in Hellbound: Hellraiser II. A brief flashback shows a boy dissecting a pet rabbit.
Is there a post-credits scene in Hellbound: Hellraiser II?
No. Hellbound: Hellraiser II has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
Who is Pinhead in Hellbound: Hellraiser II?
Pinhead is the Cenobite who used to be Elliot Spencer, a British military officer in the 1920s. He turned into Pinhead by opening the Lament Configuration, and Kirsty's photograph of Spencer is what makes him remember he was human.
