What actually happens
Frank solves the puzzle and regrets it
Frank Cotton, a hedonist, buys a puzzle box in Morocco that is rumored to open the way to a realm of otherworldly pleasure. He takes it up to the empty attic at his home and solves it, and chains with hooks shoot out and tear him apart. Later, his brother Larry moves into the same house with his second wife, Julia, hoping to repair their marriage. Larry does not know that Julia had an affair with Frank before the wedding. While Larry is moving furniture, he cuts his hand, and his blood drips through the attic floor to where Frank's remains lie. That brings Frank back in a ghoulish form. Julia finds him, still obsessed, and agrees to help rebuild his body so they can leave together. She does that by picking up men in bars and bringing them to the attic.
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Kirsty opens the box out of curiosity
Julia wounds the men she brings home, and Frank drains their life to regenerate. Frank explains that he had tried every sensation there was, so he went looking for the puzzle box. When he solved it, the Cenobites appeared to give him extreme sadomasochism. Larry's teenage daughter Kirsty, who is also Frank's niece, sees Julia bring a man home, trails her up to the attic, and finds Frank there. She gets away with the puzzle box and faints. In a hospital, she opens the box out of curiosity and summons the Cenobites along with a monster called the Engineer, and she only just gets away from it. The Cenobites' leader says they are explorers from another dimension, and that they no longer know pain from pleasure. When they try to take Kirsty, she tells Pinhead that Frank has escaped. They agree to go after him if he confesses.
Uncle Frank, wearing Dad
Kirsty goes home to find that Frank has killed Larry and put on his skin to pass as him. Julia shows Kirsty what she says is Frank's flayed corpse in the attic, then locks the door behind her. The Cenobites arrive, are not fooled, and ask who did this. Julia and Frank hold Kirsty down, and Frank reveals who he is. When Kirsty turns down his advances, he decides to kill her. He stabs Julia by mistake and drains her. Frank chases Kirsty up to the attic. He nearly gets her, but the Cenobites turn up first, because they heard him confess to killing her father. Now sure they have the right man, they catch him in hooked chains and pull him apart. That is the scene people dread most, and it comes near the end.
Reversing the puzzle box
The Cenobites double-cross Kirsty and try to take her anyway. She grabs the puzzle box out of Julia's dead hands and sends the Cenobites away by running through the motions that open it, backward. Her boyfriend Steve arrives, and the two of them flee as the house collapses. After that, Kirsty tosses the puzzle box onto a bonfire. A vagrant who has been following her walks into the fire and takes the box out. He then changes into a winged skeletal creature and flies off. The box then turns up again with the merchant who first sold it to Frank, who is offering it to another buyer.
The ending, explained
Frank is torn apart by the Cenobites, who then double-cross Kirsty and try to take her. She uses the puzzle box to send them away and escapes the collapsing house with her boyfriend Steve. Larry and Julia are dead. Kirsty throws the box on a burning pyre, but a vagrant who has been following her steps into the fire, takes it out, changes into a winged skeletal creature, and takes off. The box ends up with the merchant who sold it to Frank, and he offers it to a new customer.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: no dog dies, but dead rats are shown several times.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Hellraiser scary?
Hellraiser is a 5 out of 10 with medium dread. It is body horror with chains, skin and Cenobites from another dimension, and it has jump scares.
How does Hellraiser end?
The Cenobites tear Frank apart, and Kirsty uses the puzzle box to banish them, then escapes the collapsing house with Steve. A vagrant takes the box from a fire and flies away.
Does the dog die in Hellraiser?
No dog dies in Hellraiser. Dead rats are shown several times.
Is there a post-credits scene in Hellraiser?
No. Hellraiser has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
Who are the Cenobites in Hellraiser?
In Hellraiser, the Cenobites are explorers from another dimension who come when someone solves the puzzle box. They say they can no longer tell pain from pleasure, and their leader is called Pinhead.
