POP! Movies: Pinhead (Glow in the Dark)

Company: Funko

Year: 2016

I’ve been in a Hellraiser kind of mood of late – I rewatched the first one over Halloween, and finally saw the second one a few weeks later. But the third film is the first one I actually watched, back in 2005; it was where Pinhead first made the transition from minor antagonist to main character and focal point of the series. It’s a pretty terrible film, but it has its share of memorable moments, primarily thanks to Doug Bradley doing a great turn in the role.

Now, as I said in my previous Pinhead review, Funko have been smart – officially, this figurine is licensed from Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth. The costume differences between this and the first film are pretty minor to a layman like me, and I’m sure the costs involved were a fraction of those for licensing the original film.

And it's a good variation on a previous release; I’m almost certain it’s the same head sculpt that was used on the previous Pinhead pop, though the cuts in his face do seem much “softer”. This is probably the result of it being cast in glow in the dark plastic, and the lack of paint and wash. The arms are now folded across the chest, rather than extended, and the Lament Configuration is nowhere to be seen.  The lower half of the body looks to be identical, probably using the original prototype or sculpt as a base. It’s distinct, but not miles away from the original; for me, the glow was the main differentiation.

Paint is not as tight as the previous version, but I didn’t look very closely at the options I had in the store; I was just too excited to come across it in the wild! The glow itself is quite bright too, displaying as a luminous green on the head and also the hands.

Considering that the Hellraiser films have many visually interesting characters/villains, it’s a bit of a shame that we haven’t seen more figures released in the line. I can appreciate that some characters are not as retailer friendly as others – skinless Frank and Julia would likely elicit a protest similar to the whole Breaking Bad/Toys R Us fiasco – but I hope that we’ll at least get some of the other Cenobites sometime in the near future. Butterball, despite being my least favourite design in the actual film, seems like he’d lend himself nicely to the format -- and this custom Chatterer is quite impressive.  

This new version of Pinhead originally saw release alongside new versions of Beetlejuice, Jason and Alex (A Clockwork Orange) as Hot Topic exclusives, randomised in mystery boxes. Fortunately, in Australia they’ve been released in much easier-to-obtain form single form, though I suspect they will end up vaulted much sooner than their regular counterparts. Though not an essential purchase if you have the existing Pinhead figure, it’s still distinct enough to be worth considering. As aterrible tragic for all things that glow, I simply had to have it; I probably would have skipped it otherwise, but a good use of glow will push me over the line every time.