Hellraiser is one of my favorite horror movies, and Pinhead is a long awaited addition to the NECA collection of cinematic boogiemen.
This isn’t the first Pinhead action figure, of course, but it’s one of the more fully-articulated ones to come out, and that means it’s the first one I’ve ever owned. There have been other versions of the Cenobites as well, but I stopped buying barely articulated figures a long long time ago. They proved to be too frustrating and limited. I needed a Pinhead that looked great and was fully functional. Here we are.
I am a huge fan of all the well-known horror movie icons, as my ever-growing collection of NECA Jasons, Freddys and so forth can attest. Pinhead has always struck me as a little different. He doesn’t have the one-liners of Chucky or Freddy, he doesn’t have the creeping silence of Jason or Michael Myers. In a way, at least in the initial Hellraiser movies, Pinhead isn’t even the true villain of the piece. The humans—Frank and Julia—are the true monsters. Pinhead and the Cenobites are more the blameless inevitabilities that feel beyond traditional viewpoints of good and evil. They have the laser focus of a traditional 9-5 employee. Solve the puzzle and suffer. It’s their job. It’s what they do.
Pinhead comes with two heads. I was a little worried about them before taking them out of the package. I figured that they might be so hard that I’d risk breaking some of the pins while trying to swap them. But I was pleased to find that the heads are durable yet soft enough that the nails bend without breaking, and they pop on and off of the thin peg easily, with no danger of snapping. The neck has a ball joint, and he can get a decent mount of spin and tilt. The high collar is a little restrictive but he can still get some personality.
I love both heads—the screen accuracy is excellent—but I’m sticking with the neutral head as my default. Not that I don’t like the look of the aggressive teeth-baring head, but Pinhead is always going to have a detached calm on his face. The nails look great and get the point across. Yes, I said they get the point across. There’s no charge for that one. They are slightly thick, but that’s pretty much hard to argue with on a head this size.
The torso features a wobble joint with a nice amount of motion, allowing him to pivot back and forth and all the way around, side to side and so forth. There’s a thin string that allows you to dangle his torture tools from. It’s a little iffy, and I kept knocking them off as I was taking pictures, so they’re not attached throughout most of the pictures. If you don’t plan on moving him around then they’re fine, but don’t lose them.
The sculpting on his fetishwear is intricate and precise. There’s a ton of detail, and the paintjob gives it a slick leathery feel, with just the right amount of blood mixed in to make it all feel appropriately wrong.
Pinhead has NECA’s newish double-jointed arm setup, which gives him a nice range of motion. The joint is a little strange if you’re used to the more traditional joints on a Marvel Legends figure or similar, but I’m getting more and more used to them. This is perhaps the best they’ve looked/moved yet, so they seem to be continuously refining it.
He comes with three sets of hands: neutral, gesturing and gripping. There’s only a slight bit of difference between the neutral and the gesturing, but it’s enough of a difference to add a little personality. Either of the open hands are good for holding the included Lament Configuration boxes. The gripping hands hold his torture tools, but only the hook looks size-appropriate in his hand.
His skirt is fabric, which is great. I was worried a Pinhead would have a stiff coffin of a skirt but this one allows him to move. Pinhead doesn’t move that much, but if you’re into Ninja Pinhead then you will have no problem. There’s a wire in the bottom of the skirt piece if you want to go for a Marilyn Monroe windblown skirt effect.
As stated, he comes with three tools: a hook, a blade and a saw. They all look well-used, and feel appropriately mean. He comes with an opened box and closed. You’ll have to imagine that disturbing single-note sting that occurs right before the chains shoot out of the wall all on your own.
This is the Pinhead I’ve been patiently waiting for. He looks and moves great, and will terrify all the other silver screen bad guys I own. I would love to get some of the other Cenobites in fully-articulated form, but if Pinhead is all we get then at least I’ve got some Hellraiser representation.
