The return of the early '90s, late 2000s teen slasher flick. Right down to the clothing and neo-gothic aesthetics. This reboot has more in common with something like Final Destination than it does Clive Barker's original work. With a group of bad acting twenty-somethings getting picked off one by one by a supernatural force as they try to uncover the mystery behind why their friends are disappearing. They even included that bog-standard scene where the characters visit an old person in a hospital who has ties to the last time such an event happened for some cryptic, barely helpful hints. As such, the whole thing feels incredibly generic. The franchise's usual inventive violence and grotesque gore are nowhere to be found. The majority of the kills, when it bothers showing them at all, disappointingly consist almost entirely of victims getting impaled and hung in the air by chain hooks that shoot in from somewhere off-screen again and again ad nauseum. The BDSM element has been shed as well. The Cenobites sadomasochistic nature is barely alluded to and they haven't been summoned by straight hedonistic desire this time around either. Their new appearances are also cool on paper, yet strangely goofy in execution due in part to lighting being too bright. And no, I'm not one of those people just hating on the movie because Pinhead is being portrayed by a trans-woman now. In The Hellbound Heart, the source material responsible for these films, the synonymous villain was described as "androgynous with a feminine voice." So those crying foul over the recasting for reasons of "LoRe" really don't have a leg to stand on, as it's not like Jamie Clayton is an any less faithful or appropriate choice for the role than Doug Bradley was based on that. She does end up coming off as far flatter and much less intimidating than her predecessor, but that may simply be the result of her having not been given much to do. This revival seeks to correct the mistakes made by a long string of poorly received sequels that only horror's most hardcore devotees and completionists beared witness to. It doesn't try to retell one of the old stories with a new twist, but instead does something completely new with the brand. Unfortunately, its reinvention just serves to further strip the property of its identity and soul. Creating an ultimately forgettable film that's most noteworthy aspect is its creative creature designs.