Would capture the public's imagination?
They thought Julia was going to be the figurehead of the series but Claire Higgins didn't want to be in anymore sequels after Hellbound and the popularity of Pinhead made them rethink who should be the continuing character.
Think by looking at Julia it seems obvious she wasn't going to be a horror icon.
True, Pinhead was never a central part of 'Hellraiser's story line, he didn't even have a name (listed only as "Lead Cenobite").
But to think that his ability to captivate viewers wasn't noticed or even understood is, I believe, faulty.
Nobody understands these things better than cynical and money grubbing PR departements. Now, while they are mostly unable to affect the writer and the director (in this case one and the same person) when it comes down to the actual movie, you can bet your butt on the fact that when it came to marketing 'Hellraiser' they knew exactly what to push forward.
I'm willing to bet that had Barker asked the marketing people for input their one and only advice would have been "More of that guy with nails sticking out of his head - he looks *beep* awesome!".
Personally I like how he ('Pinhead') is not a big part of the film. It makes his few appearances all the more poignant, and it makes him absolutely more threatening - because you don't know anything about him. All you know is that 1) He is there to get what he wants. 2) He is undoubtedly in charge. And 3) There is basically nothing you can say or do that is going to change either 1 or 2.
Excellent description of Pinhead!
shareI think the cenobites in general are important to the story, because the whole thing would be pretty mundane without their influence. The whole driving point is these people are bored of everything that's real and normal, and the cenobites represent what's beyond the limits of the normal world.
Though you may be right that Pinhead as an individual isn't important. The fact that the cenobites of the movie are mostly different from the ones described in the book indicates to me that they're not really individual characters, just a collective concept of supernatural sadomasochism.
I agree that limiting his appearances made him much more interesting. Too many of these horror series make these all powerful villains similar to pinhead and try to make them the main villain. It just ends up cheesy because the writers have to find ways to make the protagonists survive even though they shouldnt be able to.
The Hellraiser series had a lot of faults, but it did some things very well. When Pinhead showed up in the storyline, even in sequels after #4, you knew that sh*t was about to go down and there was nothing that the villains could do about it. The way that the wrote the movies, he could show up and be all powerful and it enhanced the storyline rather than making it unbelievable.