Development Decades before the development of
Hellraiser: Judgment,
Dimension Films obtained the rights to the
Hellraiser and
Children of the Corn film series; Dimension's first films were
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth and
Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice, shot back-to-back in
North Carolina in 1991. Since then, the company has been required to produce films in both series to retain the rights. Around the release of
Hellraiser: Bloodline in 1996, Gary Tunnicliffe (who was involved with the special effects of
Hellraiser III and
Bloodline) pitched a
Hellraiser story,
Holy War, to Dimension executive
Bob Weinstein; an opening scene, about a priest seeking a path to Heaven through suffering, was
storyboarded. Tunnicliffe continued to provide special effects for the series' sequels through
Hellraiser: Hellworld (2005), which all were released to
direct-to-video after
Bloodline, but was unhappy with the quality of the films. Nearing a later deadline to retain
Hellraiser and
Children of the Corn, Dimension Films offered him an opportunity to write and direct a
Hellraiser sequel. Tunnicliffe wrote the screenplay for 2011's
Hellraiser: Revelations, but could not direct it due to a scheduling conflict with
Scream 4. Instead of being an original screenplay converted into a
Hellraiser film, Tunnicliffe's idea for
Judgment was intended as part of the series from its conception. He removed its
Hellraiser elements after trying to meet with Dimension, who were uninterested in making another
Hellraiser film immediately after
Revelations. Tunnicliffe showed
Judgment to Mike Jay Regan, who enjoyed its premise and suggested the removal of
Pinhead for a standalone project. He then attempted to make it as an
independent film, but failed to find financial backers, leading to an unsuccessful
Kickstarter campaign in 2013. Five years after being unable to direct
Revelations, Dimension (facing another rights-retention deadline) offered Tunnicliffe the job of writing and directing another
Hellraiser film. Dimension told him to write the script for
Judgment with the proviso that if they disliked it, he would direct
Enter Darkness without being paid. After reading it, they allowed Tunnicliffe to direct
Judgment as part of the series after negotiating rewrites, notes, and suggested changes. Paul T. Taylor was cast as Pinhead, and Tunnicliffe played the Auditor. Mike Jay Regan reprised his role as the
Chatterer, and
Heather Langenkamp would play a character in the film. after the test, he was asked to audition as Pinhead. The latter audition took place in
Los Angeles, where Taylor thought he "nailed" his performance. Tunnicliffe allowed him to interpret the character, and he was given months to prepare before filming began. The preparation included
smoking (unusual for Taylor), to give his voice a gravelly quality. He took late-night walks in high-crime neighborhoods near his home, which he described as "facing the fear". He said of his performance: "I have a vulnerability in my acting no matter what I do. It's just there... It's about the stillness. [Pinhead]'s already so terrifying that when he makes a move, it means something. He's very economical and when he speaks, he's so eloquent". Believing "Pinhead has to be British", the American actor used a British accent when in-character. For research, he visited a comic-book store to read
Hellraiser comic books in which Pinhead appeared. Tunnicliffe detailed his reasons for selecting Taylor, saying he was prepared and open to listening, but also wanting to give his own interpretation: "I wanted a slightly different Pinhead for this new tale, there's a stillness, a dry resolve to this new version, coldness, sarcasm. I wanted a Pinhead with a regal sense of arrogance and boredom and Paul delivered". Tunnicliffe and
cinematographer Samuel Calvin prepared substantially beforehand to maximize shooting time, using a daily average of 30 to 35 complex camera and lighting set-ups. According to Tunnicliffe, all departments were enthusiastic about their work and a work day never exceeded thirteen hours. Filming locations included a derelict building, a bar, a luxury apartment building and penthouse suite, a church interior, a children's playground, alleys, and stages and sets built by the film's art department. Another three weeks were devoted to editing, and the film's limited budget restricted the number of lengthy edits. This was followed by the implementation of
color timing, sound, and music. The
score was composed by
Deron Johnson, who was influenced by
Trent Reznor and the score of
Seven. Although Tunnicliffe's original cut had cues from
Christopher Young's
orchestral soundtrack from
Hellraiser and
Hellbound, a more modern approach was adopted for budgetary reasons. The domains of hell inhabited by the Cenobites and the Stygian Inquisition were distinguished by color, with a blue
palette used for the Cenobites' domain and a "piss" yellow applied to the Inquisition's. Among
Judgment deleted content were a longer scene of Karl Watkins (Jeff Fenter) being skinned to death by the Inquisition's surgeon (Jilly Blundell), and scenes involving the Cleaners. The original version of the sex scene between Sean (Damon Carney) and Alison Carter (
Rheagan Wallace) was more intense, with the camera cutting back and forth between Sean's view of Alison and visions of the Cenobites. Several false endings were conceived for the scene, including Sean's
hallucination of Alison
fellating him when he looks up after his
orgasm to see David Carter (
Randy Wayne) smiling back at him. The nightmare scene in which Sean enters an alley and sees flashes of hell was originally longer and more graphic; at one point, he stumbles across Alison as part of a
threesome behind a dumpster with two strange men in pig masks. Tunnicliffe wanted to use surreal imagery to convey that "Sean's world was being torn apart, undone by his experiences at the house within the hellish dimension". In
Judgment original concept pitch, the Jury eats the Assessor (Gulager)'s regurgitated pages (not sifting through them) before handing down its verdict on the Stygian Inquisition's captives. The Lament Configuration was also altered, built with bleached wood and
copper etching. He later clarified: "I think [the gore in the film] is done because of the style and aesthetics in a beautiful way. This is not masturbation, and let's just throw blood at the screen". The costume department used a
cast of Taylor's head to design a pin mask for him to wear as Pinhead, which covered his entire head except for his ears. Although he found the costume and makeup extremely uncomfortable, he integrated the discomfort into his performance as the sadomasochist. ==Release and marketing==