Pinhead (Hellraiser) - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

The character has been spoofed in a number of television series, including Robot Chicken episodes "That Hurts Me" (voiced by Scott Adsit), "Slaughterhouse on the Prairie" (voiced by Seth Green), and "Tubba-Bubba's Now Hubba-Hubba", The Simpsons episodes "Treehouse of Horror V" and "Stop, or My Dog Will Shoot!", South Park episodes Imaginationland Episode II and Imaginationland Episode III, and Family Guy episode "Meet the Quagmires".

He is spoofed in the film Transylvania Twist, in which he steps out of an acupuncturist's office and says, "I don't care what anyone says — this hurts!".

He is also spoofed in an episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, in which "Pinhead" is depicted with bowling pins in his head, rather than nails. He also uses a Rubix Cube in place of the Lament Configuration. In the end, he is defeated when Billy's dad rearranges the colored stickers, therefore "solving" the puzzle, like many people do.

Doug Bradley appeared as Pinhead in the Motörhead music video for the song Hellraiser, a number of segments during MTV's 1996 Spring Break programming, and the television talk shows The Arsenio Hall Show and The Jay Leno Show.

Pinhead is alluded to in the 1998 film Bride of Chucky. When John Ritter's character is seemingly killed, his face looks much like Pinhead from Hellraiser. Chucky exclaims, "Why does that look so familiar?".

Wizard magazine rated Pinhead the 9th greatest film villain.

A Dutch anti-smoking campaign in the 1990s parodied the image of Pinhead as "Butthead".

Pinhead was also parodied in the 2009 film Stan Helsing, identified there as "Needlehead", along with parodies of Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, Puppet Master, Chucky, and Leatherface.

Pinhead was also spoofed in the 2012 film The Cabin in the Woods, with a character called Fornicus, Lord of Bondage and Pain; who would evidently be summoned with a spherical version of the Lament Configuration.