Dead By Daylight Is Teasing Hellraiser's Pinhead As Its Next Killer

Dead by Daylight has become a metaverse for horror icons in recent years, as the asymmetric survival horror video game is home to cinematic slasher icons such as Halloween's Michael Myers, Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy Krueger, and Scream's Ghost Face serial killer. For its next killer, Dead by Daylight is teasing static, VHS tapes, and the year 1987, all clues which point to Pinhead from Hellraiser possibly joining the roster.

While the latest tweet for the game only had a vague reference to the 1987 cinematic debut of Clive Barker's BDSM priest, audio files posted to Discord revealed the word HELL via spectrogram, while previous tweets spelled out the word "RAISE". Put the two together, and you've got a good guess as to the identity of the next killer in Dead by Daylight.

If you're unfamiliar with the Hellraiser franchise and Pinhead, the horror film series usually deals with people encountering a puzzle box that summons the Cenobites, former humans who have a fondness for extreme sadomasochism, leather, and lots of hooks.

Pinhead in particular is notable for his appearance living up to his name, as his entire head has nails hammered into it. The character has so far appeared in the entire Hellraiser film series and was primarily portrayed by Doug Bradley from 1987 through to 2005, Stephan Smith Collins in 2011's Hellraiser: Revelations, and Paul T. Taylor in 2018's Hellraiser: Judgement.

Dead by Daylight recently celebrated its fifth anniversary with a Resident Evil crossover, adding Jill Valentine and Nemesis to the game's cast. This isn't the first time that Dead by Daylight has visited another video game property, as it crossed over with Left 4 Dead back in May, as well as Silent Hill in 2020.