Throughout the history of horror films, monstrous beings and dark, twisted creatures have always been there. Fans were caught surprised when Hellraiser first came up with the concept of Cenobites.
The Cenobites were a radical departure from traditional monsters, with traits that no one could have imagined in their wildest nightmares. Perhaps this is why the Cenobites have become one of the most feared and loved figures in horror history. These animals delved into the depths of human sin, testing the limits of pain and pleasure, and their sadomasochistic tendencies produced something different from the stereotype.
When it comes to Cenobites, Pinhead is usually the center of attention, and for good reason. Thanks to the interesting storyline that surrounds him, Pinhead is the most popular of them all, and rightly so! However, there are other lesser-known Cenobites who are just as dangerous and insane, if not more so.
Dr. Channard is one of the dreadful Cenobites that terrified the crowd with his bizarre behavior. In this video, we go over everything there is to know about Leviathan’s twisted servant, and you will remember this terrible beast of hell for a long time!
Early signs of evil – Dr. Channard as human
As is the case with many other Cenobites, Dr. Channard was also once a human. However, while some other Cenobites were comparatively innocent as humans, he had a dark side to his characters very early in his life. He started showing the first signs of his vicious nature even as a child, and he had an unexplained bloodlust that drove him.
Philip Channard killed a small animal as a young boy, and he took sadistic pleasure in mutilating its carcass. Many notable serial killer flicks have probably taught you that such activities in children often indicate the possibility of a future killer who is in the early stages of giving in to his psychopathic side. Later, he went on to become a doctor and a good one at that!
He was a celebrated neurologist, and Dr. Philip Channard was the co-founder of the Channard Institute. This facility catered to the mentally unstable and knowing his disturbing past life, it was quite ironic that he tried to explore the damaged minds of others. His psychopathic side was not left far behind, and he continued to derive pleasure from torturing – only, this time his victims were patients of the facility.
He had also developed an unusual obsession for the collection and documentation of certain puzzle boxes that could supposedly open the portal to a hellish dimension. Even his methods of torturing the patients were actually his attempts to unlock the secrets of hell.
Crossing over to the other side of hell!
Remember Kirsty Cotton from the first Hellraiser movie? Well, the lady experienced some traumatic moments, and her experiences left her shaken. She ended up being admitted to the Channard Institute, and as luck would have it, her savior was actually evil beyond what she could comprehend. Dr. Channard obviously did not expose his true colors at first and he continued to learn all about Kirsty Cotton’s past life.
She told him about the events of the first Hellraiser movie, and she also requested him to destroy the mattress, on which her stepmother Julia Cotton had died. She knew about the consequences because she learned all about reanimated corpses from her experience. Learning about the horrors she witnessed only pleased the demented doctor because the Lament Configuration was the one puzzle box that he had been looking for all these years.
Initially, it looked like only his assistant Kyle MacRae believed the whole story, but it was soon revealed that Dr. Channard had plans of his own! It was also learned that he kept many of the patients locked up in the maintenance levels of the facility to suffer from his torturous methods. His assistant grew suspicious of his activities, and his fears were proved right when he sneaked into his house to find out about his obsession with the relics and secrets of hell.
In fact, Dr. Channard brought the bloodied mattress home, and he cut himself with a razor that caused him to bleed. This freed Julia from Hell, just like it did with Frank Cotton previously. She appeared in a skinless form and even the hell-obsessed doctor was taken aback by the horrifying sight! All this while, Kirsty Cotton was befriending a fellow patient named Tiffany who had an uncanny knack for solving puzzle boxes.
She soon became one of Dr. Channard’s favorite patients because he obviously wanted to make use of her skills. He also ensured that Julia Cotton had a steady supply of victims to feed on, and this helped her get her skin back and reform her body. She wanted him to manipulate Tiffany into opening the gates of hell and this way Dr. Channard would be able to witness the insides of the Labyrinth! For someone who was obsessed with the hellish realm all his life, you can imagine the kind of excitement such a proposal would bring!
Meanwhile, Kirsty Cotton and Kyle headed back to his apartment, and Kirsty found the picture of Captain Elliot Spencer, the man who was transformed into the Hell Priest Pinhead. Kyle found the remains of several bodies, but he was slaughtered by Julia who went on to attack Kirsty and knocked her unconscious.
Dr. Channard used the opportunity to kidnap Tiffany, and together with Julia, he made her unlock the Lament Configuration. When the Cenobites arrived, they targeted Dr. Channard because he was the one who desired to summon them and Tiffany was only the means. Pinhead quickly changed the configuration of the box to something more complicated so as to lock open the doors to the labyrinth. Dr. Channard finally got a taste of hell, but it wasn’t exactly his ideal fate!
The ghastly transformation of Dr. Channard into the Doctor Cenobite
Dr. Channard finally got his wish fulfilled, and he witnessed the world that he so longed to see! The hellish realm was run by Leviathan, and he dwelled in the shape of some version of the Lament Configuration. His dark energy caused Dr. Channard to remember some of his atrocious and heinous crimes, and he was soon going to experience pain like never before! Suddenly, his plans went for a toss and he watched in shock as Julia betrayed him to the Labyrinth. It turned out that her mission all along was to ensure a steady supply of souls to Leviathan and Dr. Channard was simply one of her victims.
A strange, large, bulbous, stinger-laden apparatus operated on him and infused him with vile fluids that started the process of change in his body. He slowly got transformed into a hideous Cenobite, and this hellish creature was now a loyal servant for Leviathan. His Cenobite self embodied his worst thoughts and desires, and his sadistic fantasies could now be brought to life without any inhibition.
He looked hideous, with a phallic cord drilled into his skull, and metal wires wrapped around his head and cut into his flesh. When he moved, it looked like he was levitating, and he reveled in the torturous methods that he adapted. The Doctor Cenobite got into action straightaway. He went after Kirsty and Tiffany, and in this turmoil, Kirsty came across Pinhead’s Gash and introduced some of the Cenobites like Pinhead to his past life as a human.
The Cenobites had no memory of their human self, but Pinhead was reminded with the picture of Elliot Spencer that he used to be human at one time. When Doctor Cenobite attacked, these Cenobites opted to protect Kirsty and opposed his advances. They had just learned that the Leviathan had transformed them into such monstrosities and that their life as monsters was not their true origin!
This is the moment that exposed the true powers of Doctor Cenobite. He repelled Pinhead’s attack effortlessly and he went on to rip them apart. He attacked with a shocking cry, and he used the black tentacles from his hands as projectiles to attack his enemies. These rebellious Cenobites had violated the laws of hell by disobeying Leviathan, and now, Doctor Cenobite killed them all for their disloyalty.
He transformed the face of Pinhead to his human form, but Pinhead managed to allow Kirsty to escape before Doctor Cenobite slit his throat. While he was busy fighting Pinhead’s Gash, Kirsty and Tiffany found the reconfigured puzzle box and Julia’s skin. Tiffany tried solving the box, but Doctor Cenobite got hold of her and tried to bring her into the chamber, where she would be transformed into a Cenobite.
Kirsty came to the rescue and tricked him using Julia’s skin. This bought Tiffany enough time to solve the Lament Configuration, and the gates of hell were finally closed. As a perfectly happy ending, Doctor Cenobite was killed as well, and Kirsty and Tiffany returned home to their world. The horrors of the Cenobites, however, were far from over, as the climactic moments showed the murderous souls of hell living through the blood-stained mattress, continuing their killings! Besides the movie Hellbound: Hellraiser II, Doctor Cenobite was also seen in the comic book Hellraiser: Reckoning.
The Doctor Cenobite is so impactful because we get a complete story of the character. This is not just some murderous machine without context, and we actually get to witness his journey from being a human to a grotesque Cenobite.
Both in terms of powers and characteristics, he was easily one of the most impressive among the Cenobites we encountered, and it is a pity that his storyline is rather concise! We would love for this character to be brought back in some form, and knowing the popularity that Dr. Channard enjoyed, it would be an absolute treat for many of the Hellraiser fans!