 | |
| Nico Bradley | |
| Aliases: | Steven Craven Pseudo-Pinhead |
| Continuity: | Hellraiser film series |
| Notability: | Antagonist |
| Type: | Partier |
| Gender: | Male |
| Race: | Cenobite |
| Location: | Hell |
| Associations: | Bradley family Order of the Gash |
| Relatives: | Peter Bradley Kate Bradley |
| Status: | Deceased |
| Born: | Unknown |
| Died: | 2011 [1] |
| First: | Hellraiser: Revelations |
| Actor: | Jay Gillespie Nick Eversman |
Nico Bradley is a fictional young man and a central antagonist featured in the Hellraiser film series produced by Dimension Films and Neo Art & Logic. Portrayed by actors Jay Gillespie and Nick Eversman, he appeared in the 2011 direct-to-video feature film Hellraiser: Revelations.
Biography[]
Nico Bradley was a young man around college age in the early 2010s. He came from an affluent family from Los Angeles, California. Nico was best friends with Steven Craven and was dating Steven's sister, Emma.
Nico and Steven were both extremely disgruntled with what they saw as generic upper-class lifestyles with no future prospects beyond eking out a drab daily grind. Seeking further realms of experience, they both decided to spontaneously leave home to explore the world. Nico brought Steven to Tijuana, Mexico where they sought to live endless days of debauchery.
No sooner had they crossed the Mexican border, they stopped at the first rat-hole cantina they could find. Nico filmed everything with a handheld camcorder as they spent the evening drinking beer and downing shots. They took note of a Mexican girl that Steven fancied, but it was Nico who ultimately seduced her, taking her into the back of a filthy restroom stall to have sex. It is unclear what happened next as Nico lost consciousnesses soon after. When he came to, he found the woman leaning against the toilet in the stall dead, with blood around her head and neck.
Nico and Steven began to panic and went back into the bar area to formulate a plan. Steven wanted to call the police, but Nico shot the idea down, citing that two white boys could never expect to receive a fair trial in Tijuana. Moments later, a hairy vagrant entered the bar, and offered them something that he promised would yield heights of experience and pleasure the likes they could never imagine. Though suspicious of the dirty man's motives, Nico agreed. The vagrant handed Nico a Lemarchand puzzle box and told him that he wanted nothing for it.
Nico took the box and experimented with it, eventually solving the riddle of the box, which was known as the Lament Configuration. This opened up a portal to Hell, and from it emerged two demonic members of the Order of the Gash - the Lead Cenobite and a Female Chatterer Cenobite. They killed Nico and brought him to Hell where he was tortured at length.
Nico telepathically reached out to Steven through the puzzle box, urging him to kill on his behalf. Steven brutally beat a prostitute to death and when her blood spilled across the bed mattress, Nico was able to partially resurrect himself. Feeding off the blood and flesh of another street walker, as well as her infant child, Nico's physical form continued to reconstitute itself. Steven refused to help him any further, so Nico killed Steven and took his skin.
Wearing his friend's flesh as a convincing skin suit, Nico attempted to hide from the Cenobites, who actively wished to reclaim him. He ended up back at the Craven home in Los Angeles. Believing him to be Steven, the family were joyous to find him and brought him inside so he could rest.
Although he was weary, he was still very keen of mind. He laid in Steven's bed overnight until he was well-rested. He spoke with Emma and the two shared an intimate moment with Nico kissing her and fondling her breast. Emma still believed that the man who was groping at her was her brother. Nico knew that Emma now had the puzzle box and it was intent to use her as a bartering tool should the Cenobites come to reclaim him.
Once he was revived, he went downstairs and revealed to everyone present, including his own parents, that he was actually Nico. He shot Steven and Emma's father Ross with a shotgun, and left him on the floor to die. He kept the rest of the family at gunpoint and forced Emma to solve the Lament Configuration. When the Cenobites arrived, he offered them Emma's soul in place of his own. The Cenobites however, noted that Nico owed a deficit of blood. They used their resources to kill Steven and Emma's mother, as well as Nico's mother, Kate.
The Cenobites laid claim to Nico and brought him back to Hell. The Female Chatterer cut the Steven flesh mask away from him and he was subsequently transformed into a Pseudo-Cenobite himself; one whose physical accoutrements were similar to that of the Lead Cenobite. [2]
Abilities[]
Powers[]
- Immortality: Being as how Hell is an endless realm, Nico is theoretically immortal unless his Pseudo-Cenobite form is destroyed through supernatural processes.
- Regeneration: Once resurrected, Nico was able to slowly reconstitute his physical form through the consumption of flesh and blood.
- Resurrection: A one-time ability, Nico found a loophole out of Hell and was able to return to life on the Earthly plane.
- Telepathy: A trait otherwise unseen in other Cenobites, Nico had the ability to telepathically communicate with Steven, urging him to take measures so he could escape from Hell.
Skills[]
- Acting: Nico Bradley was able to convincingly portray the body language and mannerisms of Steven Craven with enough proficiency so as to convince the Craven family that he actually was Steven.
- Mimicry: While wearing Steven's skin, Nico was able to perfectly imitate his voice so that even his own family members could not notice any difference. This ability was likely supernatural in origin.
- Videography: Very low proficiency. Nico knew how to adequately utilize a camcorder.
Weaknesses[]
- Strange appearance: As a Pseudo-Cenobite, Nico Bradley can no longer pass for human. The skin from his face has been flayed, and a gridwork of nails have been implanted into his cranium.
Associations[]
- Bradley family - Member.
- Peter Bradley - Father; deceased.
- Kate Bradley - Mother; deceased.
- Steven Craven - Best friend, accomplice, surrogate; deceased.
- Emma Craven - Ex-girlfriend; alive.
Body Count[]
- Mexican girl - Killed off-camera through unknown means.
- Steven Craven - Killed off-camera through unknown means.
- Ross Craven - Shot to the mid-section with a shotgun.
Notes & Trivia[]
- The character of Nico Bradley was created by director Victor Garcia and screenplay writer Gary J. Tunnicliffe.
- Actor Nick Eversman received fourth billing while Jay Gillespie received seventh billing in Hellraiser: Revelations. Cast members in the film were credited alphabetically by last name.
- Nico Bradley is considered a Pseudo-Cenobite as opposed to a conventional one. The difference between the two is that regular Cenobites are created by the Engineer or directly from Leviathan itself. A Pseudo-Cenobite is one that is created by another Cenobite. As a Hell Priest and leader of the Order of the Gash, Pinhead has the ability to create new Cenobites as demonstrated when he created Pistonhead, Dreamer, Camerahead, Barbie and CD in Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth.
- The conceit of Nico disguising himself as Steven Craven is a call-back to the first Hellraiser when Frank Cotton murdered his brother Larry and then assumed his skin.
- Although the scene between Emma and "Steven" comes off as incestuous, it is only incestuous in the mind of Emma, who believes that she is actually making out with her brother. Biologically, Emma and Nico are not blood relations.
- Due to the methods by which Nico must regenerate himself, he is technically a cannibal.
- One of the reasons for Nico's outrage at his family was because he knew that his mother had been sleeping with Steven's father, Ross.
- Technically, Nico is the second character to die in this film after the Mexican girl. If one counts his return to Hell as a death as well, then he is also the eighth character to die in the film (not counting his first death).
- Nico's surname is taken from Doug Bradley, the actor who portrayed the Lead Cenobite in the first eight installments of the Hellraiser film series. Ironically, Hellraiser: Revelations is the first film to not feature Doug Bradley in the role of Pinhead.
See also[]
External Links[]
- Hellraiser: Revelations at Trakt TV
- Hellraiser: Revelations at Wikipedia
- Hellraiser: Revelations at Letterboxd.com
- Hellraiser: Revelations at Themoviedb.org
- Hellraiser: Revelations at the Hellraiser Wiki
Appearances[]
References[]
- ↑ This database assumes that the events of the film take place in the same year in which it was released.
- ↑ Hellraiser film series, Hellraiser: Revelations (2011). Dimension Films and Neo Art & Logic. Directed by Victor Garcia. Written by Gary J. Tunnicliffe.