Freddy Krueger and Pinhead are two of the most notorious supernatural slashers that both derived from popular horror movie franchises that started in the '80s. A Nightmare on Elm Street instantly became a cult classic as Freddy Krueger haunted the dreams of those who lived on Elm.
Pinhead originated from The Hellbound Heart, a novel written in 1986, in which Pinhead only appears at the very beginning. But in 1987 the first Hellraiser film was released and interest in Pinhead had peaked. Though he had a smaller role in the initial film, Pinhead became one of the main antagonists for the rest of the franchise.
Similarities: Ruthless
This goes without saying, but these two slashers are incredibly ruthless, maybe even more so than their silent-stalker brethren (Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees). Freddy is brutal, kills with no remorse, tortures his victims in their dreams, and exhausts them to the point where they have little fight within them, and only then is when he strikes.
Not to mention that Freddy was a child killer (and implied molester). Pinhead, on the other hand, was filled with blind adoration for experimental sadomasochism, and happily killed whoever tried to open the box, children included.
Difference: Group Killers Vs Lone Star
Pinhead is notoriously the main figure (and one of the leaders) in the Cenobites, a group of extra-dimensional beings that were once human but now appeared to be demonic entities. Each of the Cenobites apparently are morally ambiguous, as they are regarded as angles to some, and demons to others. But they always are in a group with each other, locked in the Lament Configuration, killing anyone who opened it.
Meanwhile, Freddy always seemed to see himself as the star of the show. He hunted his prey solo and enjoyed having all the fun to himself. This is why he and Jason went head to head in Freddy vs Jason, instead of just working together to kill all those around them.
Similarities: Reside In Different Realms
Both Freddy and Pinhead aren't of the Earthly realm. At least, not anymore. After Freddy's death, he existed in the dream world, where he hopped into all of his victim's dreams, making them his own playground. Freddy needed to be dragged into the real world from his world in order for any kind of actual damage to be done.
Pinhead also existed in an alternate world. He resides in the labyrinth realm known as Hell, where he is tasked to drag anyone who opens the Lament Configuration.
Difference: Different Origins
Though both characters began as humans, in the original A Nightmare on Elm Street (not to be confused with the 2010 remake) Freddy Krueger was the child of a nun who worked at a hospital and had been raped by over 100 psychopaths. Talk about dark origins, Freddy later went on to become the Springwood Slasher, the infamous child killer. While he was hiding in the very boiler room where he took all his victims, the parents of his victims all came and burned the building, with him inside of it, down.
Pinhead was born Elliot Spencer, a war vet who had become disenchanted with life and so he opened the Lament Configuration. All of his human memories were erased and Elliot became Pinhead, who served under the deity known as Leviathan, to take the souls of anyone who opened the box as he once did.
Similarities: Messed Up Faces
Being a horror movie icon really has to do with your looks, there is a certain standard of how scary a character is based completely on their face. Pinhead and Freddy both have pretty scary appearances that are largely based on their faces. Before these two, slasher killers were known to mostly wear masks that covered it all.
Michael Myers wears his infamous Halloween mask, Jason wears the hockey shield, and Leatherface wears his home-made flesh face. But Freddy just has his face, and that was scary enough. He plays on it as well, scaring those around him by making green ooze coming out of it, or twisting his eyes to pop out of his head. He's terrifying. Pinhead is equally as scary, with the pins looking as though he had a really bad acupuncture job, but staying in the mind of viewers.
Differences: Personalities
The two characters could not have more different personalities than each other. Most horror slashers are the silent but deadly type, where they don't utter a word through their entire movies other than a few grunts here and there. However, Freddy is maniacal. He throws quips around to tease his prey, adding a new layer of horror to the genre. He enjoys cracking jokes at the expense of others, typically to scare them or tell them how they're going to die.
Pinhead, on the other hand, is extremely stoic and calm. He speaks more than the silent stalkers, but he also doesn't go crazy. It's as though he is extremely apathetic to everything around him, including death, which just makes him even more horrifying.
Similarities: Bad/Weird Sequels
Both of these slashers have their fair share of sequels, many of them being downright awful. There are a total of nine sequels/remakes in each franchise, and they all seemingly get worse and worse. It is impressive that Hellraiser has yet to be rebooted considered all the other slasher horror movies of the time have already been, but the newer movies still aren't good.
Hellraiser had a sequel as recent as 2018, Hellraiser: Judgement, in which Pinhead is punished and exiled from Hell to be a mortal on Earth, something he greatly despises. A few movies before that, in Hellraiser: Hellworld, Pinhead had become a villain in the MMORPG game Hellworld.
Differences: Main Antagonist
Though Freddy and Pinhead are the main antagonists of their respective series, Pinhead didn't start out as such. In A Nightmare on Elm Street, Freddy Krueger is always the main villain, running around trying to murder people in their dreams.
Pinhead, however, wasn't the main villain in the first film, he just lurked and watched the events unfold until the end of the film.
Similarities: Final Girls
Though Nancy is vastly more popular than Kirsty, both final girls star in the original film and one or two sequel films in which they reunite with their killer. Kirsty reunites with Pinhead in the second Hellraiser and one of the later films, Hellraiser: Hellseeker.
Nancy is in the original A Nightmare on Elm Street and A Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors. Nancy also appears in Wes Craven's New Nightmare, but that film is more of an alternate reality set in the real world where Freddy haunts the actress behind Nancy, Heather Langenkamp.
Differences: Weapons Of Choice
Freddy Krueger is infamous for the knives-for-hands that he uses as his main weapon to slay those he goes after in dreams. Of course, Freddy also has a number of other powers that all include him being in control of the dream world and being able to manipulate it to how he wishes.
Pinhead, on the other hand, summons hooks and chains and typically enjoys ripping his victims apart and torturing them as much as he can.