Plot

Detectives Sean and David Carter are on the case to find a gruesome serial killer terrorizing the city. Joining forces with Detective Christine Egerton, they dig deeper into a spiraling maze of horror that may not be of this world.

Detectives Sean and David Carter are on the case, to hunt down a gruesome serial killer terrorising the city. Joining forces with Detective Christine Egerton, they dig deeper into a spiralling maze of horror that may not be of this world. Could the judgement awaiting the killer's victims also be waiting for Sean?

In hell, the Auditor of the Stygian Inquisition and Pinhead of the Cenobite sect are debating how to modify their soul-harvesting techniques in light of the Configurations-gateways to hell-becoming outdated due to human technology advancements. A serial killer named the Preceptor, whose killings are motivated by the Ten Commandments, is being investigated by three detectives on Earth: Christine Egerton, brothers Sean and David Carter, and others.

The detectives track down Karl Watkins, a local criminal who vanished close to an abandoned house, after making contact with one of the victims. There, Sean faints and awakens in the hellish domain of the Stygian Inquisition. When the Inquisition is about to condemn Sean for his transgressions, the angel Jophiel steps in and orders them to free him.

After Sean makes his getaway with a pilfered puzzle box, the Auditor asks Pinhead for advice. There are no signs of hell or the Inquisition when Sean and his brother return to search the house. He is plagued by visions of the Cenobites and the inhabitants of hell that night, who assure him that anyone who opens the box will experience "judgment and redemption".

At the coroner's office, Sean and Christine discover that one of the Preceptor's victims' cell phones was left inside her body, using its GPS to record her last location. They locate the Preceptor's hiding place, where Sean reveals himself as the murderer and renders Christine incapable of surviving. After determining the identity of the Preceptor, David meets with the coroner to locate the building.

When Sean gets there, he disarms David and tells him that he is holding Alison, his wife, hostage because he is furious that she had an affair. At gunpoint, he coerces David and Alison into opening the box, which calls forth the Cenobites and creates a portal to their world.

Knowing that after his first escape, someone from hell would come to take his soul, Sean tries to offer Pinhead Alison and David. Pinhead informs him that although they will face consequences for opening the box, no agreement will be reached because his soul was sought after by another group in hell. Sean is informed that he has been found guilty of his sins by the Inquisition when the Auditor shows up.

Resuming his intervention, Jophiel tells Pinhead and the Auditor that Sean is a part of heaven's scheme to terrorize sinners. In retaliation, Pinhead sends Jophiel away and has Christine kill Sean. God sends Pinhead down from hell and makes him live as a mortal man as a form of punishment.

A post-credits scene shows The Auditor responding to a group of Mormon missionaries approaching a house in Germany.