Kirsty Cotton

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Kirsty Cotton is a recurring protagonist of the Hellraiser series and the niece of Frank Cotton. She was one of only two characters to face the Cenobite Pinhead and outwit him. She was portrayed by Ashley Laurence in all of her appearences.

Kirsty's mother died when she was young. When her father remarried, Kirsty was always leery of her new stepmother Julia, even noticing how her uncle Frank watched the couple intently at their wedding.

When Larry and Julia took up residence at the family's old house, they invited Kirsty to come and stay. However, Kirsty wasn't keen on moving in with her stepmother. Instead, she acquired her own lodgings in town with her boyfriend Steve. Not too long afterward, she suffered a nightmare in which she encountered her father's mutilated corpse. She also began to notice a strange derelict man shadowing her on the streets and at the pet store where she worked.

She further confirmed her suspicions that something was wrong when she eavesdropped on Julia bringing another man to the Cotton house. To her dismay she found Frank, now skinless and undead, draining corpses of their flesh and seeking her next. Seizing a strange box from Frank's room, she fled for her life before fainting in shock several blocks away.

Waking up in a nearby hospital, Kirsty was questioned by the doctors about what had happened and the box she had acquired. While waiting for the police to arrive, Kirsty began to play with the box. Without warning, the wall split open to reveal a shadowy corridor.

As Kirsty tried to frantically close the box, the Cenobites appeared, intent on taking her to their realm. Thinking quickly, she made a deal with them. Having deduced that Frank had encountered the Cenobites and escaped them, Kirsty offered to lead them to Frank if they left her alone. She ran home to try and warn her father, but it was too late: Frank had skinned Larry and assumed his identity. Despite her rage and anguish, she lured Frank upstairs, where the Cenobites arrived and tore him apart.

However, the Cenobites were all too quick to break their end of the agreement. They chained Julia to the her bed’s mattress and mutilated her corpse. They then came for Kirsty, but Kirsty, having retrieved the box from Julia's remains, was able to reverse the sequence she had discovered, closing the gate she had opened and sending the Cenobites back to their realm. Setting fire to Frank's belongings, she tried to burn the box as well but the derelict that had been following her suddenly appeared, snatching the box and revealing himself as yet another Cenobite creature before flying away.