Should ‘Michael Myers vs. Pinhead’ Have Been Made?
By Jeremy Dick
When Freddy vs. Jason was released in 2003, horror fans flocked to see two of the genre’s most iconic characters together in one movie. Due to the film’s success, Dimension Films wanted to get in on the crossover action and had entered the planning stages of producing a feature film spin-off with Michael Myers of Halloween fame meeting Hellraiser‘s Pinhead. According to Pinhead actor Doug Bradley, there was talk about having the film out as early as 2004, which showed their eagerness to move the project forward.
Soon after the announcement, Doug Bradley had told the same publication that the project was “stalled”. Bradley claimed that both Clive Barker and John Carpenter, the creators of eadch franchise, were on board to be involved with the former penning the script and the latter directing. However, producer Bob Weinstein was reportedly no longer interested in the idea, and the project never got off the ground.
So, what happened?
Halloween producer Moustapha Akkad asked fans of the franchise in an online poll whether they’d be interested in a Michael Myers vs. Pinhead film. Apparently, the results were overwhelmingly negative. The backlash was enough to scare the bigwigs involved into ultimately scrapping the film.
If you ask me, it was unfortunate that such a film didn’t get produced. You’ve even got freakin’ Clive Barker writing and John Carpenter directing— TAKE MY MONEY NOW! So, why were so many fans against it when Freddy vs. Jason was accepted with open arms? I don’t know. Maybe because people had been dreaming about Jason battling Freddy for years, while nobody really thought of something like Michael Myers meeting Pinhead?
Whatever the case may be, fans rejected the notion of Hellraiser meets Halloween, but hindsight has made this mistake seem much more obvious. Since this movie’s cancellation, three more awful Hellraiser sequels were released, while Michael Myers went M.I.A. until Rob Zombie later butchered him. In retrospect, wouldn’t a Hellraiser and Halloween crossover film— again, with both Clive Barker and John Carpenter involved— have been so much better than what we got instead? There’s not even a question.
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Michael Myers vs. Pinhead wouldn’t have been anything like Freddy vs. Jason. It couldn’t be a slasher movie. What I’d picture, instead, is a superb psychological horror film that really delves into the mind of Michael Myers. Those who open the Lament Configuration puzzle box are thrust into the realm of the Cenobites where their fears are exposed and they’re punished for their sins. Could you imagine if someone as truly evil as Michael Myers were to wind up in Pinhead’s world? What kinds of things would we see?
With Michael Myers no longer a part of Dimension Films, we will likely never see this fantasy horror match-up. While the majority of horror fans from 2003 might be happy about this, I feel that it’s a missed opportunity. But maybe not all is lost with the Butcher of Haddonfield— perhaps if Michael winds up with New Line, we might see him go knife-to-knife with someone like Jason Voorhees or Freddy Krueger.
But I’ll never forget about HELLoween, the dream crossover that just wasn’t meant to be.