Hellraiser: Whatever happened to Clive Barker’s planned reboot?

Stephen King is quoted as saying “I have seen the future of horror, and his name is Clive Barker.” In 1987 Clive Barker unleashed what most consider a horror masterpiece to audiences with Hellraiser which he wrote and also directed. 30 years later I believe we need to let Barker return to what he knows best.

After the success of Hellraiser many sequels began to follow. Barker was a producer on Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988), Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992) and Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996) . After Barker was no longer involved the series began a nosedive from which we are still waiting to recover. A new film titled Hellraiser: Judgement is due to be released… at some point. And we will not even bother discussing Hellraiser: Revelations. 

But what ever happened to the reboot of the franchise that has Barker attached? In 2014 Dimension Films had tapped Barker to write a script for the new film and rumors also swirled around that Barker could be returning to the director’s chair again.

But what happened? According to an article on Horror Freak News, Barker, when asked of the status of the reboot said “The script was written and delivered to Dimension years ago. That was the last anyone heard until news of a sequel surfaced.“ That sequel in question is Hellraiser: Judgement. This entry once again does not have Doug Bradley returning as the iconic Pinhead, and I cannot find a firm release date for the 10th entry into the series.

Recently the nice folks over at  Clive Barker Cast discussed the script that was penned by Barker. Below will be the details of Barker’s script. If this movie ever sees the light of day and you do not want to know the plot skip it, as there will be spoilers!

Barker’s script begins on Devil’s Island in the 1700’s. Philippe Lemarchand is a prisoner and is being forced to finish the box. When the prison warden forces Lemarchand to open the box, a Cenobite arrives and a macabre situation unfolds.

Fast forward to Massachusetts present day. Larry is a college professor and he and his wife Julia are moving into a home with Larry’s daughter Kirsty. So far we have the same three original characters. Frank and Julia soon discover that Larry’s brother Frank has been living in the attic. In what is probably not the smartest decision, Larry agrees to let Frank keep living in the attic until his situation improves.

Unbeknownst to Larry, Julia and Frank have been carrying on an affair. Frank and Julia pick back up right where they left off. During a ritual Frank is conducting to summon the Hell Priest (Pinhead), he opens the box ripped to shreds. Julia must find victims for Frank so he can get a new skin.

You may be asking yourself, this sounds exactly like the original Hellraiser. According to Clive Barker Cast, a lot of the same elements remain from the original source material but Julia is more brutal in the way she kills Frank’s victims. They also state that she is a much nastier character.

The original Julia we all know and hate

Kirsty eventually escapes from Frank and takes the box in the process. According to Clive Barker Cast this is where we start to get new elements to the story that make it fresh and give it its own footing away from the original. Kirsty ends up in the hospital and these scenes are apparently the strongest in the film.

The new film also introduces two new Cenobites named Scalpel and Bloat. They do not tell us how these new Cenobites come to be, but do explain the scenes are alarming. Apparently they come to be in a maternity unit and the hospital morgue.

Our synopsis is basically a condensed version of what we know for sure. For a full review of the script by Rob Ridenour head on over to Clive Barker Cast’s website here and check it out.

As a young horror fan seeing the original Hellraiser it opened new worlds for me. I had never seen anything like this. Pinhead was intelligent, well spoken and menacing. The words “We’ll tear your soul apart” still give me chills.

via pics.me.me

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I say before we get any more Hellraiser films we let Clive Barker return. Nobody can do Clive Barker….but Clive Barker. With all of the recent scandals that have occurred surround Harvey Weinstein and Dimension Films we may not be seeing any new Hellraiser films for a while. Instead of shelving Barker they should have shelved Hellraiser: Judgement.