Despite Clive Barker almost passing away when dental procedure toxic poisoning left him in an 11 day coma, the Hellraiser creator is back on his feet and hard at work. As soon as he got home after his ordeal he tweeted his enthusiasm to the world:
“Here in the world I intend to stay. I’ve books to write, films to make, and paintings to paint. I seem to have come home with my sight clearer somehow, and my sense of purpose intensified.”
Little did we know that one item on said bucket list would involve a return to his Hellraiser origins. Dimension Films had been trying to get a Hellraiser reboot/sequel off the ground since 2006 with Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer both considered to direct and write but nothing ever came to fruition. This all changed last year when Clive Barker revealed on Facebook that his pitch for a “very loose” remake had clicked with producer Bob Weinstein. Speaking recently with Entertainment Weekly Barker revealed that his second draft had now been submitted to Dimension Films, describing it as a reboot and expansion of the original:
“I wanted to make sure we sounded some fresh notes. The movie actually begins on Devil’s Island. I wanted to fold into the Hellraiser narrative something about the guy – the Frenchman Lemarchand – who made the mysterious box, which raises Pinhead.”
Lemarchand first shows up in the Epic Hellraiser comic series as a mass murderer and master toymaker. Said toys were allegedly manufactured from human fat and bone together with a material supplied by the extra-dimensional Cenobites who Lemarchand was able to communicate with. Whilst Barker is only attached for writing duties it would appear that the recent release of the Nightbreed director’s cut on blu-ray has got him itching to get back behind the camera for other projects:
“We’ve got some really cool things coming down the pike … each time another thing gets added to the rest of the things that we’re doing, I get more tantalized by the idea of actually doing it as a director myself.”
This is great news for fans of the saga but to tide you over until its release you can purchase Scream Factory’s Director’s Cut of Nightbreed on Blu-ray now.
Words: Howard Gorman
