The Hellraiser franchise started with Clive Barker, first in the novel The Hellbound Heart then in the 1987 Hellraiser movie, which Barker wrote and directed himself. It's one of the most memorable horror films of all time, or at the very least gave us one of the most recognizable villains in Doug Bradley’s Pinhead, leader of the mutilated race of Cenobites looking to inflict pain on all those who cross their path.
There are still plans in place for Drive Angry collaborators Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer to "reboot" the series, though they swear up and down they aren't retelling Barker's story. In the meantime, though, Dimension Films had to churn out a new movie in order to hang on to the rights, which is how we're getting Hellraiser: Revelations, a direct-to-DVD sequel that looks only slightly better produced than your family’s 1989 Christmas home movies. The trailer recently dropped and Barker, letting loose on Twitter, is none too pleased with the result.
Hello,my friends. I want to put on record that the flic out there using the word Hellraiser IS NO FUCKIN' CHILD OF MINE!I have NOTHING to do with the fuckin' thing. If they claim its from the mind of Clive Barker, it's a lie. It's not even from my butt-hole.
After seeing the trailer, which I’ll embed below, you’ll understand just why it is that Barker, whose heart and soul reside in this franchise, is so upset. Professional hack Victor Garcia added yet another crappy horror sequel to his growing, but increasingly terrible resume, and the local college’s My First Acting Class students seem to populate the cast. This also marks the first time Doug Bradley has refused to play the franchise’s iconic baddie, Pinhead.
Still on the horizon, though, is the project from Lussier and Farmer, so this won’t be the last we see of the franchise. We can only hope that what Dimension has planned will wash away all memories that Revelations even exists.
