Clive Barker’s Hellraiser movie spawned a major horror franchise after its release in 1987. The latest chapter for the IP is the new video game Hellraiser: Revival, and working on it has gotten Barker interested in doing more with the franchise on the screen.
Barker, who also wrote the original story that the film is based on, regained the U.S. rights to the franchise in 2021. He served as a creative consultant for Hellraiser: Revival, collaborating with developers Saber Interactive on the story and mythology. In an interview with Dread Central to promote the game’s release, Barker shared how the project has made him eager to tell more stories on the film side of the franchise. If the game sells well, that will make that endeavor even easier.
Clive Barker Has Plenty of New Hellraiser Ideas
“I think what was achieved in the game is a wake-up call to anyone who’s been involved in the making of a franchise like Hellraiser,” he said. “It says to get your ideas warmed over so you can go back into existing worlds in a brand new way. I have many ideas that I’d like to see realized in the Hellraiser universe, and I’m planning to keep my fingers in that pie.”
The horror legend further teased, “I’d love to have another go at it and explore… I think Hellraiser is a mythology that could be given some real space to develop and expand upon myth. We’re doing some of that in the new comic books, but I’d love to go further in the movies. But yes, I have a lot of ideas that I’ve kept waiting in the wings to get going as Hellraiser films and in other media.”
The Hellraiser Movies Had Gotten Off Track
Barker directed 1987’s Hellraiser, which is still widely considered by horror fans to be one of the best movies from the genre’s golden era. He continued to work on the first few sequels behind the scenes through 1996’s Hellraiser: Bloodline, the fourth installment. Barker was not directly involved with any of the subsequent sequels before he returned as a producer on David Bruckner’s 2022 reboot. The filmmaker now criticizes the quality of the later sequels, which he blames on their producers.
“There are many of the Hellraiser movies that were made by the Weinstein brothers that were created simply to hold onto the rights,” Barker explained in the interview. “Over time they spent less and less on them. A lot of amazing creative people got worked over as a consequence. It’s not the fault of the writers and directors, but just the way the system works in some cases. It’s a sad thing.”
He added, “The compromises you have to make and the battles you have to have are totally exhausting, unnecessary, and not something I will entertain ever again.”
Hellraiser: Revival is out now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC. CBR’s review of the game says it “does justice to Pinhead.”
- Release Date
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September 18, 1987
- Runtime
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94 minutes
- Director
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Clive Barker
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