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Clive Barker Discusses Hellraiser Reboot, Nightbreed TV Spin-Off

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Clive Barker has spilled a few details on the in-development reboot of his 1987 horror classic ‘Hellraiser,’ for which he is writing the screenplay.

The original ‘Hellraiser,’ an adaptation of Barker’s novella ‘The Hellbound Heart,’ was the novelist-turned-filmmaker’s directorial debut, and wound up a major sensation, still hugely influential over 27 years on.

Unsurprisingly given how many prized horror tiles of the 1970s and 80s have been remade or rebooted since 2003 (‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,’ ‘Halloween,’ ‘Friday the 13th,’ ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ etc.), a revival of ‘Hellraiser’ has been in the works for some time at Dimension Films.

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A number of noted horror filmmakers, including Pascal Laugier (‘Martyrs’), Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury (‘Inside’) and Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer (‘My Bloody Valentine,’ ‘Drive Angry’) have been attached to the ‘Hellraiser’ remake at different times. However, around a year ago Barker himself surprised many by coming back on board the project as screenwriter, though not as director.

Now, he has given Entertainment Weekly a few hints as to what we might see in this new take on his tale of the diabolical puzzle box which summons forth the dreaded Cenobites, headed up by the iconic Pinhead (played by Doug Bradley in all but the most recent sequel, the lamented ‘Hellraiser: Revelations’).

Barker calls it a “very loose” remake of the 1987 original: “I think the phrase is ‘reboot,’ although I’ve never really understood what that meant.

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“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.

"I figured, ‘Well, what would have happened to him?’ He might well have been taken to Devil’s Island and I thought that would be a pretty cool place to start the movie.

"We’re waiting for Bob [Weinstein, head of Dimension Films] to come back to us and see when we’re going to actually make the movie.”

Given that Dimension made 2011’s ‘Hellraiser: Revelations’ - a found footage film which went direct to DVD - specifically so they could retain the rights to the ‘Hellraiser’ franchise, it’s clear that they still have high hopes for the series, so by this point it’s surely a case of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’ we’ll see the reboot.

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More of a question mark hangs over a new take on Barker’s more divisive second film, 1990’s troubled would-be epic ‘Nightbreed,’ which saw Barker at loggerheads with studio Morgan Creek over his vision of a movie in which monsters are the good guys.

Though a flop on release after being heavily recut and mis-marketed by the studio, the movie - also adapted from one of Barker’s own novellas, ‘Cabal’ - has developed cult status over the years, recently seeing a director’s cut released to DVD and Blu-ray in the US.

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A possible TV series of ‘Nightbreed’ has been rumoured for some time. Barker admits having no idea where this currently stands (“I’m always the last to know”), but Morgan Creek’s James G Robinson says, “there have been inquiries and there have been discussions.”

After his third film, 1995’s ‘Lord of Illusions,’ Barker stepped back from filmmaking in favour of his novels and paintings, though after producing  ‘Gods and Monsters’ and a number of films based on his ‘Books of Blood’ short stories (including ‘The Midnight Meat Train’), he hints he may be considering a return to the director’s chair:

“We’ve got some really cool things coming down the pike [at his production company Seraphim Films]. They’re movies which I’m able to watch over as a producer rather than as a director, [but] 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. So, I don’t think I’ll wait too long until I sign on for something myself.”

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Picture Credit: TWC/DImension Films, Variety, Morgan Creek Productions