January 17, 2010

Random thoughts on: The HELLRAISER series, and more.



The book (The Hellbound Heart) by Clive Barker was nothing short of amazing.

The first two films, I think, are by far the best of the entire series. Even though HELLBOUND had a different director, it still had the same look and feel as the first one. And I feel that is where the great lore and everything that comes with that in pertinence to Hellraiser ended.

With part 3, you get the strong inkling that they're really trying to make Pinhead out to be a 'memorable' Horror Villains, and not just of the cult status kind, of which the cenobites held with 1 and 2. Pinhead is greatly different in part 3, almost comical, and his demeanor just seemed very off from what I loved about the character in the first place. And please, Pinhead...STOP LAUGHING before/after everything you say! The Cenobites in this one were terrible as well.



Now, I know for Bloodline that there is practically a totally different version in existence, but I really don't care. I couldn't stand Bloodline. It was too all over the place for me, and was added way too much into the history than it needed, and took away a lot of the mystic that I loved with Hellraiser.

The rest of the sequels...well, what hasn't been said about them. They're TERRIBLE. 'Nuff said.

As for the remake...I'm really NOT looking forward to it. But, what I can say is this:

If a HELLRAISER remake is ever going to happen, I will be very hard pressed to ever get behind that one...unless Clive Barker is involved. If he is involved either with Writing or Directing, then I might be interested. But if not, color me not interested, because then you would be physically raping the very viber of my Horror being. There is no way that any film studio could go ahead with a brilliant idea of HELLRAISER in today's day and age with what we were originally given. That film is a cult classic, and has become highly recognized in the Horror genre. You can't bring any of the elements from Clive's novel, or film, to a movie executive today and expect them to be okay with any of it. So, in turn, that means that they would only be cashing in on the name and characters, not what the story is known for in certain Horror circles. But, if it were to be made, and the right way for that matter, I think that there is only one way to go with it. Have all the elements from Clives novel in tact (most of the things the original film was missing, but didn't hinder the film at all), but have Pinhead now be an older essence of evil. Simply because Doug Bradly has aged a pretty good amount since the first Hellraiser film, so I think they could work that into the remake. Have the evil that is Pinhead be an older evil, more dark and foreboding, and has been around for ages, and is more powerful than the original incarnation of Pinhead that we know and love. Of course, still have all the Cenobites there, including Butterball and Chatterer and the Female Cenobite, because altering them, or even taking them away from the story, would be blasphemous. And yes...KEEP all the Necrophiliac-ish things in tact, as well as the small incestuous story points. If you take those away, the story really loses a lot of it's punch. And, if that were given to today's American audience, people will be really blown away.



God Damn it...I should write my own treatment for a HELLRAISER remake. Eh...just some self made food for though, I suppose.

I know Clive really wants nothing to do with Directing anymore, and I know he cares deeply about Hellraiser and things of the sort...I just wish that one day he will come to his senses (because he is a VERY smart man) and clean up all the mess leftover by so many other writers and film makers.

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