Hellraiser (franchise)
Hellraiser is a British-American horror media franchise that consists of eleven films, as well as various comic books, and additional merchandise and media. Based on the novella The Hellbound Heart by English author Clive Barker, the franchise centers around the Cenobites which includes the primary antagonist named Pinhead.
Hellraiser
- Doug Bradley
- Various (See list below)
- Entertainment Film Distributors (1)
- New World Pictures (2)
- Miramax Films (3-8)
- Dimension Extreme (9)
- Lionsgate Films (10)
- Disney Platform Distribution (Hulu) (11)
- Paramount Pictures (international) (11)
1986–present
- United Kingdom
- United States
English
The overall plot of the franchise focuses on a puzzle box, the Lament Configuration. It opens a gateway to the Hell-like realm of the Cenobite lifeforms. The Cenobites are an order of former humans who have become monsters who harvest human souls to torture in their sadistic experiments.
Barker created the franchise and served as writer/director of the original film. He has stated that he signed away the story and character rights to the production company prior to the release of the first film, not realizing the critical and financial success it would be.[1] The franchise was rebooted with an eleventh film, which was released on Hulu in 2022, as well as a television series continuation in development at HBO.[2][3]
Television[edit]
In April 2020, a television series adaptation of the franchise was announced to be in development. Mark Verheiden and Michael Dougherty will serve as the main writers, while David Gordon Green will serve as director on several of the episodes. The series will serve as "an elevated continuation and expansion" of the film series. Verheiden, Dougherty, and Green will serve as executive producers, alongside Danny McBride, Jody Hill, Brandon James, and Roy Lee. The project will be a joint-venture production between HBO, Rough House Pictures and Vertigo Entertainment.[3] Later in October, Clive Barker joined the series as an executive producer.[34]
Prose works[edit]
Follow-up works by Clive Barker[edit]
The Scarlet Gospels, a novel-length sequel to The Hellbound Heart also featuring Barker's recurring Harry D'Amour character, was released in 2015. Hellraiser: The Toll, set before The Scarlet Gospels and after The Hellbound Heart, was written by Mark Alan Miller and published by Subterranean Press in February 2018.[35][36][37]
Works by other writers[edit]
Hellbound Hearts, an anthology coedited by Paul Kane and Marie O'Regan was released on 29 September 2009.[38] It had a cover painted by Barker and included a reprint of "Wordsworth", a short comic by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean originally printed in Epic Comics' Hellraiser comic book. Paul Kane alone authored Sherlock Holmes and the Servants of Hell, a 2016 crossover with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes.[39]
Cancelled projects[edit]
Films[edit]
In an interview, Doug Bradley stated that in 2002 Dimension Films received two scripts for a crossover featuring both Pinhead and Michael Myers, the antagonist of the Halloween series. One of the pitches involved Michael Myers opening the Lament Configuration as a child and being possessed by Samhain fleeing from Hell, and the Cenobites pursuing him in the present day. Although Dimension Films initially turned the project down because it believed the upcoming film Freddy vs. Jason would fail, the studio reconsidered after it grossed $114 million on a $30 million budget. According to Bradley, Clive Barker intended to return to write a screenplay while John Carpenter was being considered to direct. The project ultimately ended when Halloween's producer Moustapha Akkad rejected the idea and due to a negative response from the fans of both franchises.[53][54][55][56]
Inspired by the success of the slasher film Freddy vs. Jason, Miramax contemplated a crossover between Hellraiser and Candyman. Barker, originator of both franchises, recommended against the idea.[57]
Separately in 2002, Hellboy co-writer Peter Briggs was approached by Dimension Films to pitch a continuation to the franchise, to be called Hellraiser: Lament. His treatment, judged by Dimension Films to be "too expensive", concerned the mining town of Lament and the creation of the original puzzle boxes. The story would then have flashed forward to the present day and an attempt for Leviathan to break through into our world.[58]
Video games[edit]
Super 3D Noah's Ark originated as a Hellraiser license for the Nintendo Entertainment System. During the course of its development, the game's abandoned the Hellraiser license and converted it into a simplified game based on the Bible.[59]
Prior to the release of Bloodline, Magnet Interactive Studios developed an unrelated and ultimately unreleased video game called Hellraiser: Virtual Hell. Bradley acted in the game during filming of Bloodline.[60] Miriam Van Scott, writing in the Encyclopedia of Hell, called it "a slick adventure" that "truly involves the player".[61] In 2011, The Weinstein Company announced video games based on several of their franchises, including Hellraiser.[62]