Hellraiser (film series)
Encyclopedia
Hellraiser is a British
horror
franchise
that consists of nine films, a series of comic books, and merchandise based on the series. The franchise is based on the novella
The Hellbound Heart
by Clive Barker
, who would go on to write and direct the adaptation of his story, titled Hellraiser
. The films, as well as the comic book series, continually features the Cenobite
Pinhead
. The series’ storyline focuses on a puzzle box
that opens a gateway to the Hell
-like realm of the Cenobites, an order of formerly human monsters who harvest human souls to torture in sadomasochistic experiments. Although Clive Barker wrote the original story, as well as wrote and directed the first film, he has not written or directed any of the succeeding sequels. Barker stated in an appearance on Loveline
that he signed away the story and character rights to the production company before the first film, not realizing what a great success it would be.
(1987), Frank Cotton (Sean Chapman
) escapes from the Cenobite
s when his brother Larry (Andrew Robinson) spills his own blood on the spot where Frank died opening a puzzle box
that opened a gateway to the Cenobites. With the help of Larry's wife Julia (Clare Higgins), Frank begins regenerating his body with the blood of victims that Julia supplies him. Larry's daughter, Kirsty
(Ashley Laurence
), accidentally unleashes the Cenobites, but makes a deal to deliver Frank to them in exchange for her own life. After taking Frank, the Cenobites go back on their deal and try and take Kirsty as well. Solving the puzzle box, Kirsty sends the Cenobites back to Hell. In 1988, a sequel titled Hellbound: Hellraiser II
follows Dr. Philip Channard (Kenneth Cranham
) as he resurrects Julia, who was stuck in Hell with the Cenobites. Kirsty is pulled back into the Cenobite world, where the demons decide to keep her, but, having discovered the human identity of the Cenobites early, Kirsty appeals to their latent humanity, specifically the Cenobite leader Pinhead
(Doug Bradley
). Pinhead decides to release her, but he and his followers are killed by Channard, who has become a Cenobite himself. With help of a teenage girl, Tiffany (Imogen Boorman
), who unknowingly assisted Channard in opening the box, Kirsty and Tiffany escape the Cenobite world and close the gateway behind them.
In Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth
(1992), the revelation of Pinhead's humanity has resulted in a schism, separating him into two halves-- his human self, World War I
veteran Elliot Spencer, and Pinhead, now a living embodiment of Spencer's id
. While Spencer is trapped in limbo
, Pinhead is trapped, along with the puzzle box, in the surface of an intricately carved pillar, a relic of the Cenobite realm. The pillar is found by a night club owner, J.P. Monroe (Kevin Bernhardt), who begins assisting Pinhead in his resurrection. A television reporter, Joey Summerskill (Terry Farrell
), begins to learn about Pinhead and the puzzle box, which leads her to Monroe's night club. Pinhead is eventually resurrected, and begins creating new Cenobite followers in an effort to establish Hell on Earth. Joey manages to reunite Spencer and Pinhead, fusing them back into one entity, and is able to use the puzzle box to send Pinhead back to his dimension; afterward, Joey submerges the box into freshly laid cement at a construction site. Hellraiser: Bloodline
(1996) tells the story of the creator of the puzzle box, referred to as the Lament Configuration. A toymaker named Philip Lemarchand (Bruce Ramsay
), commissioned by a Duc de L'Isle (Mickey Cottrell), a wealthy Aristocrat and master of the dark arts who wishes to open a gateway to Hell in order to enslave a demon. Beginning in the distant future, and tracing the history of the box from its creation in 1784, Bloodline shows how the Lemarchand family attempts to close the box forever after learning what L'Isle uses it for. Eventually, Dr. Paul Merchant creates the Elysium Configuration, a space station capable of closing the gateway for good, and he traps Pinhead inside and destroys him and the box.
Hellraiser: Inferno
(2000), the first of the succeeding sequels to be direct-to-video
, follows corrupt police Detective Joseph Thorne (Craig Sheffer
) as he discovers the puzzle box while investigating a series of ritualistic murders. As time goes on he begins to uncover clues that suggest that he is the killer. Eventually, Pinhead appears and informs Thorne that the events of the movie have been transpiring in Thorne's own personal Hell, and that he will be reliving the same series of events for eternity. In Hellraiser: Hellseeker
(2002), Ashley Laurence
returns to play Kirsty Cotton. In the opening moments, she and her husband, Trevor (Dean Winters
), end up in a car accident that kills Kirsty. One month later, Trevor wakes up in a hospital, but because of a head injury, his memory is uncertain and he cannot distinguish between fantasy and reality. As he begins to uncover evidence that he was having a series of affairs, he also comes under suspicion for orchestrating the crash that killed his wife. Pinhead appears in the end, and informs Trevor that he was the one that died in the car crash: His own plot to murder Kirsty for her inheritance backfired when Kirsty offered the Cenobites the lives of Trevor, his mistresses, and his co-conspirators in exchange for her own.
In Hellraiser: Deader
(2005), reporter Amy Klein (Kari Wuhrer
) is sent to Bucharest
to investigate an underground suicide cult founded by a descendant of Philip Lemarchand, who claims to be able to bring back the dead and who believes that it is his birthright to open the puzzle box and control the Cenobites. She is gradually drawn into their world and eventually sees no way out other than to join them. In the end she opens the puzzle box, summoning up Pinhead and the Cenobites, who kill everyone for attempting to invade their world. To prevent Pinhead from taking her soul, Amy kills herself. Hellraiser: Hellworld
(2005) is set in the "real world," in which the Hellraiser franchise has spawned a successful MMORPG
. Five friends mourning the death of one of their fellow players—who committed suicide after becoming obsessed with the game—receive in-game invitations to a party at the Leviathan
House. At the house, the host of the party (Lance Henriksen
) takes them on a tour of the many layers of the home, after which they are picked off one-by-one by the host or Pinhead. The final two victims ultimately realize that most of the events of the movie have been a hallucination, after the host—the father of their deceased friend, who blames his son's fellow players for not breaking his addiction to the game—drugged them and buried them alive. The police rescue the surviving teenagers, Chelsea (Katheryn Winnick
) and Jake (Christopher Jacot
), while the host escapes to a decrepit motel with a suitcase of his son's belongings. The host discovers a real puzzle box inside, and upon opening it is killed by Pinhead and a pair of cenobites.
Finally, in 2011, a ninth
film was released to a single theater in California for a crew showing that was ostensibly open to the public. Hellraiser: Revelations
is the first film not to feature Doug Bradley as Pinhead and was shot in two weeks for $300,000. It was suggested by Bloody Disgusting
that the film was only shot so that The Weinstein Company
would not lose its rights to the franchise before it could produce a more profitable remake of the original. The film was released on DVD on October 18th 2011.
, Child's Play
, Friday the 13th, Halloween
, Saw, Scream
, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre—and adjusting for the 2008 inflation, Hellraiser is the lowest grossing horror franchise in the United States, at approximately $84 million. The Hellraiser series is surpassed by Friday the 13th, which tops the list at $614 million. The Hannibal Lecter film series follows closely with $573 million, A Nightmare on Elm Street with $522 million, Halloween with $517 million, Scream with $400 million, Saw with $378 million, Psycho with $371 million, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with $315 million, and the Child's Play film series rounding out the list with approximately $200 million. It should be noted that only four of the nine Hellraiser films were released theatrically, with the remaining sequels going direct-to-video
.
has been working to develop a remake of the original Hellraiser over the past several years, with various directors and writers signing on and dropping off.
Clive Barker had turned in a 45-page treatment which outlined a film that was filled with "horror and drama". Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, the directors of the French horror film Inside
, were supposed to write and direct the Hellraiser remake, with Barker backing the pair 100 percent. However, their Barker-supported script was rejected by Dimension. The directors cited creative differences when they left the project.
Later, French filmmaker Pascal Laugier
, the director of Martyrs
, was attached to the new Hellraiser film. Laugier's film was to be a reboot, and not a remake that would mix elements from both the first film and Clive Barker's original novella, The Hellbound Heart
. Laugier has said "I won't betray Clive Barker's work. I want to do a fresh film filled with a lot of unexpected and surprising things. At the same time, I want it to be connected to the real, original material." Laugier further added "We'll get the chance to have much more money than even Clive had in the first film, so it will be of course more epic, it will be bigger, and I hope that it won't be softer." Clive Barker's response to Laugier's involvement was positive: "I liked Martyrs a lot. I'm very excited at the idea of [Laugier] doing it. Pascal is a very talented filmmaker, obviously a lot more talented than I was when I stepped onto the sound stage on [the first] Hellraiser and I hadn't really directed anything before… I am completely open and ready to be blown away. I don't have any possessiveness about it. I just want people to have fun." Laugier was later taken off the film for unknown reasons.
The film is now set to be directed by Patrick Lussier
and written by Todd Farmer
, who have previously worked together on My Bloody Valentine 3D and Drive Angry
.Variety has reported that the upcoming remake will be filmed in 3D
. Lussier has denied rumors that the new film is being geared for teens, and that they hope to expand upon the mythology that Barker created as well as finding something new to do. "We want to approach the massive 'Hellraiser' mythology that exists and how to work within that do something unique. One of the things we didn't want to do... We think Clive's film stands on its own. We think it's brilliant and it made such a specific, dark vision at that time unlike anything that had come before it. So going to do just a remake of his movie but with more money is not something we wanted to do. We wanted to work within the 'Hellraiser' lexicon." Recently, Farmer confirmed that both he and Lussier are no longer attached to the project.
began publishing series of comic book spin-offs for the Hellraiser franchise. The comics contained a set of short stories, with Clive Barker acting as a consultant on all of the comics. Epic published twenty regular series comics, from 1989 to 1992. They also published three special issues from 1992 to 1994, one being a holiday special, as well as adapted a comic book version of Hellraiser and Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth. Other releases included the limited series Clive Barker's Book of the Damned and Pinhead, as well as the crossovers
Hellraiser vs. Nightbreed
: Jihad and Pinhead vs. Marshal Law
: Law in Hell.
In December, 2010, Boom! Studios announced they would be publishing a new eight-issue Hellraiser miniseries, written by Clive Barker and Christopher Monfette, beginning March, 2011, and would also be reprinting select Epic Comics under the title Hellraiser: Masterworks.
and titled The Hellraiser Chronicles. Written by Peter Atkins and Stephen Jones
, with a foreword by Clive Barker, The Hellraiser Chronicles is a collection of production photographs, design sketches, excerpts from the scripts, and interviews with the cast and crew. The next book, The Hellraiser Films And Their Legacy, was released by McFarland & Company on November 27, 2006; it was written by Paul Kane
, and features foreword by Pinhead actor Doug Bradley. Hellraiser Films collects the production history of all eight films, their spin-offs, as well as how the series relates to popular culture. The book provides an in-depth look at the film characters, and interpretations of the choices those characters make in the film. Hellraiser Films also provides a brief look at the short, fan film No More Souls.
Official
Miscellaneous
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
franchise
Media franchise
A media franchise is an intellectual property involving the characters, setting and trademarks of an original work of media , such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or a video game. Generally, a whole series is made in a particular medium, along with merchandising and endorsements...
that consists of nine films, a series of comic books, and merchandise based on the series. The franchise is based on the novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
The Hellbound Heart
The Hellbound Heart
The Hellbound Heart is a horror novella by Clive Barker, first published in November 1986 by Dark Harvest in the third volume of their Night Visions anthology series, and notable for becoming the basis for the 1987 movie Hellraiser and its franchise...
by Clive Barker
Clive Barker
Clive Barker is an English author, film director and visual artist best known for his work in both fantasy and horror fiction. Barker came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories which established him as a leading young horror writer...
, who would go on to write and direct the adaptation of his story, titled Hellraiser
Hellraiser
Hellraiser is a 1987 British and American horror film based upon the novella The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker, who also wrote the screenplay and directed the film. Hellraiser explores themes of sadomasochism and morality under duress and fear. The film spawned a series of sequels...
. The films, as well as the comic book series, continually features the Cenobite
Cenobite (Hellraiser)
The Cenobites are extradimensional beings who appear in the works of Clive Barker, including the novella The Hellbound Heart and the nine Hellraiser films...
Pinhead
Pinhead (Hellraiser)
Pinhead is a fictional character from the Hellraiser series. Created by Clive Barker and portrayed by Doug Bradley, Pinhead is a prominent figure in the series, mostly featured as the main antagonist....
. The series’ storyline focuses on a puzzle box
Lemarchand's box
Lemarchand's box is a fictional lock puzzle or puzzle box appearing in horror stories by Clive Barker, or in works based on his original stories. The best known of these boxes is the Lament Configuration, which features prominently throughout the Hellraiser movie series. This was designed and made...
that opens a gateway to the Hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
-like realm of the Cenobites, an order of formerly human monsters who harvest human souls to torture in sadomasochistic experiments. Although Clive Barker wrote the original story, as well as wrote and directed the first film, he has not written or directed any of the succeeding sequels. Barker stated in an appearance on Loveline
Loveline
Loveline is a syndicated radio call-in program in North America, offering medical and relationship advice to listeners, often with the assistance of guests, typically actors and musicians. Its flagship station is KROQ-FM in Los Angeles....
that he signed away the story and character rights to the production company before the first film, not realizing what a great success it would be.
Overview
In the original HellraiserHellraiser
Hellraiser is a 1987 British and American horror film based upon the novella The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker, who also wrote the screenplay and directed the film. Hellraiser explores themes of sadomasochism and morality under duress and fear. The film spawned a series of sequels...
(1987), Frank Cotton (Sean Chapman
Sean Chapman
Sean Chapman is an English-born actor. He is best known for playing Frank Cotton in Clive Barker's Hellraiser, and its sequel, Hellbound: Hellraiser II. He is also known for voicing the character Sgt...
) escapes from the Cenobite
Cenobite (Hellraiser)
The Cenobites are extradimensional beings who appear in the works of Clive Barker, including the novella The Hellbound Heart and the nine Hellraiser films...
s when his brother Larry (Andrew Robinson) spills his own blood on the spot where Frank died opening a puzzle box
Lemarchand's box
Lemarchand's box is a fictional lock puzzle or puzzle box appearing in horror stories by Clive Barker, or in works based on his original stories. The best known of these boxes is the Lament Configuration, which features prominently throughout the Hellraiser movie series. This was designed and made...
that opened a gateway to the Cenobites. With the help of Larry's wife Julia (Clare Higgins), Frank begins regenerating his body with the blood of victims that Julia supplies him. Larry's daughter, Kirsty
Kirsty Cotton
For the EastEnders character, see Dotty CottonKirsty Cotton is a fictional character from the Hellraiser series of films. Created by writer Clive Barker, the character first appears in the 1987 film Hellraiser and is based upon the character of the same name from the novel The Hellbound Heart...
(Ashley Laurence
Ashley Laurence
Ashley Laurence is an American film and television actress. She is noted for her appearances in horror films, particularly the Hellraiser series.-Career:...
), accidentally unleashes the Cenobites, but makes a deal to deliver Frank to them in exchange for her own life. After taking Frank, the Cenobites go back on their deal and try and take Kirsty as well. Solving the puzzle box, Kirsty sends the Cenobites back to Hell. In 1988, a sequel titled Hellbound: Hellraiser II
Hellbound: Hellraiser II
Hellbound: Hellraiser II is a 1988 horror film directed by Tony Randel. It draws heavily upon, and was made by much of the same cast and crew as its precursor, Hellraiser.-Summary:...
follows Dr. Philip Channard (Kenneth Cranham
Kenneth Cranham
Kenneth Cranham is a film, television and stage actor. He starred in the title role in the popular 1980s comedy drama Shine on Harvey Moon. He also appeared in Layer Cake, Gangster No. 1, Rome, Oliver! and many other films. He is probably best known to horror genre fans as the deranged Dr...
) as he resurrects Julia, who was stuck in Hell with the Cenobites. Kirsty is pulled back into the Cenobite world, where the demons decide to keep her, but, having discovered the human identity of the Cenobites early, Kirsty appeals to their latent humanity, specifically the Cenobite leader Pinhead
Pinhead (Hellraiser)
Pinhead is a fictional character from the Hellraiser series. Created by Clive Barker and portrayed by Doug Bradley, Pinhead is a prominent figure in the series, mostly featured as the main antagonist....
(Doug Bradley
Doug Bradley
Douglas William "Doug" Bradley is an English actor best known for his roles in the Hellraiser film series.- Early life :Bradley was born in Liverpool, England...
). Pinhead decides to release her, but he and his followers are killed by Channard, who has become a Cenobite himself. With help of a teenage girl, Tiffany (Imogen Boorman
Imogen Boorman
Imogen May Pratt Boorman is an English film actress and television actress. She is known for portraying Tiffany in the horror classic film Hellbound: Hellraiser II, Lorina in Dreamchild, Clothhide in May to December, and Hannah Preston in Westbeach.Educated at Benenden School in Kent, Boorman went...
), who unknowingly assisted Channard in opening the box, Kirsty and Tiffany escape the Cenobite world and close the gateway behind them.
In Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth is a 1992 American horror film and third installment in the Hellraiser series, directed by Anthony Hickox and starring Terry Farrell, Doug Bradley, Paula Marshall and Kevin Bernhardt...
(1992), the revelation of Pinhead's humanity has resulted in a schism, separating him into two halves-- his human self, World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
veteran Elliot Spencer, and Pinhead, now a living embodiment of Spencer's id
ID
ID, I.D. or id may refer to:* The id, ego, and super-ego comprise the psychic apparatus defined in Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche- Abbreviations :...
. While Spencer is trapped in limbo
Limbo
In the theology of the Catholic Church, Limbo is a speculative idea about the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the damned. Limbo is not an official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church or any other...
, Pinhead is trapped, along with the puzzle box, in the surface of an intricately carved pillar, a relic of the Cenobite realm. The pillar is found by a night club owner, J.P. Monroe (Kevin Bernhardt), who begins assisting Pinhead in his resurrection. A television reporter, Joey Summerskill (Terry Farrell
Terry Farrell (actress)
Theresa Lee "Terry" Farrell is an American actress and former fashion model. She is perhaps best known for her performances in the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Becker.-Early life:...
), begins to learn about Pinhead and the puzzle box, which leads her to Monroe's night club. Pinhead is eventually resurrected, and begins creating new Cenobite followers in an effort to establish Hell on Earth. Joey manages to reunite Spencer and Pinhead, fusing them back into one entity, and is able to use the puzzle box to send Pinhead back to his dimension; afterward, Joey submerges the box into freshly laid cement at a construction site. Hellraiser: Bloodline
Hellraiser: Bloodline
Hellraiser IV: Bloodline is a 1996 horror film and the fourth installment in the Hellraiser series, which serves as both a prequel and a sequel...
(1996) tells the story of the creator of the puzzle box, referred to as the Lament Configuration. A toymaker named Philip Lemarchand (Bruce Ramsay
Bruce Ramsay
Bruce Ramsay is a Canadian film, television and stage actor.-Early life:Ramsay was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada...
), commissioned by a Duc de L'Isle (Mickey Cottrell), a wealthy Aristocrat and master of the dark arts who wishes to open a gateway to Hell in order to enslave a demon. Beginning in the distant future, and tracing the history of the box from its creation in 1784, Bloodline shows how the Lemarchand family attempts to close the box forever after learning what L'Isle uses it for. Eventually, Dr. Paul Merchant creates the Elysium Configuration, a space station capable of closing the gateway for good, and he traps Pinhead inside and destroys him and the box.
Hellraiser: Inferno
Hellraiser: Inferno
Hellraiser: Inferno is the fifth installment in the Hellraiser series and the first Hellraiser film to go straight-to-DVD. It was directed by Scott Derrickson and released on October 3, 2000....
(2000), the first of the succeeding sequels to be direct-to-video
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
, follows corrupt police Detective Joseph Thorne (Craig Sheffer
Craig Sheffer
Craig Eric Sheffer is an American film and television actor. He is known for his leading role as Norman Maclean in the film A River Runs Through It and of Keith Scott on the television series One Tree Hill.-Early life:...
) as he discovers the puzzle box while investigating a series of ritualistic murders. As time goes on he begins to uncover clues that suggest that he is the killer. Eventually, Pinhead appears and informs Thorne that the events of the movie have been transpiring in Thorne's own personal Hell, and that he will be reliving the same series of events for eternity. In Hellraiser: Hellseeker
Hellraiser: Hellseeker
Hellraiser: Hellseeker is a 2002 horror film, directed by Rick Bota. It is the sixth film in the Hellraiser series. It also features the return of Kirsty Cotton, the heroine from Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II...
(2002), Ashley Laurence
Ashley Laurence
Ashley Laurence is an American film and television actress. She is noted for her appearances in horror films, particularly the Hellraiser series.-Career:...
returns to play Kirsty Cotton. In the opening moments, she and her husband, Trevor (Dean Winters
Dean Winters
Dean Winters is an American actor, who has portrayed Ryan O'Reily on HBO's Oz, Johnny Gavin on FX Network's Rescue Me, and Dennis Duffy on NBC's 30 Rock...
), end up in a car accident that kills Kirsty. One month later, Trevor wakes up in a hospital, but because of a head injury, his memory is uncertain and he cannot distinguish between fantasy and reality. As he begins to uncover evidence that he was having a series of affairs, he also comes under suspicion for orchestrating the crash that killed his wife. Pinhead appears in the end, and informs Trevor that he was the one that died in the car crash: His own plot to murder Kirsty for her inheritance backfired when Kirsty offered the Cenobites the lives of Trevor, his mistresses, and his co-conspirators in exchange for her own.
In Hellraiser: Deader
Hellraiser: Deader
Hellraiser: Deader is a 2005 American horror film directed by Rick Bota. It is the seventh installment in the Hellraiser series. Like the previous two entries in the series, Hellraiser: Inferno and Hellraiser: Hellseeker it began as an unrelated horror spec script owned by Dimension, which was...
(2005), reporter Amy Klein (Kari Wuhrer
Kari Wührer
Kari Samantha Wührer is an American actress and singer, mostly credited as Kari Wuhrer, sometimes as Kari Salin.-Early life:...
) is sent to Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
to investigate an underground suicide cult founded by a descendant of Philip Lemarchand, who claims to be able to bring back the dead and who believes that it is his birthright to open the puzzle box and control the Cenobites. She is gradually drawn into their world and eventually sees no way out other than to join them. In the end she opens the puzzle box, summoning up Pinhead and the Cenobites, who kill everyone for attempting to invade their world. To prevent Pinhead from taking her soul, Amy kills herself. Hellraiser: Hellworld
Hellraiser: Hellworld
Hellraiser: Hellworld, is a 2005 horror movie directed by Rick Bota, based on a short story called "Dark Can't Breathe" by Joel Soisson. Released straight to DVD on September 6, 2005, it is the eighth film in the Hellraiser series and the last to feature Doug Bradley as Pinhead.-Plot:The film...
(2005) is set in the "real world," in which the Hellraiser franchise has spawned a successful MMORPG
MMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
. Five friends mourning the death of one of their fellow players—who committed suicide after becoming obsessed with the game—receive in-game invitations to a party at the Leviathan
Leviathan
Leviathan , is a sea monster referred to in the Bible. In Demonology, Leviathan is one of the seven princes of Hell and its gatekeeper . The word has become synonymous with any large sea monster or creature...
House. At the house, the host of the party (Lance Henriksen
Lance Henriksen
Lance James Henriksen is an American actor and artist best known to film and television audiences for his roles in science fiction, action, and horror films such as the Alien film franchise, and on television shows such as Millennium....
) takes them on a tour of the many layers of the home, after which they are picked off one-by-one by the host or Pinhead. The final two victims ultimately realize that most of the events of the movie have been a hallucination, after the host—the father of their deceased friend, who blames his son's fellow players for not breaking his addiction to the game—drugged them and buried them alive. The police rescue the surviving teenagers, Chelsea (Katheryn Winnick
Katheryn Winnick
Katheryn Winnick is a Canadian film and television actress.-Life and career:Etobicoke-born Winnick, who is of Ukrainian descent and speaks fluent Ukrainian, has appeared in numerous studio films including Paramount's Failure to Launch and New Line's Amusement.She has guest starred in multiple...
) and Jake (Christopher Jacot
Christopher Jacot
Christopher Jacot is a Canadian actor.Jacot was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He attended Earl Haig Secondary School in the Claude Watson programme for drama with fellow actors Sarah Polley and Lani Billard...
), while the host escapes to a decrepit motel with a suitcase of his son's belongings. The host discovers a real puzzle box inside, and upon opening it is killed by Pinhead and a pair of cenobites.
Finally, in 2011, a ninth
Hellraiser: Revelations
Hellraiser: Revelations is a horror film written by Gary Tunnicliffe and directed by Víctor García. It is the ninth film in the Hellraiser film series, and the first entry in the series since Hellraiser: Bloodline to be based on an original script, instead of incorporating series antagonist Pinhead...
film was released to a single theater in California for a crew showing that was ostensibly open to the public. Hellraiser: Revelations
Hellraiser: Revelations
Hellraiser: Revelations is a horror film written by Gary Tunnicliffe and directed by Víctor García. It is the ninth film in the Hellraiser film series, and the first entry in the series since Hellraiser: Bloodline to be based on an original script, instead of incorporating series antagonist Pinhead...
is the first film not to feature Doug Bradley as Pinhead and was shot in two weeks for $300,000. It was suggested by Bloody Disgusting
Bloody Disgusting
Bloody Disgusting is a website that covers horror movies with reviews, interviews and news. It is currently run by Brad Miska, and Tom Owen. According to one source, the site has 1.5 million unique visitors and 20 million page views each month. It is widely considered to be the "world's most...
that the film was only shot so that The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company is an American film studio founded by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in 2005 after the brothers left the then-Disney-owned Miramax Films, which they had co-founded in 1979...
would not lose its rights to the franchise before it could produce a more profitable remake of the original. The film was released on DVD on October 18th 2011.
Crew
List indicator(s)
- A dark grey cell indicates the information isn't available for the film.
| Film | Director | Writer(s) | Producer(s) |
| 1. Hellraiser | Clive Barker Clive Barker Clive Barker is an English author, film director and visual artist best known for his work in both fantasy and horror fiction. Barker came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories which established him as a leading young horror writer... |
Christopher Figg | |
| 2. Hellbound | Tony Randel Tony Randel Tony Randel is an American film director and screenwriter.-Film career:Randel's breakthrough into the film scene was when Clive Barker entrusted Randel with Hellbound: Hellraiser II, the 1988 sequel to the 1987 horror film Hellraiser... |
Peter Atkins | |
| 3. Hell on Earth | Anthony Hickox Anthony Hickox Anthony Hickox is an English film director, actor, film producer and screenwriter.His works include Waxwork and its sequel, Waxwork II: Lost in Time, Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat, Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth, "Prince Valiant", "Children of the Corn", "Warlock: Armageddon", "Payback",... |
Christopher Figg & Lawrence Mortorff | |
| 4. Bloodline | Kevin Yagher Kevin Yagher Kevin Yagher is a special effects technician, known for Freddy Krueger's makeup and the Crypt Keeper creature.His company, Kevin Yagher Productions, has created effects for Face/Off, Enemy of the State, Volcano, Starship Troopers, Conspiracy Theory, Radio Flyer, Mission: Impossible II, and Honey,... / Alan Smithee Alan Smithee Alan Smithee was an official pseudonym used by film directors who wish to disown a project, coined in 1968. Until its use was formally discontinued in 2000, it was the sole pseudonym used by members of the Directors Guild of America when a director dissatisfied with the final product proved to... |
Nancy Rae Stone | |
| 5. Inferno | Scott Derrickson Scott Derrickson Scott Derrickson is an American screenwriter, producer, and director. He lives in Los Angeles, California.- Biography :Derrickson was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. He graduated from Biola University with a B.A. in Humanities with an emphasis in literature and philosophy, a B.A. in... |
Paul Harris Boardman Paul Harris Boardman Paul Harris Boardman is an American film producer and screenwriter, best known as the co-writer and producer of The Exorcism of Emily Rose . He also co-wrote the screenplays for Hellraiser: Inferno and Urban Legends: Final Cut , and worked on production rewrites of Dracula 2000, The Messengers,... & Scott Derrickson |
W.K. Border & Joel Soisson |
| 6. Hellseeker | Rick Bota | Carl Dupre & Tim Day | Mike Leahy & Ron Schmidt |
| 7. Deader | Neal Marshall Stevens & Tim Day | David Greathouse & Ron Schmidt | |
| 8. Hellworld | Carl Dupre | Ron Schmidt | |
| 9. Revelations | Victor García | Gary J. Tunnicliffe | Aaron Ockman & Joel Soisson |
Box office
When comparing the Hellraiser film series with the other top-grossing horror franchises—A Nightmare on Elm StreetA Nightmare on Elm Street (franchise)
A Nightmare on Elm Street is an American horror franchise that consists of nine slasher films, a television show, novels, and comic books. The franchise began with the film series created by Wes Craven. The franchise is based on the fictional character Freddy Krueger, introduced in A Nightmare on...
, Child's Play
Child's Play (film series)
Child's Play is a horror film franchise created by Don Mancini, with its first installment, Child's Play, being released on November 9, 1988. The film has so far spawned four sequels and has gone into other media, such as comic books. The films all feature Chucky, a killer Good Guys doll with the...
, Friday the 13th, Halloween
Halloween (franchise)
Halloween is an American horror franchise that consists of ten slasher films, novels, and comic books. The franchise focuses on the fictional character of Michael Myers who was committed to a sanitarium as a child for the murder of his older sister, Judith Myers...
, Saw, Scream
Scream (film series)
Scream is a series of American horror slasher films created by Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven. The films star Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette. The series has grossed over $600 million in worldwide box-office receipts and consists, to date, of four motion pictures...
, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre—and adjusting for the 2008 inflation, Hellraiser is the lowest grossing horror franchise in the United States, at approximately $84 million. The Hellraiser series is surpassed by Friday the 13th, which tops the list at $614 million. The Hannibal Lecter film series follows closely with $573 million, A Nightmare on Elm Street with $522 million, Halloween with $517 million, Scream with $400 million, Saw with $378 million, Psycho with $371 million, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with $315 million, and the Child's Play film series rounding out the list with approximately $200 million. It should be noted that only four of the nine Hellraiser films were released theatrically, with the remaining sequels going direct-to-video
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
.
List indicator(s)
- A dark grey cell indicates the information isn't available for the film.
| Film | Release date | Budget | Box office revenue | Reference | |
| 1. Hellraiser | September 18, 1987 | $14,564,027 | |||
| 2. Hellbound: Hellraiser II | December 23, 1988 | $12,090,735 | |||
| 3. Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth | September 11, 1992 | $12,534,961 | |||
| 4. Hellraiser: Bloodline | March 8, 1996 | $9,336,886 | |||
| 5. Hellraiser: Inferno | October 3, 2000 | ||||
| 6. Hellraiser: Hellseeker | October 15, 2002 | ||||
| 7. Hellraiser: Deader | June 7, 2005 | ||||
| 8. Hellraiser: Hellworld | September 6, 2005 | ||||
| 9. Hellraiser: Revelations | March 18, 2011 | ||||
| Hellraiser film series | $48,526,609 | ||||
Remake
Dimension FilmsDimension Films
Dimension Films is a motion picture unit currently a part of The Weinstein Company. It was formerly used as Bob Weinstein's label within Miramax Films, to produce and release genre films...
has been working to develop a remake of the original Hellraiser over the past several years, with various directors and writers signing on and dropping off.
Clive Barker had turned in a 45-page treatment which outlined a film that was filled with "horror and drama". Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, the directors of the French horror film Inside
Inside (2007 film)
Inside is a 2007 French horror film directed by Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, starring Alysson Paradis and Béatrice Dalle. It was written by co-director Alexandre Bustillo, and is the first film from either director...
, were supposed to write and direct the Hellraiser remake, with Barker backing the pair 100 percent. However, their Barker-supported script was rejected by Dimension. The directors cited creative differences when they left the project.
Later, French filmmaker Pascal Laugier
Pascal Laugier
Pascal Laugier is a French screenwriter and film director.-Career:Laugier is a former assistant to director Christophe Gans, also having directed the making-of documentary about Gans's 2001 film Brotherhood of the Wolf. He has written and directed the fantasy-horror feature films Saint Ange and...
, the director of Martyrs
Martyrs (film)
Martyrs is a 2008 French-Canadian horror film written and directed by Pascal Laugier. It was first screened during the 2008 Cannes Film Festival at the Marché du Film. The film was released in France publicly on 3 September 2008. The U.S. rights for Martyrs were bought by The Weinstein Company, who...
, was attached to the new Hellraiser film. Laugier's film was to be a reboot, and not a remake that would mix elements from both the first film and Clive Barker's original novella, The Hellbound Heart
The Hellbound Heart
The Hellbound Heart is a horror novella by Clive Barker, first published in November 1986 by Dark Harvest in the third volume of their Night Visions anthology series, and notable for becoming the basis for the 1987 movie Hellraiser and its franchise...
. Laugier has said "I won't betray Clive Barker's work. I want to do a fresh film filled with a lot of unexpected and surprising things. At the same time, I want it to be connected to the real, original material." Laugier further added "We'll get the chance to have much more money than even Clive had in the first film, so it will be of course more epic, it will be bigger, and I hope that it won't be softer." Clive Barker's response to Laugier's involvement was positive: "I liked Martyrs a lot. I'm very excited at the idea of [Laugier] doing it. Pascal is a very talented filmmaker, obviously a lot more talented than I was when I stepped onto the sound stage on [the first] Hellraiser and I hadn't really directed anything before… I am completely open and ready to be blown away. I don't have any possessiveness about it. I just want people to have fun." Laugier was later taken off the film for unknown reasons.
The film is now set to be directed by Patrick Lussier
Patrick Lussier
Patrick Lussier is a Canadian horror and thriller genre writer, editor and director.- Career :Lussier has worked as a film editor on most of Wes Craven's latter films, including Wes Craven's New Nightmare, Vampire in Brooklyn, Scream and Red Eye and has directed films including Dracula 2000, The...
and written by Todd Farmer
Todd Farmer
Todd Farmer is an American writer and actor, having written the scripts for Jason X , Messengers 2: The Scarecrow , My Bloody Valentine 3D , and Drive Angry .-Early life:...
, who have previously worked together on My Bloody Valentine 3D and Drive Angry
Drive Angry
Drive Angry is a 2011 American action film starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Patrick Lussier. It was released on February 25, 2011.- Plot :...
.Variety has reported that the upcoming remake will be filmed in 3D
3-D film
A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
. Lussier has denied rumors that the new film is being geared for teens, and that they hope to expand upon the mythology that Barker created as well as finding something new to do. "We want to approach the massive 'Hellraiser' mythology that exists and how to work within that do something unique. One of the things we didn't want to do... We think Clive's film stands on its own. We think it's brilliant and it made such a specific, dark vision at that time unlike anything that had come before it. So going to do just a remake of his movie but with more money is not something we wanted to do. We wanted to work within the 'Hellraiser' lexicon." Recently, Farmer confirmed that both he and Lussier are no longer attached to the project.
The Hellraiser Saga
On 28 January 2010 Camelot Entertainment Group, Inc. announced that the distributor was working on Unearthed: The Hellraiser Saga, a documentary on the franchise. It will be directed by Stefan Hutchinson and written by Ryan Rotten.Novels
An anthology book consisting of twenty-one stories and entitled Hellbound Hearts was released on September 29, 2009.Comic books
In 1989, following the success of the Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II, Epic ComicsEpic Comics
Epic Comics was a creator-owned imprint of Marvel Comics started in 1982, lasting through the mid-1990s, and being briefly revived on a small scale in the mid-2000s.- Origins :...
began publishing series of comic book spin-offs for the Hellraiser franchise. The comics contained a set of short stories, with Clive Barker acting as a consultant on all of the comics. Epic published twenty regular series comics, from 1989 to 1992. They also published three special issues from 1992 to 1994, one being a holiday special, as well as adapted a comic book version of Hellraiser and Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth. Other releases included the limited series Clive Barker's Book of the Damned and Pinhead, as well as the crossovers
Fictional crossover
A fictional crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders, or because of unauthorized efforts by fans, or even amid common...
Hellraiser vs. Nightbreed
Nightbreed
Nightbreed is a 1990 American fantasy horror film written and directed by Clive Barker, based on his 1988 novella Cabal. The film features Craig Sheffer, Anne Bobby and David Cronenberg. The story centers in a community of mutant outcasts that hides from humanity, known as the...
: Jihad and Pinhead vs. Marshal Law
Marshal Law (comics)
Marshal Law is an English-language superhero comic book series created by Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neill. One of the first major creator-owned characters for a major publisher, it was first published by Epic Comics in 1987...
: Law in Hell.
In December, 2010, Boom! Studios announced they would be publishing a new eight-issue Hellraiser miniseries, written by Clive Barker and Christopher Monfette, beginning March, 2011, and would also be reprinting select Epic Comics under the title Hellraiser: Masterworks.
Non-fiction
There have been two non-fiction books released that chronicle the Hellraiser franchise. The first, released on May 21, 2004, was published by Titan BooksTitan Books
Titan Publishing Group is an independently owned publishing company, established in 1981. It is based at offices in London, England's Bankside area. The Books Division has two main areas of publishing: film & TV tie-ins/cinema reference books; and graphic novels and comics reference/art titles. The...
and titled The Hellraiser Chronicles. Written by Peter Atkins and Stephen Jones
Stephen Jones (author)
Stephen Jones is an editor of horror anthologies, and the author of several book-length studies of horror and fantasy films as well as an account of Lovecraft's early British publications....
, with a foreword by Clive Barker, The Hellraiser Chronicles is a collection of production photographs, design sketches, excerpts from the scripts, and interviews with the cast and crew. The next book, The Hellraiser Films And Their Legacy, was released by McFarland & Company on November 27, 2006; it was written by Paul Kane
Paul Kane (writer)
Paul Kane began his professional writing career in 1996, providing articles and reviews for news-stand publications, and started producing dark fantasy and science fiction stories in 1998.-Life:...
, and features foreword by Pinhead actor Doug Bradley. Hellraiser Films collects the production history of all eight films, their spin-offs, as well as how the series relates to popular culture. The book provides an in-depth look at the film characters, and interpretations of the choices those characters make in the film. Hellraiser Films also provides a brief look at the short, fan film No More Souls.
External links
Databases- Hellraiser film series at Allmovie
- Hellraiser film series at Box Office MojoBox Office MojoBox Office Mojo is a website that tracks box office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. Brandon Gray started the site in 1999. In 2002, Gray partnered with Sean Saulsbury and they grew the site to nearly two million readers when, in July 2008, the company was purchased by Amazon.com through...
Official
Miscellaneous