Clive on Hellraiser (2022)
"Having seen some of the designs from David Bruckner’s new Hellraiser film, they pay homage to what the first film created, but then take it to places it’s never been before. This is a Hellraiser on a scale that I simply didn’t expect. David and his team are steeped in the story’s mythology, but what excites me is their desire to honor the original even as they revolutionize it for a new generation."
Press Release
Press release from Spyglass and Hulu, reported variously at Deadline, Variety, etc. 7 October 2021
"I'd gone to priests as images of villainy. You went to something regal - Jamie [Clayton] looks like the Queen of Hell. She totally reinvented what this creature is. I have to go back now and write a story about her!"
Beyond Fest - Hellraiser Screening
Beyond Fest appearance, Aero Theatre, Los Angeles, 4 October 2022
...other comments
Gary Barber: "Clive and I go back more than 30 years together. For generations, his brilliantly twisted and imaginative Hellraiser haunted the minds of moviegoers with its searing imagery of Pinhead. David is the perfect storyteller to continue Clive's vision for a new theatrical version of Hellraiser."
Hellraiser Revival In The Works With Dark Knight Writer David S. Goyer
By Dave McNary, Variety, 6 May 2019
David S. Goyer: "I've been a fan of Clive's work since the original Books of Blood paperbacks and The Hellbound Heart novella. Having the chance to reimagine Pinhead and the Cenobites for a new audience is a nightmare-come-true. Gary is a true fan as well and we're committed to making something dark and visceral."
Hellraiser Revival In The Works With Dark Knight Writer David S. Goyer
By Dave McNary, Variety, 6 May 2019
David Bruckner: "Thanks all for the Hellraiser love. Promise not to hold back."
Twitter post
By David Bruckner, Twitter, 11 April 2020
David Bruckner: "We can't say anything about it yet. But it is something that we are actively working towards, and it is a joy and a dream for a filmmaker like myself to dive into that world. All I'll say is that we are aiming to be as true as we can to the original material. The Hellbound Heart is also a primary source of inspiration, as well as the original film. But then it is something of a small reimagining and we are currently working on it."
Scared Of The Dark
By Darren Scott, SFX, No 343, September 2021
David Bruckner: "It's sacred material for people like us, in some ways. There was a little bit of hesitation for me at first. I wanted to make sure that I had a grasp on this and that there's something here that's really achievable. Clive Barker's original is formative. I saw the first Hellraiser when I was too young to understand it, and it scared me. I saw it a few years later, and it hit me that it was about a lot more than I thought it was. It changed again over the years. It's deceptively complex. What has been really illuminating about this process is that there's so much fantastic material to pull from that. There's so much that we can do with it. At a certain point, the pressure of managing the reboot kind of goes away, and giddy horror fan comes alive a little bit, and you realize that there's so much potential here. Who wouldn't want to open the box again..? "It's a reimagining. We would never remake the original film. It can't be done. There are other fantastic stories to tell in this universe."
Talking The Business Of Nightmares With The Filmmakers Behind ‘The Night House’ And The ‘Hellraiser’ Reboot
By Simon Thompson, Forbes, 20 August 2021
Keith Levine: "I've been working on Hellraiser for 11 years. I was a studio exec on it, so I've been involved in the product for a long time. We had a great experience together [on The Night House], and we were thinking, 'What can we get the band back together on?' It just kind of felt natural. David Bruckner wasn't officially involved when we were formally involved, but our intention was always to have him as part of it."
Talking The Business Of Nightmares With The Filmmakers Behind ‘The Night House’ And The ‘Hellraiser’ Reboot
By Simon Thompson, Forbes, 20 August 2021
David Goyer: "It's the same with Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski. They wrote The Night House and Hellraiser scripts. Keith and I started speaking to Spyglass about it, and as soon as those conversations were becoming real, we just said, 'Right, let's get David and Ben and Luke on this. Now.'"
Talking The Business Of Nightmares With The Filmmakers Behind ‘The Night House’ And The ‘Hellraiser’ Reboot
By Simon Thompson, Forbes, 20 August 2021
David Bruckner: "Obviously Hellraiser is its own beast and is in this much larger, more
fantastical world [than The Night House]. There's certainly a grandeur to taking on something like Hellraiser just
in my own mind, because it's sacred ground in so many different ways. There's a respect. There's a caution. Can we
do this justice? But I will say a lot of that falls away when you get into the work.
"I would never try to remake the original Hellraiser. But I think, like many horror fans, would I open the box?
Absolutely. Do I think there’s more to be said about this? Are there more things that can be done? Absolutely. So
it's kind of a dream come true to get to work on it. I don’t think I've ever worked on anything that pushes everyone
quite as much just on a purely creative level. There's such a regard for what they were able to achieve in '87 — really
all the movies — and so it's a lot to wrap your head around it. And I just couldn’t be more excited."
The Night House's David Bruckner On The Journey From V/H/S To Hellraiser
By Rosie Knight, Nerdist, 13 September 2021
David S. Goyer: "[We're] shooting as we speak. We're about two-thirds of the way through it, and it's going to be pretty neat. David Bruckner is definitely sticking true to the mythology, but also reinventing some of it. I think it's going to be beautiful and terrifying."
Hellraiser Remake Is Shooting Now And Will Be 'Beautiful And Scary'
By B.J.Colangelo / Jacob Hall, /Film, 13 September 2021
David S. Goyer: "I will say that we went back to the original novella for the source material, we're really honoring Clive's work. I can say that David Bruckner is a genius. It's filming right now. The footage is terrifying and amazing, and the Cenobites are jaw-dropping."
David S. Goyer Tells Us the New 'Hellraiser' Movie Is "Terrifying," "Amazing," "Jaw-Dropping"
By Gregory Lawrence / Steve Weintraub, Collider, 14 September 2021
Peter Oillataguerre (President of Production for Spyglass): "Next year marks the 35th anniversary since Hellraiser first haunted our dreams. It’s only fitting to come full circle in collaborating with Clive, the original creator and master of visionary horror. We look forward to working with our partners at Hulu in bringing this unique take on the original to new audiences."
Press Release
Press release from Spyglass and Hulu, reported by Anthony D'Alessandro at Deadline, 7 October 2021
David Bruckner: "It’s been such an honour to have Clive onboard to help support and shepherd us through the incredible universe he created so long ago. Combined with a fearless and committed cast, including the amazing Jamie Clayton, who fully embodies the role as the Hell Priest, we’re aiming to create a very special new chapter in the Hellraiser legacy."
Press Release
Press release from Spyglass and Hulu, reported by Anthony D'Alessandro at Deadline, 7 October 2021
David S. Goyer: "From the moment I first read The Hellbound Heart, Clive Barker became one of my literary heroes. His work is transgressive and completely redefined the horror genre. Under the guiding hand of David Bruckner, we’re going back to the source and taking our inspiration from that original novella."
Press Release
Press release from Spyglass and Hulu, reported by Anthony D'Alessandro at Deadline, 7 October 2021
David Bruckner: "It's the tale of a young woman, who's struggling with addiction and compulsive behavior,
that comes in contact accidentally with the box and unfortunately begins to dabble with it. And chaos ensues...
"We knew we wanted Pinhead to be a woman. Jamie [Clayton (Sense8)] was just the right person for the role. A person's identity can be
really exciting for a role in many ways, but I have to emphasize that Jamie absolutely killed, that's how we got there...
"Clive came on before the shoot, when we were in prep, and was really just a wonderful resource for me. He was really generous with his
time, and very welcoming of the idea that this was a new group of artists, and that they were going to run with this and land in
different places with it. He was very supportive of that."
Get first look at Jamie Clayton's Pinhead (and a brand new Cenobite!) in new Hellraiser
Clark Collis, Entertainment Weekly, 1 September 2022
Kathrin Eder (production design): "There are a lot of talented people in Serbia. It was very busy at the time
we got there since covid essentially caused a production traffic jam. We faced some challenges making a movie with specific location
needs, set in a country of english language, since Serbia has limited options in regards to the locations we were looking. This however
led us to build a lot of the set pieces and heavily alter existing locations in order to stitch together our hero set holding the
elegance we envisioned for it and the film...
"I really enjoy the stories from Clive Barker, I think this film specifically will do The Hellbound Heart justice with David at the
reigns. I continually fall in love with production design since every story is a journey into the unknown that we get the chance to
discover and to know intimately."
Production Designer talks new Hellraiser – Exclusive
[ ], Bloody Flicks, 15 September 2022
David Bruckner: "[Clive] was very involved. We had a lot of conversations when I was in prep, and a lot after the fact on the edit, and he’s a creative producer, so he was there to look into the material, to challenge me, to encourage me to look into various ideas. He sent me lots of art. We had lots of conversations about theme. He fully embraced the idea that this was after the essence of Hellraiser, but was also a departure in some ways. Even before he’d seen the designs, [he] said to me, we’ve got to find a new way to do some of this; times have changed and the spirit of it has to be rejuvenated. And so I hope that that’s something that we accomplished. But I’m grateful to him for his time, and he’s a marvel to work with and speak to. And he was very generous with us."
Hellraiser's Director and New Pinhead on What Makes the Hulu Film Feel Fresh — and Scary
Cheryl Eddy, io9 / Gizmodo, 21 September 2022
David Bruckner: "[Clive] was very understanding and welcoming of the idea that this was a new group of artists, playing in the universe that he had created, and that there would be, as he put it, welcome departures. He's also very excited about where the themes collide. Where we find, as he calls it, our shared obsession. So he wants to take the movie on its own terms."
The Pleasure Principle
By Darren Scott, SFX, No 358, November 2022
