Clive Barker Gets Go-Ahead to Write Hellraiser Remake Screenplay

I would say that no horror franchise has squandered its potential more than Hellraiser: the first is a wonderfully inventive tale of sadomasochistic super-beings unlocked by an evil Rubik’s cube, the second retconned them into being poor human victims who could be killed, and the rest used Pinhead as a poor man’s Rod Serling with acupuncture issues.

But as the direct-to-DVD sequels have sputtered out, and perhaps finally died, there’s big news from Clive Barker himself:

A few weeks ago I had a very productive meeting with Bob Weinstein of Dimension Pictures,in the course of which I pitched a remake of the first HELLRAISER film. The idea of my coming back to the original film and telling the story with a fresh intensity-honoring the structure and the designs from the first incarnation but hopefully creating an even darker and richer film-was attractive to Dimension. Today I have officially been invited to write the script based upon that pitch.

Barker also notes that a condition of the deal was that Doug Bradley return as Pinhead, and that practical effects will be utilized as much as possible

As fans of the original novella know, it was more intense and sexually perverse than even the original film. It’ll be interesting to see what they let Barker get away with…if, in the end, they do.