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73-501: Hellraiser is a 1987 British supernatural horror film written and directed by Clive Barker in his directorial debut. Based on Barker's 1986 novella The Hellbound Heart , the film's plot concerns a mystical puzzle box that summons the Cenobites , a group of extra-dimensional, sadomasochistic beings who cannot differentiate between pain and pleasure. It stars Andrew Robinson , Clare Higgins , Ashley Laurence , and Doug Bradley as

146-656: A Cenobite . It explains the box is called the LeMarchand Configuration and realizes Kirsty summoned it by accident, but then remarks this does not matter. The Cenobite intends to take Kirsty now that it is here, but she then reveals Frank is alive on Earth again. Though skeptical that one of their experiments could have escaped, the Cenobite is intrigued. It agrees that if Kirsty leads them to Frank and he confirms his identity, they will take him back and perhaps leave her alone. The Cenobite seems to vanish and Kirsty returns to

219-413: A weighted average , assigned the film a score of 56 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. In the early 2010s, Time Out London conducted a poll with several authors, directors, actors and critics who have worked within the horror genre to vote for their top horror films. Hellraiser placed at number 80 on their top 100 list. Hellraiser was followed by nine sequels,

292-456: A few minor compromises: notably a decision made fairly late in shooting to change the specifically English setting for an ambiguous (and unbelievable) mid-Atlantic one". Newman also noted that the Cenobites were "well used suggestive figures" but "their monster companion is a more blunderingly obvious concession to the gross-out tastes of the teenage drive-in audience". Newman concluded that the film

365-399: A film himself. He asked Christopher Figg , who became his producer, how small the budget would have to be for someone being willing to hire him as a first time director. Figg said the budget had to be less than a million dollars, which could be done if the film was just about a house and some monsters, and if he used more or less unknown actors. Barker decided to adapt The Hellbound Heart , as

438-582: A fine degree of menace". Melody Maker described it as "the best horror film ever to be made in Britain". Kim Newman writing for the Monthly Film Bulletin noted that the most immediately striking aspect of the movie is its seriousness of tone in an era when horror films (the Nightmare on Elm Street or Evil Dead films in particular) tend to be broadly comic". Newman stated that the film "suffers from

511-430: A friend of Rory's who has romantic feelings for him, suspects Julia is having an affair. Rory suspects the same and while attempting to catch Julia in the act at his request, Kirsty encounters Frank, who attempts to kill her. Kirsty grabs the puzzle box, using it as a weapon before fleeing. She collapses on the street from exhaustion and wakes up in a hospital later. While waiting, she solves the box and inadvertently summons

584-650: A ghost... psychological horror, on the other hand, does not involve violations of physical law, but features naturalistic (if often implausible) menaces and scenarios." Paul Meehan also distinguishes supernatural horror films from psychological horror, "The threat to societal order comes from something preternatural or anomalous: a haunted house, a curse, or a monster like a vampire or a werewolf." Charles Derry, writing in Dark Dreams 2.0 , contrasted supernatural horror and pseudoscientific horror as "two basic methods of explaining things away" in horror stories. Derry wrote, "Into

657-673: A hospital, Kirsty solves the box out of curiosity, and unknowingly summons the Cenobites and a monster called the Engineer , from which she narrowly escapes. The Cenobites' leader (referred to by fans as "Pinhead") explains that although they have been perceived as both angels and demons, they are simply "explorers" from another dimension seeking carnal experiences, and they can no longer differentiate between pain and pleasure. When they attempt to force Kirsty to return to their realm with them, she informs Pinhead that Frank has escaped them. The Cenobites agree to spare Kirsty and recapture Frank instead, with

730-404: A kid. A film adaptation was released in 1987, written and directed by Barker, which subsequently spawned nine sequels, a remake, and a multimedia franchise . In the film, Rory is renamed Larry Cotton. Kirsty is named Kirsty Cotton and is Larry's daughter from a previous marriage rather than a friend and co-worker who has a romantic crush on him. The LeMarchand Configuration is also referred to in

803-534: A paradise where Rory resides, but laments that she may never find one and that broken hearts might be puzzles that cannot be solved. Barker worked as a hustler in the '70s, and his experiences made him want to tell a story about "good and evil in which sexuality was the connective tissue". The look of the cenobites was inspired by S&M clubs , such as an underground club called Cellblock 28 in New York, where people were getting pierced for fun. When he directed and wrote

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876-544: A three-film edition of the set without the bonus disc. A US version of the Scarlet Box (with the same material) was released by Arrow on 20 December 2016. In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the film, Clive Barker has adapted his early "Hell Priest" concept designs for the Lead Cenobite into an officially licensed mask for Composite Effects. Only a limited quantity of thirty of these masks were made and then released to

949-496: A winged skeletal creature and flying away. The box ends up with the same merchant who sold it to Frank, where he offers it to another customer. Cenobites are extra-dimensional beings who appear in the novella The Hellbound Heart , the sequels The Scarlet Gospels and Hellraiser: The Toll , and the eleven Hellraiser films . They are from a religious sect in Hell known as the Order of

1022-423: Is The Exorcist (1973). It has an unadjusted gross of over $ 441 million with the original release and 2000 re-release combined; the estimated adjusted gross in 2019 is over $ 1.04 billion . The highest-grossing supernatural horror film, unadjusted for inflation, is It (2017) with a worldwide gross of $ 701 million . In 2013, Variety ' s Andrew Stewart said supernatural horror films grossed more at

1095-437: Is "well made, well acted, and the visual effects are generally handled with skill". On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 70% of 53 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "Elevated by writer-director Clive Barker's fiendishly unique vision, Hellraiser offers a disquieting – and sadistically smart – alternative to mindless gore." Metacritic , which uses

1168-698: Is a faithful adaptation of the original novella. As in the novella, several Cenobites appear but are not named. In the audio play's ending, there is no mention of the Engineer taking away Julia. Kirsty finds herself entrusted with the puzzle box and says she does not want it, but the voices of the Cenobites tell her she has no choice and now belongs to the box. She does not wonder about the existence of puzzle boxes that can lead to Heavens as well as Hells. The novella received two sequels, The Scarlet Gospels written by Clive Barker and published in 2015, and Hellraiser: The Toll published in 2018, written by Mark Alan Miller with

1241-489: Is held by Julia and Frank. Frank reveals his true identity to Kirsty and, when his sexual advances are rejected, he decides to kill her to complete his rejuvenation. He accidentally stabs Julia instead and drains her without remorse. Frank chases Kirsty to the attic and, when he is about to kill her, the Cenobites appear after hearing him confess to killing her father. Now certain he is the one they are looking for, they ensnare him with chains with hooks and tear him to pieces. When

1314-463: Is ripped apart. To produce Frank's resurrection, effects like reverse motion were used to give his skeleton flesh and inner organs. The film had two editors: Richard Marden and an uncredited Tony Randel . Clive Barker had to make some cuts on the film after the MPAA originally gave it an X rating . Two and a half shots were excised from the first hammer murder, including a closeup of the hammer lodged in

1387-461: Is taken to the Cenobite realm, a hellish dimension where he will be subjected to an eternity of torture. Sometime later, Frank's brother, Rory , moves into the home in England with his wife Julia . Unknown to Rory, Julia had an affair with Frank a week before their wedding and has lusted after him since. While in the attic, Rory accidentally cuts his hand and bleeds on the spot where Frank was taken by

1460-574: Is unaware that Julia had an affair with his brother Frank before her marriage to him. When Larry accidentally cuts his hand moving furniture, his blood drips on the attic floor and resurrects Frank in a ghoulish form. Julia later finds Frank; still obsessed with him, she agrees to help restore his body, so they can run away together. Julia picks up men in bars and brings them back to the attic, where she mortally wounds them. Frank then drains their life, which regenerates his body. Frank explains to Julia that, having exhausted all sensory experiences, he sought out

1533-604: The Motion Picture Production Code (or the Hays Code). The Haunting featured a female protagonist interested in another woman, and she was a queer coded character. Such characters were commonplace in the history of supernatural horror films. Sue Matheson wrote of Rosemary's Baby , "[It] popularized depictions of witchcraft, demonic activity, and the Devil on screen and generated a wave of supernatural horror movies." By

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1606-668: The Prince Charles Cinema on 10 September 1987. It was widely released in the United Kingdom by Entertainment Film Distributors , and was a considerable commercial success, grossing $ 14.6 million from its $ 1 million production budget. Critical reception was initially divided, but the film has since been evaluated as a classic of the horror genre. The film was followed by nine sequels , the first seven of which featured Bradley reprising his role as Pinhead. A franchise reboot, also titled Hellraiser and executive produced by Barker,

1679-549: The leader of the Cenobites , identified in the sequels as "Pinhead". Development of the film began before Barker's novella was published. Disappointed by previous adaptations of his work, Barker elected to direct himself, appropriating several actors and crew from his earlier career as a playwright . With the backing of independent producer Christopher Figg and financing from New World Pictures , filming took place in London in autumn 1986. Hellraiser had its first public showing at

1752-434: The 1970s, the films The Exorcist (1973) and The Omen (1976) revived the supernatural horror genre. Literature was used as source material like with the earliest films, with the written works of Stephen King being adapted into Carrie (1976) and The Shining (1980). The film Poltergeist (1982) was also a genre highlight in the 1980s. In the 2000s, violent horror films called " torture porn " were popular. By

1825-422: The Cenobites . In Düsseldorf , Frank obtains the box and returns with it to his deceased grandmother's home in England. Solving the box, he is confused and horrified when the Cenobites – horribly scarified creatures whose bodies have been modified to the point that they appear sexless and in constant pain – arrive. The Cenobites warn he cannot renege on their agreement once it is made, but Frank still eagerly accepts

1898-427: The Cenobites double-cross Kirsty and attempt to take her, she grabs the puzzle box from Julia's dead hands and banishes them by reversing the motions needed to open the puzzle box. Kirsty's boyfriend Steve arrives and they both escape the collapsing house. Afterwards, Kirsty throws the puzzle box onto a burning pyre. A vagrant who has been stalking Kirsty walks into the fire and retrieves the box before transforming into

1971-550: The Cenobites to a background role. However, fans rallied around Pinhead as the breakout character, and Higgins declined to return to the series. In The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters , David McWilliam writes that the Cenobites "provide continuity across the series, as the stories become increasingly stand-alone in nature". Having been dismayed at prior cinematic adaptations of his work, Barker, who had experience from writing, directing and starring in plays and had made two short films, decided to attempt to direct

2044-412: The Cenobites, a being called the Engineer , then appears and seems to take away Julia as well before briefly bumping into Kirsty. After leaving the house, Kirsty realizes the Engineer gave her the puzzle box to watch over until another seeks it out. Looking at the box's surface, Kirsty imagines she sees Julia and Frank's faces but not Rory's. She wonders if there are other puzzles that may unlock doors to

2117-487: The Cenobites. The blood, mixed with semen Frank had left on the floor before he was taken, opens a dimensional schism. Frank returns, his body now reduced to a desiccated corpse by the Cenobites' experiments. Julia later finds him and promises to restore his body so he can truly live and they can be together. While Rory works, Julia seduces men at bars and brings them to the attic where she murders them. Frank feeds on their bodies, causing his own to slowly regenerate. Kirsty ,

2190-486: The Gash, describing themselves as "explorers in the further regions of experience", and granting sadomasochistic pleasures to those who call upon them. Author David McWilliam notes that the Cenobites are described in more explicitly sexual terms in the book compared with their depictions in the film adaptations. Julia, played by Clare Higgins, was Barker's choice to carry the series as its main antagonist after Hellbound , reducing

2263-473: The LeMarchand Configuration, which can be used to summon the Cenobites , demonic beings who do not distinguish between pain and pleasure. He escapes the Cenobites and, with help, resorts to murder to restore himself to full life. Later on, the puzzle box is found by another. Along with introducing Barker's Cenobites, the story was the basis for the 1987 film Hellraiser (written and directed by Barker) and its franchise . One Cenobite in particular, nameless in

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2336-790: The Spanish Civil War, Colombian armed conflict, and Guatemalan genocide, respectively. Films like Host (2020) reflected contemporary fears, with The Others (2001) and Insidious (2010) revisiting haunted house narratives, and The Conjuring (2013) grounding its story in real-life paranormal investigations. The genre also blended horror with comedy, as in Housebound (2014) and Extra Ordinary (2019), to explore similar themes. The films employed various techniques, such as jump-scares, tension-building, and emotive performances, to examine deep-rooted fears and societal issues. The highest-grossing supernatural horror film, adjusted for inflation,

2409-522: The United States and Canada and made £763,412 in the United Kingdom. For contemporary reviews in the United Kingdom, Time Out London referred to the film as "Barker's dazzling debut" that "creates such an atmosphere of dread that the astonishing set-pieces simply detonate in a chain reaction of cumulative intensity" and concluded that the film was "a serious, intelligent and disturbing horror film". The Daily Telegraph stated that "Barker has achieved

2482-438: The ambitiousness of its themes [...] Sadly the moral and emotional complexity that is the film's greatest strength is likely to be deemed its greatest weakness by an audience weaned on the misplaced jocularity of House or Fright Night ". In the United States, The New York Times stated that Barker cast "singularly uninteresting actors" while "the special effects aren't bad – only damp". The Washington Post referred to

2555-1063: The box office than other horror sub-genres. He advised that filmmakers interested in tapping into the profitable market of low-budget horror should focus more on stories about ghosts and the supernatural, as movies about slashers and extreme horror tend to have less consistent commercial success. Joe Tompkins wrote that following the 1950s, many "Gothic and supernatural horror movies utilize dissonance, atonality, and unusual configurations of instruments to signify all sorts of anomalous, paranormal activity". He wrote that Black Sunday (1960) and The Haunting (1963) "make use of atonal clusters, which operate in sharp contrast to tonal music and thus provide antagonistic symbols for supernatural evil and good (respectively)". He also highlighted that The Amityville Horror (1979) and Poltergeist (1982) "employ various thematic materials ranging from soft-sounding lullabies to atonal outbursts". According to Janet K. Halfyard, supernatural horror-comedy films deploy various strategies to using music "to simultaneously locate

2628-406: The condition that Frank must confess to escaping them. Kirsty returns home, where Frank has killed Larry and has taken on his identity by wearing his skin. Julia shows her what is purported to be Frank's flayed corpse in the attic. Julia then leaves the attic, locking the door behind her. The Cenobites appear and, not fooled by the deception, demand the man who "did this". Kirsty tries to escape, but

2701-534: The dominant cinematic mode of the genre between the release of Dracula (1931) and House of Dracula (1945). In the early 1940s, supernatural horror films had more contemporary settings, but the genre was ultimately superseded by psychological horror films. By the end of World War II, the supernatural horror genre "met its demise", being overshadowed by the atrocities of the war. By the 1950s, science fiction horror films had replaced supernatural horror films, and psychological horror films also became more popular in

2774-824: The end of the decade, supernatural horror reclaimed their popularity. The found footage film The Blair Witch Project had achieved fame in 1999, and in the late 2000s, Paranormal Activity succeeded with the same film technique, which led to a film series that lasted until the mid-2010s. In the first two decades of 21st century, supernatural horror films explored a variety of themes and styles. Movies like Martyrs Lane (2021) focused on grief and loss, while Oculus (2013), Personal Shopper (2016), and Hereditary (2018) explored unfinished family business and personal trauma. The genre also incorporated real historical events, as seen in The Devil's Backbone (2001), Los Silencios (2018), and La Llorona (2019), which draw on

2847-454: The film (this is the only version to ever be released on DVD). The original DVD release was a "barebones" release and is now out of print. It was reissued in 2000 with a new 5.1 mix mastered in THX . Finally, it was packaged along with Hellbound: Hellraiser II in a Limited Edition tin case which included a 48-page colour booklet and a reproduction theatrical poster for both films. Anchor Bay released

2920-473: The film adaptation, Barker considered naming the film Sadomasochists from Hell . He came up with the idea about LeMarchand's box because he didn't want to resort to "drawing a circle on the floor with magical symbols around it" to get access to Hell, as it seemed like an old cliché. Instead he was inspired by a puzzle box his grandfather, a ship's cook, brought with him from the Far East, which he obsessed over as

2993-470: The film as a "dark, frequently disturbing and occasionally terrifying film" but also argued that "Barker's vision hasn't quite made the conversion from paper to celluloid [...] There are some weaknesses, particularly the framing of close-ups and the generic score, but there are some moments of genuinely inventive gore [...] the film falls apart at its climax, degenerating to a surprisingly lame ending full of special effects and triumphant good". Roger Ebert gave

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3066-497: The film on Blu-ray in 2009. This version retains all of the special features found on the 20th anniversary special edition DVD. In 2011, the film was re-released on Blu-ray by Image Entertainment under the "Midnight Madness" series label. This version contains no special features. However, various Blu-ray releases have since emerged with a highly variable selection of special features, although most of these are recycled from previous DVD releases. In October 2015, Arrow Films released

3139-462: The film on Blu-ray in the United Kingdom along with Hellbound: Hellraiser II and Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth in a Scarlet Box edition featuring new 2K restorations and extensive list of bonus features including feature-length documentaries on the first 2 films and a bonus disc containing additional content such as two short films by Clive Barker. The Scarlet Box is now out of print in the UK and replaced by

3212-495: The film one-half of a star out of four and deemed it "as dreary a piece of goods as has masqueraded as horror in many a long, cold night. This is one of those movies you sit through with mounting dread, as the fear grows inside of you that it will indeed turn out to be feature length" and that "this is a movie without wit, style or reason, and the true horror is that actors were made to portray, and technicians to realize, its bankruptcy of imagination". Variety stated that Hellraiser

3285-499: The film series as the "Lament Configuration". A full-cast audio adaptation of the novella was released in 2018, adapted by Paul Kane and produced by Bafflegab Productions . It starred Alice Lowe as Kirsty, Neve McIntosh as Julia, and Tom Meeten as both Frank and Rory. Other roles are played by Evie Dawnay, Chris Pavlo, Nicholas Vince, Scott Brooksbank, and Lisa Bowerman (famous for her portrayal of Bernice Summerfield and her work with Big Finish Productions ). The audio play

3358-469: The film within—or at least close to—the horror genre, while at the same time encouraging the audience to laugh instead of scream". 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 its Night Visions anthology series. The story features a hedonist criminal acquiring a mystical puzzle box,

3431-416: The film. New World Mutual Pictures of Canada cut about 40 seconds to get the film passed with an R rating. Thirty-five seconds of an extended torture scene featuring hooks pulling apart a body and face were removed, as well as a scene of squirming rats nailed to a wall. In North America, Hellraiser has been released by Anchor Bay Entertainment three times, all of which are the original 93-minute version of

3504-410: The film: Well, we did have a slight problem with the eroticism. I shot a much hotter flashback sequence than they would allow us to cut in.... Mine was more explicit and less violent. They wanted to substitute one kind of undertow for another. I had a much more explicit sexual encounter between Frank and Julia, but they said no, let's take out the sodomy and put in the flick knife. Barker also said that

3577-470: The filming, stating that his memories of production were of "unalloyed fondness ... The cast treated my ineptitudes kindly, and the crew were no less forgiving". Barker admitted his own lack of knowledge on filmmaking, stating that he "didn't know the difference between a 10-millimetre lens and a 35-millimetre lens. If you'd shown me a plate of spaghetti and said that was a lens, I might have believed you". After filming, New World convinced Barker to relocate

3650-539: The first seven of which featured Doug Bradley reprising his role as Pinhead. Clive Barker 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. Plans for a Hellraiser remake were publicized in October 2007, when Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury were reported to be directing, with Barker producing and Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton writing

3723-403: The floor under the Cenobites during some takes in case it was dropped, in order to save himself the eight hours it took to create another. About seven or eight weeks after principal photography had finished the executive producers saw the footage and liked the film enough to invest some more in it, and so a few scenes were redone with a higher budget, like the scene near the end where Frank's body

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3796-443: The gory, visceral style Barker introduced in his anthology series The Books of Blood . Frank Cotton is a hedonistic criminal selfishly devoted to sensual experience even if it harms others. Believing he has indulged in every pleasure the world can offer, Frank pursues rumours of the LeMarchand Configuration, a puzzle box said to open a "schism" or portal to an extradimensional realm of unfathomable pleasure ruled by beings called

3869-452: The horror genre" and that Young had matched "Barker's stylish look with a gothic score that mixed in exciting synthesizer effects". The music that Coil had recorded as a demo for their version of the score was later released as The Unreleased Themes for Hellraiser . Hellraiser had its first public showing at the Prince Charles Cinema on 10 September 1987. The film was released in the United States and Canada on 18 September. Hellraiser

3942-438: The house. Rory and Julia claim they killed Frank but Kirsty realizes the man she is speaking to is Frank wearing Rory's skin. Another altercation ensues, during which Frank inadvertently kills Julia. Kirsty then baits Frank into admitting his true name out loud. The Cenobites appear, ensnare Frank and return him to their realm, telling Kirsty to leave. Downstairs, Kirsty sees Julia's disembodied head calling for help. The leader of

4015-408: The offer of experiences he has never known before. With Frank as their newest "experiment", the Cenobites subject him to total sensory overload and he realises their devotion to sadomasochism is so extreme and their personalities so removed from humanity that they no longer differentiate between pain and pleasure and have no care to ever stop even if their subject no longer wishes the experience. Frank

4088-602: The original novella but nicknamed " Pinhead " by the production crew and fans, became a popular villain among horror movie fans. This character appeared in later Barker prose with the official names "the Hell Priest" and "the Cold Man". The original novella was re-released as a standalone title by HarperPaperbacks in 1991, after the success of the first film, along with an audiobook recorded by Clive Barker and published by Simon & Schuster Audioworks in 1988. The story retains

4161-477: The public on 24 March 2017. As part of the Anniversary, Hellraiser was re-released via Blu-Ray in a Steelbook edition on 30 October. It additionally received a theatrical screening at the Prince Charles Cinema , where it made its world premiere in 1987. A remixed and remastered version of Christopher Young's score was also made available, debuting at the Anniversary screening. Hellraiser grossed $ 14,564,000 in

4234-424: The puzzle box, which was supposed to provide access to a realm of new carnal pleasures. When the puzzle was solved, the " Cenobites " came to subject him to extreme sadomasochism . Kirsty , Larry's teenage daughter and Frank's niece, sees Julia bringing a man to the house and follows her to the attic, where she finds Frank. She evades Frank and escapes with the puzzle box, collapsing shortly thereafter. Awakening in

4307-490: The same decade, ultimately eclipsing supernatural horror. The few supernatural horror films that were produced in the 1950s were often set in haunted houses , a continuation of haunted-house films prevalent in the 1940s. In the 1960s, horror films like The Innocents (1961), The Haunting (1963), and Rosemary's Baby (1968) used supernatural elements but were not directly about the paranormal. Other horror films used supernatural themes to code elements being censored by

4380-444: The script. After Maury and Bustillo left the project, Todd Farmer and Patrick Lussier were attached, with production slated for an early 2012 release. However, following the release of Hellraiser: Revelations (2011) to secure continuing rights, Farmer and Lussier were no longer involved. By 2018, after the critical and commercial success of Halloween , Miramax Films had confirmed plans for new Hellraiser installments. The film

4453-408: The seduction scene between Julia and Frank was initially a lot more explicit: We did a version of this scene which had some spanking in it and the MPAA was not very appreciative of that. ... The MPAA told me I was allowed two consecutive buttock thrusts from Frank but three is deemed obscene! Barker originally wanted the electronic music group Coil to perform the music for the film, but that notion

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4526-617: The story fit those parameters. New World Pictures agreed to fund the film for $ 900,000. Hellraiser was filmed at the end of 1986 and was set to be made in seven weeks, but was extended over a nine- to ten-week period by New World. The film was originally made under the working title of Sadomasochists from Beyond the Grave . Barker also wanted to call the film Hellbound but producer Christopher Figg suggested Hellraiser instead. Barker spoke fondly in The Hellraiser Chronicles about

4599-405: The story to the United States which required overdubbing to remove some English accents. During production, Doug Bradley had trouble hitting his marks during his takes in make-up as he could not see through his black contact lenses and was afraid of tripping over Pinhead's skirts. The special effects of the unnamed creature, known as "The Engineer" in the novels, proved challenging as the creature

4672-428: The supernatural group one could fit all the monsters and horrors that are somehow involved with religions and ritual," highlighting witchcraft, Egyptology and reincarnation, and zombies. Aaron Smuts considers horror "to be a genre with two main sub-types, supernatural horror and realist horror" and that they "have different charms". While fictional horror-themed literature, theatre, and other visual culture had existed,

4745-459: The supernatural such as The Gray Ghost (1917) with no actual narratives involving supernatural events. The supernatural horror film had what author Paul Meehan described as "its genesis" in early German expressionism in the 1920s and early 1930s with films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu . During the Universal Studios first horror film cycle, supernatural horror was

4818-417: The terms "horror film" and "horror movie" as known in a contemporary term did not become common place until 1931 and 1932. Film serials became popular in the United States in 1913. Supernatural events and characters in 1910s film serials were rare. Only two serials explored the supernatural at length, with The Mysteries of Myra (1916) and The Screaming Shadow (1920) while most serials which suggested

4891-610: The victim's head. In the scene where Julia murders another man, the actor playing the victim felt that it made sense for him to do so naked. The nude murder scene was shot but, ultimately, replaced with a semi-clothed version. Close-ups of Kirsty sticking her hand into Frank's stomach, exposing his guts, a longer version of the scene where Frank is being torn into pieces, and the final shot where his head explodes were also cut. In an interview for Samhain magazine in July 1987, Barker mentioned some problems that censors had with more erotic scenes in

4964-431: Was "a return to the cutting edge of horror cinema" and that in more gruesome moments the film "is a reminder of the grand guignol intensity that has recently tended to disintegrate into lazy splatter". Q stated that " Hellraiser does have its share of problems: the re-dubbing of peripheral character with a mid-Atlantic twang, the relocation of the film in a geographical limbo [...] The film, however, cannot be faulted for

5037-470: Was difficult to manoeuvre. Other issues included a rushed shoot of the Chinese restaurant scene with Kirsty and Larry, due to the lateness of the person responsible for letting the cast and crew into the establishment. Numerous props of Lemarchand's box, constructed from wood and cut-out brass, were produced by special effects designer and maker Simon Sayce; due to the box's delicate construction, Sayce would lie on

5110-646: Was green-lit in early 2019, with David Bruckner directing from a script written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski . It was released on Hulu in October 2022. A Hellraiser television series is in development at HBO . Supernatural horror film For such films and other media, critics distinguish supernatural horror from psychological horror . Mathias Clasen writes in Why Horror Seduces , "Supernatural horror involves some kind of suspension or breach of physical law, usually embodied in or caused by some kind of supernatural agency such as an uncanny monster or

5183-598: Was initially banned in Ontario by the Ontario Film and Video Review Board. By a 3-2 majority vote, the film was deemed "not approved in its entirety as it contravenes community standards". It was banned because of its "brutal, graphic violence with blood-letting throughout, horror, degradation and torture". In August 1987, Hellraiser was passed by the Ontario Film Review Board, but only after several cuts were made to

5256-470: Was rejected by New World. Editor Tony Randel then suggested Christopher Young as a replacement for Coil for the film's score. Young had previously composed scores for other horror films such as the 1985 slasher A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge and the 1986 Tobe Hooper film Invaders from Mars . The score for Hellraiser was released in 1987. AllMusic stated that the score proved that Christopher Young "hadn't used up all of his ideas for

5329-447: Was released in 2022. In Morocco, Frank Cotton, a hedonist , buys a puzzle box said to open the door to a realm of otherworldly pleasure. At home in his bare attic, Frank solves the puzzle and hooked chains emerge, tearing him apart. A black-robed figure resets the puzzle and the room is restored to normal. Later, Frank's brother Larry moves into the same house. He intends to rebuild his relationship with his second wife, Julia. Larry

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