126-568: 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, the LeMarchand Configuration, which can be used to summon the Cenobites , demonic beings who do not distinguish between pain and pleasure. He escapes
252-589: 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
378-406: A Hellworld centered party at Leviathan House. While at the party, Chelsea is plagued by several bizarre incidents seemingly caused by the host of the party and, after escaping Leviathan House, witnesses Pinhead murder a police officer she had found patrolling the woods. Returning to the now abandoned Leviathan House after receiving a fake cell phone call from her friend Jake, Chelsea is chased to
504-528: A fatsuit and foam latex mask. He was designed to look as if it would be impossible for him to eat anything else. His torn-open stomach was meant to give the impression that he could directly interact with his organs at will. Butterball is first introduced in the novella The Hellbound Heart , in which he is the first of the Cenobites to appear, and their apparent second-in-command behind the Engineer, whose presence
630-561: A murderer , Damon, who himself was murdered in a bathhouse in Chaeronea . Pliny the Younger (61 to c. 113) tells the tale of Athenodorus Cananites , who bought a haunted house in Athens . Athenodorus was cautious since the house seemed inexpensive. While writing a book on philosophy, he was visited by a ghostly figure bound in chains. The figure disappeared in the courtyard; the following day,
756-549: A wind tunnel . Hellraiser creator Clive Barker had originally intended to have Julia become the main villain of the Hellraiser series and be one of the few female slasher villains , but these plans fell through when Clare Higgins declined playing Julia again and the popularity of Cenobite leader Pinhead rose dramatically. Kyle Macrae is a character in Hellbound: Hellraiser II portrayed by William Hope . Kyle
882-489: A "subject" in their sadomasochistic experiments. Frank manages to escape when his brother Larry cuts his hand and bleeds onto the spot where Frank was taken by the Cenobites. He convinces his sister-in-law, Julia, to murder men for him so that he can consume their blood and internal organs, which progressively regenerates his body and allows them to resume an affair they began on her wedding day. After Frank kills Larry to harvest his skin, Larry's daughter, Kirsty, turns him over to
1008-523: A Cenobite Transformation Chamber. After a girl named Tiffany solves the Lament Configuration, which had been changed into a miniature replica of Leviathan by the Cenobite Pinhead , Leviathan itself changes into a giant puzzle box. As Leviathan changes forms, it quickly loses its captive souls; the souls escape to Earth before the gateways to the realm close. A reference to Leviathan is made in
1134-454: A Cenobite, he is confronted by Captain Spencer, who forcibly fuses with his evil side. Free from Pinhead's machinery, Joey sends the now whole Cenobite back to Hell by stabbing him in the chest with the Lament Configuration when the puzzle box changes into a diamond shape. With Pinhead banished, Joey disposes of the Lament Configuration in some newly laid cement . Julia Cotton is a character in
1260-472: A child. A largely corrupt detective with a penchant for sleight of hand and puzzles, Joseph believes himself to be above the law and regularly engages in illegal behavior all the while neglecting his family. While investigating the murder of an old acquaintance of his, who was seemingly torn apart by hooked chains, Joseph is given the Lament Configuration puzzle box by a fellow detective who discovered
1386-430: 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
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#17330938120341512-442: A girl named Tiffany solve the Lament Configuration puzzle box, Julia and Channard enter Hell, where Julia betrays Channard and knocks him into a Cenobite Transformation Chamber, revealing that the god of Hell, Leviathan, had allowed her to return to Earth to collect souls. Afterward, in the personal Hell of Frank, Julia, after turning against Frank, attacks Tiffany and Kirsty, only to be sucked out of her skin and be sent tumbling down
1638-451: A high degree of life," whereas horror is described as that which "freezes and nearly annihilates them." Modern scholarship on horror fiction draws upon a range of sources. In their historical studies of the gothic novel, both Devendra Varma and S. L. Varnado make reference to the theologian Rudolf Otto , whose concept of the " numinous " was originally used to describe religious experience. A recent survey reports how often horror media
1764-403: 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
1890-497: A knife by Winter, but relents and inadvertently solves the Lament Configuration by hurling it at a wall. Summoning Pinhead and the Cenobites, Amy witnesses them rip Winter (revealed to be a descendant of box creator Phillip Lemarchand) apart with hooked chains and subsequently kill the Deaders once and for all. When the Cenobites turn their attention on her, Amy, to rob them of collecting her soul, commits suicide by stabbing herself, causing
2016-418: A larger portal to Hell by his family's captors, John sabotages the portal and is promptly killed afterward by Pinhead with a scissor-like chain. Shortly after John's death, Bobbi and Jack manage to banish both Pinhead and Angelique back to Hell with the Lament Configuration. Joseph Thorne is a character in the film Hellraiser: Inferno where he is portrayed by Craig Sheffer as an adult and J.B. Gaynor as
2142-505: A man and Oliver Smith as an undead being. The criminal brother of Larry Cotton, Frank, believing he has experienced everything the world has to offer, buys the Lament Configuration puzzle box from a merchant in North Africa and brings it back to his dead mother's home in England . Solving the puzzle box, Frank opens a portal and summons the Cenobites , who take him to their realm for use as
2268-425: A nail on the wall by trying to push a mattress up the stairs, he thought he was going to faint or throw up. His blood revived his deceased brother, Frank Cotton, whom Julia had an affair with and secretly began luring men to the house while Larry was at work to get Frank more blood to help him regenerate. Larry is later murdered by Julia and Frank, the latter using his brother's skin as a disguise. Although unseen, Larry
2394-456: A nun who willingly sacrifices her humanity to become a Cenobite, is about a non-specific female Cenobite, not necessarily the one she portrayed in Hellraiser II . In 2004, NECA released a Female Cenobite action figure. In ranking the character fourth in their list of ten best Cenobites, Shock Till You Drop praised both actresses' acting and said that she brings "a charming nastiness" to
2520-403: A pair of round sunglasses. Although he is apparently a high-ranking member of the Cenobites in the novella, and has the most dialogue in the book, in the films he is the most removed of Pinhead's entourage. Butterball is completely stationary and silent, occasionally licking his lips with a bloated tongue. He only becomes physically aggressive during climactic battles, attacking Kirsty at the end of
2646-534: 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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#17330938120342772-513: 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
2898-458: A remote-controlled robot to open the Lament Configuration, summoning the Cenobite Pinhead and his minions. After releasing Pinhead, Paul is captured by a group of soldiers, who contain him while they investigate what he has been doing on the station. Left alone with a female soldier named Rimmer, Paul tells her of his family's history, telling her he must complete his work or else everyone on
3024-476: A second chance, only to discover upon going to work that he is still in Hell. Shooting himself in the mouth with his own gun, Joseph awakens once more in the motel room and, upon exiting it, finds himself in his childhood bedroom. Fully realizing he is doomed, Joseph breaks down completely and is left screaming hysterically. Joanne "Joey" Summerskill is a character in the film Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth where she
3150-430: A sense similar to the reason a person seeks out the controlled thrill of a roller coaster , readers in the modern era seek out feelings of horror and terror to feel a sense of excitement. However, Barrette adds that horror fiction is one of the few mediums where readers seek out a form of art that forces themselves to confront ideas and images they "might rather ignore to challenge preconceptions of all kinds." One can see
3276-502: A series of tremors to shake Frank's house. Butterball reappears in Hellbound: Hellraiser II , with no explanation given as to his revival. Like Pinhead, he is reminded of his humanity by Kirsty, after which he fights to protect her against the newly created Cenobite, Dr. Channard . He is killed by Channard after a brief fight, after which he reverts to a non-mutilated human form. This is his last cinematic appearance, though he
3402-398: A spell that liquefies Butterball's innards, causing him to vomit up his internal organs in a geyser of blood. In a final show of contempt, Butterball restrains Pinhead as he dies, so that the projectile of blood strikes Pinhead in the face. Shock Till You Drop ranked him number seven in their list of the ten best Cenobites, calling him "infamously creepy and mysterious". Chelsea Murdock
3528-408: A story intends to shock and disgust, but the best horror intends to rattle our cages and shake us out of our complacency. It makes us think, forces us to confront ideas we might rather ignore, and challenges preconceptions of all kinds. Horror reminds us that the world is not always as safe as it seems, which exercises our mental muscles and reminds us to keep a little healthy caution close at hand. In
3654-600: A werewolf story titled " Guillaume de Palerme ". Anonymous writers penned two werewolf stories, "Biclarel" and " Melion ". Much horror fiction derives from the cruellest personages of the 15th century. Dracula can be traced to the Prince of Wallachia Vlad III , whose alleged war crimes were published in German pamphlets. A 1499 pamphlet was published by Markus Ayrer, which is most notable for its woodcut imagery. The alleged serial-killer sprees of Gilles de Rais have been seen as
3780-555: A year or more often. Unsurprisingly, there is a strong correlation between liking and frequency of use (r=.79, p<.0001). Achievements in horror fiction are recognized by numerous awards. The Horror Writers Association presents the Bram Stoker Awards for Superior Achievement, named in honor of Bram Stoker , author of the seminal horror novel Dracula . The Australian Horror Writers Association presents annual Australian Shadows Awards . The International Horror Guild Award
3906-610: Is Stephen King , known for Carrie , The Shining , It , Misery , and several dozen other novels and about 200 short stories . Beginning in the 1970s, King's stories have attracted a large audience, for which he was awarded by the U.S. National Book Foundation in 2003. Other popular horror authors of the period included Anne Rice , Shaun Hutson , Brian Lumley , Graham Masterton , James Herbert , Dean Koontz , Richard Laymon , Clive Barker , Ramsey Campbell , and Peter Straub . Best-selling book series of contemporary times exist in genres related to horror fiction, such as
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4032-557: Is a character in the film Hellraiser portrayed by Frank Baker. A filthy-looking vagrant, the Puzzle Guardian acts as the protector of the Lament Configuration puzzle box, passing it from hand to hand and saving it from danger. The Puzzle Guardian first appears in Morocco , where it sells Frank Cotton the Lament Configuration. Later, the Puzzle Guardian, having traveled to England , begins stalking Kirsty Cotton , at one point going into
4158-470: Is a character in the film Hellraiser: Bloodline where he is portrayed by Bruce Ramsay . A future descendant of Phillip LeMerchand, the creator of the gateway to Hell known as the Lament Configuration , Paul, being the last of his bloodline, is the only one who can permanently close the gateway to Hell his ancestor opened centuries ago. Hijacking a space station known as the Minos , which he designed, Paul uses
4284-466: Is a character in the film Hellraiser: Hellworld where she is played by Katheryn Winnick . A teenaged girl, Chelsea is a fan of the MMORPG computer game Hellworld , a game based upon the Hellraiser mythology. After her friend Adam immolates himself with gasoline due to his obsession with Hellworld , Chelsea abandons the game, but two years after Adam's funeral is pressured by her friends into attending
4410-647: 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
4536-415: Is almost as old as horror fiction itself. In 1826, the gothic novelist Ann Radcliffe published an essay distinguishing two elements of horror fiction, "terror" and "horror." Whereas terror is a feeling of dread that takes place before an event happens, horror is a feeling of revulsion or disgust after an event has happened. Radcliffe describes terror as that which "expands the soul and awakens the faculties to
4662-464: Is an entity introduced in Hellbound: Hellraiser II . A giant silver diamond which emits a constant beam of black light which can cause those caught in it to experience past memories, Leviathan is introduced as the god of Hell, lord of its labyrinth, and creator of the Cenobites . After Doctor Phillip Channard is taken to Hell by Julia Cotton, she reveals that Leviathan had allowed her to return to Earth to bring it more souls before knocking Channard into
4788-488: 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 another dimension, where the Cenobites come forth to take whoever opened the box back to their world, delivering an eternity of torture and experimentation. As well as
4914-486: Is consumed: To assess frequency of horror consumption, we asked respondents the following question: "In the past year, about how often have you used horror media (for example, horror literature, film, and video games) for entertainment?" 11.3% said "Never," 7.5% "Once," 28.9% "Several times," 14.1% "Once a month," 20.8% "Several times a month," 7.3% "Once a week," and 10.2% "Several times a week." Evidently, then, most respondents (81.3%) claimed to use horror media several times
5040-591: Is continually contacted by Captain Elliot Spencer, the human side of the Cenobite Pinhead . Meeting with Elliot in Purgatory , Joey learns from the captain that his evil side, Pinhead, has been released from his imprisonment in the Pillar of Souls and that it is up to her to stop the Cenobite. After being told that she must trick Pinhead into fusing back together with Elliot, Joey heads to The Boiler Room, where she finds all
5166-409: Is expecting, Frank willingly goes along with the Cenobites, only to find that—past an initial euphoria—the experiences to which the Cenobites subject him are so intense as to be torturous. Butterball is later part of the Cenobite contingent that makes a deal with Frank's brother, Rory's friend, Kirsty, to return Frank to them in exchange for her own freedom, after she unwittingly makes a deal to return to
The Hellbound Heart - Misplaced Pages Continue
5292-537: Is fear of the unknown." the first sentence from his seminal essay, " Supernatural Horror in Literature ". Science fiction historian Darrell Schweitzer has stated, "In the simplest sense, a horror story is one that scares us" and "the true horror story requires a sense of evil, not in necessarily in a theological sense; but the menaces must be truly menacing, life-destroying, and antithetical to happiness." In her essay "Elements of Aversion", Elizabeth Barrette articulates
5418-524: Is finally defeated when Julia appears and tears out his heart. Frank is mentioned in Hellraiser: Hellseeker , which states that he and Larry had both stockpiled large fortunes, of which Kirsty is the sole beneficiary. The Female Cenobite is a Cenobite appearing in the movies Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II , and in Clive Barker 's comic book by BOOM! comics in 2011. The role
5544-483: Is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror, which are in the realm of speculative fiction. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon , in 1984, defined the horror story as "a piece of fiction in prose of variable length ... which shocks, or even frightens the reader, or perhaps induces a feeling of repulsion or loathing". Horror intends to create an eerie and frightening atmosphere for
5670-494: Is killed by Julia, who drains his life force. Larry Cotton is the father of Kirsty Cotton who appears only in Hellraiser and is portrayed by Andrew Robinson . Larry was originally the husband of Kirsty's mother, who had died, and married to Julia. He was most caring about his daughter Kirsty. He had a tough life and all he was trying to do is keep his family together. Larry hates watching himself bleed and when he cut his hand by
5796-631: Is made white with no hairs on her head. When she is killed at the end of the second Hellraiser film (after Channard throws a knife into her open neck wound), she reverts to her original human form, revealing that she had once been a pretty woman. Clive Barker recruited his cousin, Grace Kirby, for the role. The Female Cenobite was inspired by scarification and body piercing in National Geographic articles. The make-up took three hours to apply, caused her discomfort, and prevented Kirby from sitting. When Kirby declined to return, Barbie Wilde took over
5922-479: Is mentioned in Hellbound: Hellraiser II when Frank, pretending to be Larry once more, appears as a vision to Kirsty saying that he is trapped in hell. Later, Pinhead informs Kirsty, who had come to hell to save her father, that Larry is "in his own personal hell and quite unreachable". Larry is again mentioned during an extended scene in Hellraiser: Hellseeker where Kirsty confronts Pinhead who says that Frank, Julia, and Larry are all waiting for her in Hell. Larry
6048-399: Is merely one of many interpretations of the metaphor of Dracula. Jack Halberstam postulates many of these in his essay Technologies of Monstrosity: Bram Stoker's Dracula . He writes: [The] image of dusty and unused gold, coins from many nations and old unworn jewels, immediately connects Dracula to the old money of a corrupt class, to a kind of piracy of nations and to the worst excesses of
6174-431: Is never mentioned again after this. Andrew Robinson was going to reprise his role as Larry Cotton in Hellbound: Hellraiser II , but according to the Hellraiser 20th Anniversary Edition he said that "they didn't want to pay me as they did for Hellraiser , so I said forget it. And that was that". In The Hellbound Heart , Larry's name was Rory and he is simply a friend of Kirsty rather than her father. Leviathan
6300-464: Is only summoned in special circumstances: "...the hooks that transfixed the flaps of its eyes... were wed by an intricate system of chains passed through flesh and bone alike..." Along with the other Cenobites, Butterball takes antagonist Frank Cotton back to the Cenobite realm after Cotton opens the Lament Configuration, expecting to find a hedonistic paradise that will cure his sensual nihilism. Despite being warned that what he finds may not be what he
6426-409: Is portrayed by Terry Farrell . A news reporter for Channel 8, Joey, after witnessing a teenaged boy be torn apart by hooked chains in a hospital room, begins investigating The Boiler Room, the nightclub where the boy was found by a girl named Terri, who Joey befriends. As she investigates the club and the Lament Configuration puzzle box which was found in a pillar bought by club owner J.P. Monroe, Joey
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#17330938120346552-460: 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
6678-401: Is tends to be inconclusive on the impact that viewing such media has. One defining trait of the horror genre is that it provokes an emotional, psychological , or physical response within readers that causes them to react with fear. One of H. P. Lovecraft's most famous quotes about the genre is that: "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear
6804-482: Is unknown for sure why children enjoy these movies (as it seems counter-intuitive), it is theorized that it is, in part, grotesque monsters that fascinate kids. Tangential to this, the internalized impact of horror television programs and films on children is rather under-researched, especially when compared to the research done on the similar subject of violence in TV and film's impact on the young mind. What little research there
6930-521: The Ancient Greeks and Ancient Romans . Mary Shelley 's well-known 1818 novel about Frankenstein was greatly influenced by the story of Hippolytus , whom Asclepius revives from death. Euripides wrote plays based on the story, Hippolytos Kalyptomenos and Hippolytus . In Plutarch 's The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans in the account of Cimon , the author describes the spirit of
7056-506: The Epic comic series, in the seventh issue of the Clive Barker's Hellraiser anthology series. In the story "Under the Knife", the Engineer, along with several Cenobites, is summoned via the puzzle known as The Heart of Damnation and, shortly after being summoned, is returned to Hell when the puzzle is damaged. Frank Cotton appears in the film Hellraiser where he is portrayed by Sean Chapman as
7182-407: The Lament Configuration puzzle box in her hospital room. Later, after Kirsty banishes the Cenobites back to Hell and attempts to escape her rapidly decaying house, the Engineer appears again. Grappling with Kirsty and her boyfriend Steve as they attempt to reclaim the Lament Configuration, the Engineer is banished back to Hell when Kirsty manages to grab the puzzle box and solves it. The Engineer
7308-569: The werewolf fiction urban fantasy Kitty Norville books by Carrie Vaughn (2005 onward). Horror elements continue to expand outside the genre. The alternate history of more traditional historical horror in Dan Simmons 's 2007 novel The Terror sits on bookstore shelves next to genre mash ups such as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2009), and historical fantasy and horror comics such as Hellblazer (1993 onward) and Mike Mignola 's Hellboy (1993 onward). Horror also serves as one of
7434-572: The 1950s satisfied readers' quests for horror imagery that the silver screen could not provide. This imagery made these comics controversial, and as a consequence, they were frequently censored. The modern zombie tale dealing with the motif of the living dead harks back to works including H. P. Lovecraft's stories " Cool Air " (1925), "In The Vault" (1926), and " The Outsider " (1926), and Dennis Wheatley 's "Strange Conflict" (1941). Richard Matheson 's novel I Am Legend (1954) influenced an entire genre of apocalyptic zombie fiction emblematized by
7560-515: The Cenobite Orno, who tampers with the mind of a denizen of Hell (referred to as "Raw Material") and imbues them with some of his own seed before sending them to Earth to have sex with a woman; after impregnating a woman, who will die during child birth, the Raw Material will commit suicide. When the child of the Raw Material reaches the age of sixteen, Orno reveals their destiny to them, giving them
7686-410: The Cenobite realm by opening the box. Butterball would later appear — and receive a name — in the closing credits of the film adaptation Hellraiser . Unlike the other Cenobites, who are sent back by Kirsty (here presented as Frank's niece) to the Cenobite realm during the film's climax, Butterball is seemingly "killed" when a section of roof collapses on him as the schism opened by the puzzle box causes
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#17330938120347812-422: 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
7938-409: 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 the original novella but nicknamed " Pinhead " by the production crew and fans, became
8064-438: The Cenobites other recurring characters include heroine Kirsty Cotton and several others. Amy Klein is a character in the film Hellraiser: Deader , where she is portrayed by Kari Wührer as an adult and Maria Pintea as a young girl. A gonzo-style reporter , Amy was physically (and possibly sexually) abused by her father as a child, which led her to stab him to death. After viewing a videotape her boss Charles received in
8190-412: 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
8316-604: The Cenobites, who tear his body to pieces before taking him back to their realm. In Hellbound: Hellraiser II , Frank appears before the now institutionalized Kirsty in her room, pretending to be her father and leaving her a message written in his own blood asking for help. When Kirsty enters the Cenobite realm, she finds herself in Frank's personal Hell, a chamber filled with writhing female forms where Frank can never sate his lust. Attempting to rape Kirsty, Frank reverts to his skinless appearance when Kirsty causes him to catch fire. Frank
8442-487: 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 ,
8568-499: The Engineer possesses are illusions or actually exist remains unknown; its first conduit was the then dead Julia, whose severed head was able to speak, which the book draws special attention to describing as impossible: "Bereft of lungs, how could it speak? It spoke nevertheless--" In the film Hellraiser , the Engineer is a demon which prowls the corridors of Hell, and appears as an amalgam of various animals. The Engineer first appears to chase Kirsty Cotton out of Hell when she solves
8694-588: The Lament Configuration to make the Cenobites vanish and cause the Deader's lair to collapse. Butterball is one of the first Cenobites introduced in the franchise, appearing both in the initial novella, The Hellbound Heart , as well as the films Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II . Butterball also made an appearance in Clive Barker's comic book sequel to Hellbound , the Hellraiser comic book series published by BOOM! comics in 2011. Despite appearing to be
8820-516: The Lament Configuration, stating that the price of the box is far larger than he can imagine, which Trevor will learn eventually. Later, when Trevor returns to the Puzzle Guardian's warehouse, he finds it abandoned. The Hellraiser comics by Epic explain the origin of the Puzzle Guardian, revealing there is one for every puzzle to Hell. The story "Mazes of the Mind" in the fifth issue of Clive Barker's Hellraiser states that Puzzle Guardians are created by
8946-734: The Late Middle Ages, finding its form with Horace Walpole 's seminal and controversial 1764 novel, The Castle of Otranto . In fact, the first edition was published disguised as an actual medieval romance from Italy, discovered and republished by a fictitious translator. Once revealed as modern, many found it anachronistic , reactionary , or simply in poor taste, but it proved immediately popular. Otranto inspired Vathek (1786) by William Beckford , A Sicilian Romance (1790), The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), The Italian (1796) by Ann Radcliffe , and The Monk (1797) by Matthew Lewis . A significant amount of horror fiction of this era
9072-470: The Pyramid Gallery, they learn the shop has been closed for over a month, the owner having gone on vacation to Hawaii . Doug Bradley portrays the Puzzle Guardian in Hellraiser: Hellseeker , where the Puzzle Guardian owns a sweatshop in a warehouse. The Puzzle Guardian, when Trevor Gooden appears in the warehouse after receiving a business card with "All Problems Solved" inscribed on it, sells Trevor
9198-585: The Ripper , and lesser so, Carl Panzram , Fritz Haarman , and Albert Fish , all perpetuated this phenomenon. The trend continued in the postwar era, partly renewed after the murders committed by Ed Gein . In 1959, Robert Bloch , inspired by the murders, wrote Psycho . The crimes committed in 1969 by the Manson Family influenced the slasher theme in horror fiction of the 1970s. In 1981, Thomas Harris wrote Red Dragon , introducing Dr. Hannibal Lecter . In 1988,
9324-862: The Wanderer (1820), Washington Irving 's " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow " (1820), Jane C. Loudon 's The Mummy!: Or a Tale of the Twenty-Second Century (1827), Victor Hugo 's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831), Thomas Peckett Prest 's Varney the Vampire (1847), the works of Edgar Allan Poe , the works of Sheridan Le Fanu , Robert Louis Stevenson 's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), Oscar Wilde 's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 's " Lot No. 249 " (1892), H. G. Wells ' The Invisible Man (1897), and Bram Stoker 's Dracula (1897). Each of these works created an enduring icon of horror seen in later re-imaginings on
9450-422: The aristocracy. Halberstram articulates a view of Dracula as manifesting the growing perception of the aristocracy as an evil and outdated notion to be defeated. The depiction of a multinational band of protagonists using the latest technologies (such as a telegraph ) to quickly share, collate, and act upon new information is what leads to the destruction of the vampire. This is one of many interpretations of
9576-602: The attic of the mansion by the Cenobites and undead versions of her friends Mike and Allison. While in the attic, Chelsea is called by Jake, who realizes that everything they are experienced is some sort of mass hallucination . After rejoining Jake, Chelsea is confronted by the party host, who she had discovered was Adam's father. After the host causes Jake to become trapped in a coffin, he begins burying Chelsea alive, revealing he had drugged her and her friends and buried them, using cell phones to send messages to them and cause them to hallucinate everything, all in an attempt to avenge
9702-410: The author. There are many theories as to why people enjoy being scared. For example, "people who like horror films are more likely to score highly for openness to experience, a personality trait linked to intellect and imagination." It is a now commonly accepted view that the horror elements of Dracula 's portrayal of vampirism are metaphors for sexuality in a repressed Victorian era . But this
9828-465: The box at the scene of the crime. Solving the box in the bathroom of a motel after having sex with a prostitute, Joseph subsequently has a dream where he is attacked by the Cenobites before awakening. After solving the box, bizarre events begin to plague Joseph as he searches for a child abducted by a being simply referred to as the Engineer. As those close to him begin to die, Joseph is directed to his childhood home by Pinhead , where Joseph, after facing
9954-429: The box, causing her to have a brief encounter with the Cenobite Pinhead . Tracking down Winter and the Deader's home, Amy is forced into experiencing something of a vision quest by Winter, who wishes to use her to solve the Lament Configuration, something neither he nor his followers can do. Eventually snapping out of her trance-like state, Amy is almost goaded into killing herself (so she can be resurrected later) with
10080-580: The central genres in more complex modern works such as Mark Z. Danielewski 's House of Leaves (2000), a finalist for the National Book Award . There are many horror novels for children and teens, such as R. L. Stine 's Goosebumps series or The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey . Additionally, many movies for young audiences, particularly animated ones, use horror aesthetics and conventions (for example, ParaNorman ). These are what can be collectively referred to as "children's horror". Although it
10206-457: The child it has presumably kidnapped, the Engineer continually taunts the detective, systematically killing the man's friends and loved ones while leaving a child's finger at all the crime scenes. When it is revealed to Joseph by Pinhead that the detective has been in Hell ever since he solved the Lament Configuration, Pinhead also reveals that the Engineer is Joseph's "flesh", the embodiment of his carnal desires which have doomed his soul to repeat
10332-406: The club patrons and her friend and cameraman Doc Fisher slaughtered by Pinhead, who confronts Joey and demands she give him the Lament Configuration. Fleeing from Pinhead, Joey manages to send his newly created Cenobite minions to Hell before Pinhead, appearing as Joey's dead father in a Heaven -like setting, tricks Joey into giving him the Lament Configuration. As Pinhead prepares to change Joey into
10458-399: The confrontation of ideas that readers and characters would "rather ignore" throughout literature in famous moments such as Hamlet 's musings about the skull of Yorick , its implications of the mortality of humanity, and the gruesome end that bodies inevitably come to. In horror fiction, the confrontation with the gruesome is often a metaphor for the problems facing the current generation of
10584-476: The crew gave the character various obscene nicknames referencing this. The Female Cenobite originally did not have a backstory, and Wilde said Hellraiser II director Tony Randel 's description of her character's motivation amounted to, "You're dead". Gary J. Tunnicliffe later made the character a former nun. In 2009, Wilde contributed to The Hellbound Hearts , a collection of short stories inspired by Clive Barker's original novella. Wilde says her story, about
10710-403: The death of Adam. Before the host can finish burying her, Chelsea returns to consciousness and is dug up by the police along with Jake. The police reveal to Chelsea that she and Jake have been buried for days and that they were only found due to anonymous call from Leviathan House, which Chelsea believes was made by Adam's spirit, which she briefly spots gazing out a window of Leviathan House. After
10836-471: The demon Angelique, who was summoned when his ancestor Phillip created the Lament Configuration , a puzzle box which can open a gateway to Hell. Shortly after Angelique appears at a ceremony celebrating the completion of a new building (which resembles the Lament Configuration) designed by him, John's family is kidnapped by the demon and the recently summoned Cenobite Pinhead . Forced into working on
10962-411: The early 20th century made inroads in these mediums. Particularly, the venerated horror author H. P. Lovecraft , and his enduring Cthulhu Mythos transformed and popularized the genre of cosmic horror , and M. R. James is credited with redefining the ghost story in that era. The serial murderer became a recurring theme. Yellow journalism and sensationalism of various murderers, such as Jack
11088-431: The end of Hellbound: Hellraiser II , Little John plays the cricket-covered face of the Puzzle Guardian, which appears on the Pillar of Souls, asking a shocked moving man, "What is your pleasure, sir?" In Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth , Lawrence Mortorff plays the Puzzle Guardian, who sells nightclub owner J.P. Monroe the Pillar of Souls in the Pyramid Gallery. A week later, when Joey Summerskill and Terri investigate
11214-504: The events of the Hellworld party, Chelsea and Jake, having become a couple, decide to go on vacation together, only to be visited by the apparent spirit of the host, who had earlier been killed by the real Cenobites (summoned by a puzzle box Adam had created shortly before killing himself). The host causes Chelsea's car to spin out of control before disappearing, leaving both Chelsea and Jake unharmed but severely shaken. Doctor Paul Merchant
11340-405: The excitement of living on the edge, the tension between hunter and hunted. So we told each other stories through the long, dark nights. when the fires burned low, we did our best to scare the daylights out of each other. The rush of adrenaline feels good. Our hearts pound, our breath quickens, and we can imagine ourselves on the edge. Yet we also appreciate the insightful aspects of horror. Sometimes
11466-535: The film Hellraiser where she is portrayed by Clare Higgins . The second wife of Larry Cotton and stepmother of Kirsty Cotton, Julia and her family, after living in Boston , move to England and into the house of Larry's deceased mother. While in the house, Julia discovers the zombified version of Larry's brother Frank, with whom Julia had had an affair. At first horrified of Frank, Julia begins to do his bidding in attempt to resurrect him, seducing men and bringing them to
11592-472: 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
11718-499: 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
11844-404: The films of George A. Romero . In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the enormous commercial success of three books - Rosemary's Baby (1967) by Ira Levin , The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty , and The Other by Thomas Tryon - encouraged publishers to begin releasing numerous other horror novels, thus creating a "horror boom". One of the best-known late-20th century horror writers
11970-476: The films. Jake is a character in the film Hellraiser: Hellworld where he is portrayed by Christopher Jacot. John Merchant is a character in the film Hellraiser: Bloodline where he is portrayed by Bruce Ramsay . An architect and descendant of Phillip LeMerchand, John lives with his wife Bobbi and young son Jack in New York City . Due to a curse placed upon his family, John has recurring dreams of
12096-443: 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
12222-542: The ground and is prematurely aged when Frank uses his powers of absorption against her. Kirsty later finds Julia's corpse chained to a bed by the Cenobites . In Hellbound: Hellraiser II , Julia is released from Hell when Doctor Phillip Channard has one of the mentally ill patients in his care mutilate himself on the mattress Julia died on. A skinless being (played by Deborah Joel), Julia seduces Channard and has him bring her victims which she can feed on to restore her human form, which she succeeds in doing. After Channard has
12348-544: The house so Frank can feed off them. Eventually, after an encounter with Kirsty and when Frank is almost fully human looking, Julia leads Larry to Frank, who kills him and steals his skin; afterward, Julia and Frank have sex. When Kirsty returns home in search of Frank, Julia and Frank attempt to trick and kill her, an attack which results in Julia's death at Frank's hands, when, as Julia restrains Kirsty, Frank accidentally stabs her with his switchblade . As Kirsty flees, Julia slumps to
12474-438: 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
12600-479: The inspiration for " Bluebeard ". The motif of the vampiress is most notably derived from the real-life noblewoman and murderer, Elizabeth Bathory , and helped usher in the emergence of horror fiction in the 18th century, such as through László Turóczi's 1729 book Tragica Historia . The 18th century saw the gradual development of Romanticism and the Gothic horror genre. It drew on the written and material heritage of
12726-545: The magistrates dug in the courtyard and found an unmarked grave. Elements of the horror genre also occur in Biblical texts, notably in the Book of Revelation . The Witch of Berkeley by William of Malmesbury has been viewed as an early horror story. Werewolf stories were popular in medieval French literature . One of Marie de France 's twelve lais is a werewolf story titled " Bisclavret ". The Countess Yolande commissioned
12852-402: The mail which depicts a member of a cult known as the Deaders committing suicide and subsequently being resurrected by Deaders leader Winter, Amy travels from London to Bucharest to look into the Deaders. Finding another tape and the Lament Configuration puzzle box in the apartment of a heavily decayed-looking Deader named Marla, who subsequently appears to her several times, Amy tinkers with
12978-449: The metaphor of only one central figure of the canon of horror fiction, as over a dozen possible metaphors are referenced in the analysis, from the religious to the antisemitic . Noël Carroll 's Philosophy of Horror postulates that a modern piece of horror fiction's " monster ", villain , or a more inclusive menace must exhibit the following two traits: In addition to those essays and articles shown above, scholarship on horror fiction
13104-560: The need by some for horror tales in a modern world: The old "fight or flight" reaction of our evolutionary heritage once played a major role in the life of every human. Our ancestors lived and died by it. Then someone invented the fascinating game of civilization, and things began to calm down. Development pushed wilderness back from settled lands. War, crime, and other forms of social violence came with civilization and humans started preying on each other, but by and large daily life calmed down. We began to feel restless, to feel something missing:
13230-408: 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
13356-476: The original Hellraiser , Channard at the end of Hellbound , and Kirsty again in the seventh issue of Barker's BOOM! Hellraiser series. Actor Simon Bamford met Clive Barker through a friend who was doing prop work for Barker's plays. Bamford and Barker became friends, and Bamford joined his theater company. After the company disbanded, Bamford contacted Barker to see what he was doing, and Barker invited him to join his latest project, Hellraiser . Bamford wore
13482-462: The orphaned shot (interlaced with shots of Kirsty and Tiffany fleeing), which takes place just as Leviathan begins to transform into a puzzle box. The orphaned shot remains in the stand-alone DVD released in Region 1 . In Hellraiser: Inferno , another being called the Engineer appears, a faceless and near-mythic criminal played by Ray Miceli. When a detective named Joseph Thorne begins hunting for it and
13608-424: The page, stage, and screen. A proliferation of cheap periodicals around the turn of the century led to a boom in horror writing. For example, Gaston Leroux serialized his Le Fantôme de l'Opéra before it became a novel in 1910. One writer who specialized in horror fiction for mainstream pulps, such as All-Story Magazine , was Tod Robbins , whose fiction deals with themes of madness and cruelty. In Russia,
13734-480: The pet shop where the young woman works and eating a large amount of crickets before being shooed away. When Kirsty and her boyfriend Steve attempt to burn the Lament Configuration, the Puzzle Guardian appears and saves the box before transforming into a skeletal dragon and flying away. The Puzzle Guardian is last seen back in India with the Lament Configuration, asking a prospective customer "What's your pleasure, sir?" At
13860-480: The puzzle they will guard. Emma Craven is a character in the film Hellraiser: Revelations where she is portrayed by Tracey Fairaway. The Engineer is a character first appearing at the end of The Hellbound Heart as the unseen leader of Pinhead's Order of the Gash who appears only as flashes of light (some minute and others blinding) using living and dead people alike as conduits of its will. Whether these people
13986-484: The reader. Often the central menace of a work of horror fiction can be interpreted as a metaphor for larger fears of a society. The horror genre has ancient origins, with roots in folklore and religious traditions focusing on death, the afterlife, evil, the demonic, and the principle of the thing embodied in the person. These manifested in stories of beings such as demons, witches, vampires, werewolves, and ghosts. European horror-fiction became established through works of
14112-424: The reanimated corpses of his dead friends and family members, finds himself in a dark void, where Pinhead reveals to Joseph he is in Hell, his sinful lifestyle and disregard for everyone but himself having doomed him to relive the events of the past few days over and over again. After being torn apart by Pinhead's hooked chains, Joseph awakens back in the motel room where he solved the box and believes he has been given
14238-447: The role. Wilde speculated that the producers were interested in her because of her background in mime, which was commonly believed in the industry to help with performing under prosthetic make-up. Wilde's different facial features contributed to the change in appearance for the character. Paul Kane , author of The Hellraiser Films and Their Legacy , describes her throat wound as representative of male fears of female sexuality. Kane says
14364-516: The same sequence of events for all eternity. The Engineer is referenced to in Hellraiser: Hellworld as an enemy in the online computer game Hellworld ; later in the film, when the characters begin to question whether they are actually in Hell, one of them sarcastically asks "Where are the Engineers?" The version of the Engineer from the first Hellraiser film made only one appearance in
14490-475: The second-in-command of the Cenobites in The Hellbound Heart , in the film and comics he primarily functions as a member of Pinhead 's entourage. Like the other Cenobites, Butterball has undergone extreme body modification and ritual scarification; other than his massive size and obesity, Butterball's other distinguishing feature is a series of stitches through his eyelids, which he usually keeps hidden by
14616-517: The sequel to that novel, The Silence of the Lambs , was published. Early cinema was inspired by many aspects of horror literature, and started a strong tradition of horror films and subgenres that continues to this day. Up until the graphic depictions of violence and gore on the screen commonly associated with 1960s and 1970s slasher films and splatter films , comic books such as those published by EC Comics (most notably Tales From The Crypt ) in
14742-500: The station is doomed. When it becomes apparent that something really is stalking through the space station, Paul is released by the soldiers, who are killed one by one by the Cenobites. Managing to finish his work and narrowly escape Pinhead through the use of a hologram, Paul flies away from the Minos in a space shuttle with Rimmer while the Minos changes into a giant puzzle box, originally designed by Phillip LeMerchand, which completely destroys Pinhead. Derelict, The Puzzle Guardian
14868-541: The story by Clive Barker. The Cenobites are briefly mentioned in passing (as "the Surgeons") in the book Weaveworld . The Scarlet Gospels cements that the Cenobites live in the same reality as Clive Barker's occult detective Harry D'Amour . The same novel involves the Cenobite Pinhead, identifying him as "The Hell Priest" and "The Cold Man". Horror fiction Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that
14994-400: The term, considering it too lurid. They instead use the terms dark fantasy or Gothic fantasy for supernatural horror, or " psychological thriller " for non-supernatural horror. List of Hellraiser characters#Engineer Hellraiser is a British horror franchise that consists of eleven films, a series of comic books , as well as merchandise based on the series. The franchise
15120-473: The writer Alexander Belyaev popularized these themes in his story Professor Dowell's Head (1925), in which a mad doctor performs experimental head transplants and reanimations on bodies stolen from the morgue and which was first published as a magazine serial before being turned into a novel. Later, specialist publications emerged to give horror writers an outlet, prominent among them was Weird Tales and Unknown Worlds . Influential horror writers of
15246-466: Was Channard's student. Both Kyle and Channard were intrigued by Kirsty's tale of what happened to her family. Kyle stumbled upon multiple Lament Configuration boxes in Channard's house, and witnessed him using a mental patient to summon Julia. Kyle watched as Julia killed the patient. He alerted Kirsty, and they went to the house to bring back Larry. Kyle searched the house after telling Kirsty to stay put, and
15372-480: Was played by Grace Kirby in the first film and Barbie Wilde in the sequel. Like the other Cenobites, she is clad in black leather and is mutilated. In the original film, several wires peel back the skin around her neck, causing her to have a raspy, whispery voice. She is given deeply sunken facial features with bluish skin and a few hairs left on her head. In the sequel four of the wires holding her throat open have been removed, leaving just one frame, and her skin tone
15498-538: Was presented annually to works of horror and dark fantasy from 1995 to 2008. The Shirley Jackson Awards are literary awards for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic works. Other important awards for horror literature are included as subcategories within general awards for fantasy and science fiction in such awards as the Aurealis Award . Some writers of fiction normally classified as "horror" tend to dislike
15624-605: Was revived in the comics. Butterball reappears in Clive Barker's comic book series for BOOM! comics. Butterball appears in the fifth issue as Pinhead's "secret weapon", ambushing and restraining Kirsty when she finally confronts Pinhead. The confrontation turns out to be a trap arranged by Pinhead to betray his fellow Cenobites, and Pinhead slips Kirsty one of his knives, which she uses to kill Butterball. Butterball reappears yet again in The Scarlet Gospels , once again being betrayed by Pinhead. This time, Pinhead kills him with
15750-475: Was to appear in Hellbound: Hellraiser II , but was removed completely, except from the ending scene when the Pillar of Souls appears, where his face is attached. However, the character can still be briefly seen through an editing error at the end of Hellbound , as Kirsty and Tiffany flee the Labyrinth racing for the closing gate as souls flee all around them. Only the Engineer, and the souls fleeing, are visible in
15876-624: Was written by women and marketed towards a female audience, a typical scenario of the novels being a resourceful female menaced in a gloomy castle. The Gothic tradition blossomed into the genre that modern readers today call horror literature in the 19th century. Influential works and characters that continue resonating in fiction and film today saw their genesis in the Brothers Grimm 's " Hänsel und Gretel " (1812), Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818), John Polidori 's " The Vampyre " (1819), Charles Maturin 's Melmoth
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