Writer and Director Team Tease Details for Hellraiser Reboot

Logan Westbrook

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Feb 21, 2008
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Writer and Director Team Tease Details for Hellraiser Reboot

Puzzle boxes and pinheaded demons will make a comeback, but it seems like everything else will be new.

Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer are the director and writer team behind the upcoming Nicholas Cage movie, Drive Angry. They're also the minds behind the slow moving Hellraiser reboot - which was announced way back in 2006 - and they've let slip a handful of details about what they're planning to do with the series.

The original Hellraiser was the brainchild of British horror writer Clive Barker. The series revolves around the hedonistic Cenobites: a collection of otherworldly sadists led by the nigh-iconic Pinhead, who can be summoned by solving an ornate puzzle box. Since the release of the first movie in 1987, there have been seven sequels, the most recent of which, Hellraiser: Hellword, came out in 2005. The first three sequels saw theatrical releases, while the remaining four went straight to DVD. As is often the case with long running horror franchises, the later movies aren't all that great, getting further and further away from what made the series interesting in the first place.

Lussier and Farmer have the unenviable task of breathing new life into the franchise, and it seems that "new" is the important word, as the pair made it very clear that they were not simply remaking the original Hellraiser film. They said that the first movie, which was written and directed by Barker and based on a novella that he wrote, was - funnily enough - very much Barker's story, and that it would hard for them to go back and re-tell it. Instead, the reboot would be set in the same world as the original movie, but would tell a new story.

They also made it clear that they were making an R-Rated movie, and had actually had their contracts changed to reflect that fact. However, when asked about whether any familiar faces from previous installments of the franchise would make an appearance, the pair was rather more coy. When the names "Julia" and "Kirsty" - both characters from the original movie - came up, they just smiled at each other.

There's a lot of potential in the Hellraiser franchise, but it's been a long time since it's really been at the top of its game. Hopefully, this new movie, which is scheduled for release in 2012, will reinvigorate the series and bring some fresh ideas to the table.

Source: Shock 'Til You Drop [http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=18193]





















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Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
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Jul 18, 2009
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Reading news like this makes me think that Hollywood itself needs a reboot.
 

Trogdor1138

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May 28, 2010
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I met Todd Farmer when he was involved in a Festival I was apart of with my work. I asked him about the film and he sounds like he'll be doing a good job of updating the franchise. I'm looking forward to it, he's passionate about the "glory days" of horror and isn't up his own ass like a lot of the other Hollywood guys. It seems to be in good hands.

Just be glad Platinum Dunes isn't doing this one.
 

DracoSuave

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Jan 26, 2009
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Hellraiser's one of those series that... once you got past the first two, it pretty much rebooted itself and what it was all about each and every time. Which is why Hellraisers that weren't 1 and 2 really really sucked. Because they were just namedropping pinhead and using the name to sell some views.

Reboot it? Why not, it's not like it hasn't already ruined its own sacredness.
 

ComicsAreWeird

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Oct 14, 2010
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Hevent seen a Hellraiser movie in a while. I guess i would be willing to watch one, if it was good. Lets see of this reboot can make it more interesting.
 

googleback

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Apr 15, 2009
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I saw the original for the first time the other day actually. It was pretty boring to be honest. Seriously underplayed. They actually managed to make demons that torture you and your soul not scary, actually it was kind of funny.

And Clive Barker still owes me for the ending of Jericho...
 

Chakanus

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Sep 8, 2009
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I'm somehow attracted to the whole theme of Hellraiser - with cenobites being twisted representations of sexual desires, but I don't think we shall ever see an interesting development. The whole painful/pleasuring experience is completely lost in a medium that practically abhors any mature dealings with sexuality and it just becomes an excuse for some poorly done gory scenes.
 

Valksy

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Nov 5, 2009
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Loved the first one. So sinister and disturbing and the pre-CGI effects, while imperfect, were distressingly organic and wet and kind of gross (liked it). Second one was OK. After that, the series turned in to straight-to-DVD shit, where it should be allowed to rot. The point of Hellraiser was not about showy effects and finding new and interesting ways to butcher people - it was so much more subtle than that. But subtly is hardly Hollywood's strong point.

Can they improve on Barker? No (I also loved his flawed but fascinating Nightbreed). So why the fuck are they doing this? Oh yes..because they are talentless twats incapable of original ideas.
 

joes

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Oct 15, 2010
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hellraiser is in of itself an awesome idea. that being said, no high hopes either. i can only imagine the people behind the funding are looking for a cash crop and could make the movie worse. but, uh, computers can make flying chains look a lot cooler i guess.
 
Mar 30, 2010
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No, please, no. Why are people incapable of leaving classics alone? I don't care whether it's films, games, books or whatever, some things should just be allowed to stand as they are. Subjecting classics to 'updates', 'reimaginings', 'refreshers' or whatever terms directors are using at the minute to cover up their lack of ingenuity only drags down the original. Hell on Earth and those that followed it have proved that.
 

Therumancer

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Nov 28, 2007
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I'm a fan of this series, and to be honest I don't think this is a series that can be 'rebooted' without destroying what made it great to begin with.

From the way it sounds they are saying it's a reboot, but they don't want to tell the original story again, and are coming up with a new one. Why not just do another movie in the series instead of messing around with the conventions?

That said, I will say that they did a comic series (which I have some issues of reprinted in TPB collections) which were pretty good. It shows that a lot can be done with the more or less existing mythology without needing a reboot. I think the issue with the other movies in the series (like Deader) were a combination of too low of a budget, and people playing too fast and loose with the mythology and sequence of events. I have all the movies incidently being that big of a fan/horror fan.

"Hellworld" was an interesting spin on things, similar to the style of some of the comic stories, but I think it suffered for the double twist ending, and I think it suffered from a lot of people who were series fans going "WTF" and not getting to what actually made it a Hellraiser story.
 

RA92

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Jan 1, 2011
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Hollywood bringing something new to reinvigorate a stale franchise? HELLRAISER 3D
 

Monshroud

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Jul 29, 2009
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Hellraiser is a series that I am actually ok with getting a reboot of. Ever since they moved to direct release, the movies really went downhill. Granted I didn't like Hellraiser 3 very much, but it is much better than some of the DVD releases.