‘Hellraiser: Judgment’ Director Addresses Animal Torture Controversy

The upcoming Hellraiser: Judgment has yet to receive a release date, but the film has already earned itself some controversy when the film’s director, Gary Tunnicliffe, teased a violent outcome for a small dog. The internet wasn’t too happy with the director’s insinuations, with the director going on to confirm that, not only were no animals harmed during filming, but that his comments were twisted to mean something completely different from his intentions

“First of all, no animals were harmed or injured during shooting,” Tunnicliffe told Dread Central. “And secondly, there is no animal torture in the film. Neither I or the producers would do or be interested in such a thing.”

The director’s comments occurred during the Movie Crypt podcast, in which he was explaining the film’s intensity, as he knew one of the hosts, Adam Green, owned a small dog.

“I’ll tell you off air about it, and when I explain it to you, you’re going to be like, ‘Jesus Christ,’” Tunnicliffe shared. “Involving a small dog. No, the dog doesn’t get hurt. But it goes through some… trauma. And then we had three grips leave the set during a sequence when they said, ‘This is utterly screwed up.’”

Understandably, the director caught flack when listeners assumed he exploited animal violence to get a reaction from people.

“I know how sensitive Adam Green is about his dog, and as a pet owner, I know that some people are as sensitive about their animals as they are about their children,” the filmmaker clarified. “This is a device used by the serial killer in Judgment to teach a lesson, and while I can’t explain too much without giving it away, I would say it’s more akin to something like the horse sequence in The Cell in terms of tone, but nowhere near as graphic, and the animal survives unscathed. And at the end of the day, it is make believe and it is a movie and it is something being perpetrated by a fictitious psychopath. The day that what happens in Hellraiser: Judgment happens in real life, I’ll be the first to apologize.”

In the sequence Tunnicliffe referenced from The Cell, a horse is segmented by multiple pieces of glass and separated, much like scientific slides, while the horse remains alive, as the sequence takes place within a character’s mind.

“Hopefully the film will get a release date soon and all the conjecture, good and bad, can stop and people can have an informed opinion,” Tunnicliffe professed. “As for me, now I’m off to home to listen to my new Hellraiser vinyl soundtrack with my dog, Jupiter, and our two cats, Thomas and Duchess!”

Stay tuned for details about the latest Hellraiser‘s release date.

[H/T Dread Central]