The Hellraiser franchise was one of the many iconic horror series that dominated the ’80s and ’90s, with The Hollywood Reporter confirming that a new take on the Clive Barker classic will be coming from director David Bruckner and writers Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski from a story by David Goyer. The last entry into the series came in 2018 with Hellraiser: Judgment, as the series has been earning straight-to-video entries for decades, despite the Cenobite “Pinhead” being nearly as familiar with horror fans as Friday the 13th‘s Jason Voorhees or Halloween‘s Michael Myers. The reboot has been described as “loyal, but evolved.”
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Bruckner directed The Night House, while having also directed segments for V/H/S and Southbound, with Davis and Piotrowski earning acclaim for having written 2017’s Super Dark Times. Word of this reboot emerged last year, with Goyer being attached to write the screenplay at the time.
“Clive and I go back more than 30 years together. For generations, his brilliantly twisted and imaginative Hellraiser haunted the minds of moviegoers with its searing imagery of Pinhead,” producer Gary Barber said at the time. “David is the perfect storyteller to continue Clive’s vision for a new theatrical version of Hellraiser.”
Said Goyer, “I’ve been a fan of Clive’s work since the original Books of Blood paperbacks and The Hellbound Heart novella. Having the chance to reimagine Pinhead and the Cenobites for a new audience is a nightmare-come-true. Gary is a true fan as well and we’re committed to making something dark and visceral.”
The series of films features a mysterious puzzle box that opens a gateway to another horrifying dimension where demonic Cenobites torture and punish victims in grotesque and horrifying ways.
Director of Judgment Gary J. Tunnicliffe previously claimed that the success of teen-centered slashers like Scream led to the downfall of the Hellraiser franchise.
“I got a call to go in and meet with Bob about a Hellraiser story I pitched called ‘Holy War,’ and I was maybe talking about directing that was that,” Tunnicliffe shared with ComicBook.com. “That week Scream came out and did its business, and then Bob and the guys, rightly so, were like, ‘Oh, look, let’s try and figure out this guy with the nails in his head and this weird sexual stuff. Look, Scream, there it is. Ka-ching. It’s easy, it works. It’s a f-cking guy in a mask going around with a big knife chopping up teenagers.’”
He added, “It’s brilliantly conceived by [screenwriter] Kevin Williamson turning it on its head. But it was so much easier for them to get their head around, and to work with because that’s the problem when you’re trying to, even as a writer, whether it be Revelations, or Judgment, or whatever I’ve been involved in when ever you’re trying to give these people … It’s literally like f-cking chopped.”
Stay tuned for details on the Hellraiser reboot.
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