THE LAMENT CONFIGURATION:
Clive Barker on Hellraiser

By Mark Schaefer

PENNY BLOOD: Have you seen all the Hellraiser films?

BARKER: I haven’t seen them all. I may have missed two.

PENNY BLOOD: Why did you change Kirsty’s character to be Larry Cotton’s daughter
in the movie, instead of his past lover?

BARKER: It wasn’t my call. The producers wanted a teenager in it. I didn’t know the
marketplace at all. I was just making a movie for myself.

PENNY BLOOD: Is there any factual history behind the Box?

BARKER: No, I totally invented that idea. My grandfather worked as a ship’s cook and would
go off to the Far East. He’d often bring back Chinese puzzle boxes. They were very cool and just
stuck in my brain.

PENNY BLOOD: You’ve said that a lot of your writing has been inspired by dreaming. Were
the Cenobites inspired by a dream?

BARKER: I have a sketch of Pinhead drawn in the middle of the night.

PENNY BLOOD: Really? Do you remember anything else about that dream?

BARKER: Only later, I discovered that the psychologist Carl Jung had identified a number of
fetishes from Kenya that had nails driven in them as images of rage. I don’t know if I had seen
those images somewhere or read an article on them. Maybe they were somehow subconsciously
placed into my dream.

PENNY BLOOD: How involved were you with Hellbound: Hellraiser II? You have story
credit. Was that because they used your characters and scenes from the first film, or did you
work with Peter Atkins on the story?

BARKER: I worked with Peter and it was a great experience. When Director Tony Randel
came onboard I kind of stepped aside so Peter and Tony could do their draft. A lot of Tony’s
personal stuff went into that too. The scene where the girl escaped into the fun fair was something
Tony wanted.

PENNY BLOOD: I was wondering if you were upset that the Cenobites were altered quite
a bit from the original Hellraiser movie and story?  Instead of being demonic creatures from
an alternate universe, they became former human beings that had been transformed into these
monsters. Who decided to change that element of the story?

BARKER: That was Tony and Peter. I’m just there to step back and support the artists in
whatever they wanted to do. I tried to do that with Bill Condon on Gods and Monsters, when
my company Seraphim produced his movie. Would I have done Hellraiser II differently? Yes,
but then again, I want to be paid to direct. [Laughs]

PENNY BLOOD: You’re now working on a novella that features the death of Pinhead. He’s
died so many different times in the movies. How can you possibly kill the guy? Are you just going
to ignore the movies?

BARKER: No, I’m trying to be as respectful as possible to the movies, even though there are
contradictions in the various sequels. Still, I think the way I kill Pinhead will be pretty final.

PENNY BLOOD: Are we going to see Uncle Frank again? Julie? Will Kirsty return?

BARKER: No. It’s not that. It’s very much the tragic history of the guy with the pins in his
head. I’m trying very hard to elevate him from just being a guy who comes in and says a few
words, then pops hooks into people. I want to give him the best damn exit scene a monster’s
ever had. The story is already about 45,000 words, it’s not short. My detective character,
Harry D’Amour is in there too, so that’ll be fun.

PENNY BLOOD: This story will be part of a much larger book of short stories. Why didn’t
you call the new collection, Books of Blood - Seven?

BARKER: I think that would be a cheap trick. I owe my readers more than that. The flavor is
completely different from my earlier short story collections.

PENNY BLOOD: What’s the name of the new book?

BARKER:  The Scarlet Gospels.

PENNY BLOOD: How many stories will be in it?

BARKER: I don’t have a final number, but probably at least ten stories will be new, or collected
from limited publications such as chapbooks.

PENNY BLOOD: Is there any truth to the rumor that there was an effort to get Halloween’s
Michael Myers and Pinhead together in a film?

BARKER: Yes. I was invited to write the movie, but the people who own the Halloween movie
rights didn’t want to do it. John Carpenter was going to direct it. I thought it would have been a
pretty cool idea.

PENNY BLOOD: Okay, so Michael Myers is out, but will Pinhead challenge anyone else?

BARKER: Anything that can give Pinhead a fresh new life would be great. Let me make this
clear: my death of Pinhead is just a way to give the character new life. He’s just a character that
has outstayed his welcome, I think.

PENNY BLOOD: The Cenobites will continue though?

BARKER: Just because I kill Pinhead in a novel doesn’t mean Dimension Films won’t want to
continue the character in five years time.

PENNY BLOOD: Hellraiser IV: Bloodline was somewhat controversial because the director
Kevin Yagher pulled his name from the movie. It’s now a generic “Alan Smithee film.”  Did you
ever see Kevin Yagher’s edit?

BARKER: Yeah.

PENNY BLOOD: What did you think?

BARKER: In my opinion it wasn’t scary.

PENNY BLOOD: Do you think the fans will ever see his edit?

BARKER: I’m sure it still exists, but I’m not sure if it would be that interesting. That’s no reflection
on the director. Kevin got caught in a bad one. Kevin’s a good guy but the errors that were made on
Hellraiser IV had nothing to do with him. He went into the project with enthusiasm and professionalism
and got screwed with a really bad producer.

PENNY BLOOD: I heard you’re going to be directing another film?

BARKER: I’m hoping to do Tortured Souls next year sometime.

PENNY BLOOD: Are you still working on the script?

BARKER: It’s done. It’s been delivered so now we’re just waiting to see if Universal is going to
make it. If Universal doesn’t make it, we will. It’s very, very, intense. It’s a very hardcore horror film.

PENNY BLOOD: Are you going to ignore the MPAA this time?

BARKER: The DVD option allows you to put on all kinds of stuff in the film.

PENNY BLOOD: Are you definitely going to direct it?

BARKER: If the movie gets made, I’m going to direct it.

To read the full interview with Clive Barker, click here to buy Issue 2 of Penny Blood Magazine.