Perhaps in penance for allowing Hellraiser 9 (and 8, and 7, and…) to be unleashed upon the world, Clive Barker has sentenced himself of what seems to be an eternity of delicious torment in development hell. First newly minted Pope of Hell (he bought the title at auction) Bob Weinstein flayed the tender flesh of the proposed reboot by threatening to put teen-friendly hooks in it, but was thwarted in those plans, presumably by Bob Weinstein’s soul, freed from Bob Weinstein’s evil body after viewing a photograph of himself on the set of The Burning.
The PG-13 demons sent back to hell, Barker is now free to write all the R-rated skinning scenes and denunciations of the Trinity he likes with original Pinhead Doug Bradley by his side. Barker has been distracted of late by a near-fatal bout with toxic shock and the rebirth of his 1990 film Nightbreed, but as he tells Entertainment Weekly, Cenobite fans should not give up hope. Barker claims to have recently finished a second draft of the Hellraiser screenplay, and describes the movie as a “very loose reboot” that will include the further adventures of “toymaker” Philip Lemarchand:
“I wanted to make sure we sounded some fresh notes. The movie actually begins on Devil’s Island. I wanted to fold into the Hellraiser narrative something about the guy—the Frenchman Lemarchand—who made the mysterious box, which raises Pinhead. I figured, ‘Well, what would have happened to him?’ He might well have been taken to Devil’s Island and I thought that would be a pretty cool place to start the movie. We’re waiting for Bob to come back to us and see when we’re going to actually make the movie.”
Jesus is reportedly pretty pumped.