The howling maw of the remake beast has turned its attention to Hellraiser – but, as with one or two of the recent re-imaginings, the company behind it is actually seeking the assistance of the original creator.
The Weinstein Company has been chatting with Hellraiser creator Clive Barker about writing and producing a new version of the first movie. “They're going to remake Hellraiser One with a lot more money and they've invited me to write it – the invitation came from Bob Weinstein – which I am going to do, on the basis that if I don't do it, it will be done in some way that I probably won't like! It's only that one that I really, really, really care about in terms of its remake value - and it'll be kind of fun to have the extra money to do the effects and all that cool stuff,” he announced on his Revelations website. "So it puts me in the situation of writing both the beginning and the end of Pinhead at the same time – 'In my end is my beginning…' I'm not in the middle, as it were, I'm leaving out his middle age, I'm just dealing with his beginning and his end. I'm excited about it - actually it'll be kinda cool to revisit it once and see if there are things we can do to it which will make it significantly better."
Let’s hope he’s right – the original Hellraiser, which introduced the world to Pinhead and his fellow Cenobites – was pleasingly nasty thanks to Barker directing and writing. This time out he’s handing the director’s chair to someone else.