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| "Oh, you pierced your nose? That's cute." |
Only two years after the most recent sequel in the horror franchise that began in 1987 with Clive Barker's classic adaptation of his novella The Hellbound Heart, Spyglass Entertainment has announced its intent to re-imagine the dark universe of the Cenobites. The "loyal, yet evolved" reboot is set to be directed by V/H/S anthology contributor David Bruckner, produced by Dark Knight scribe David S. Goyer, and written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski. The two screenwriters previously collaborated with Bruckner on the indie horror sensation The Night House. It's still too early for any juicy details, but it is noteworthy that this is the second horror franchise reboot to be announced by Spyglass recently: The other is none other than Scream.
The original Hellraiser remains a landmark in the genre; a twisted and terrifically gory descent into the dark realms of sadomasochist surrealism. Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 is widely regarded as one of the best genre sequels of the 1980s, taking us headfirst into the torturous underworld only hinted at in the first film. After that, things took a turn for the worse. The last Hellraiser movie to be released in theaters was all the way back in 1996 with the infamously murdered-in-post-production Bloodline. Since then, sequels have been consistently spit out on home video through the subsequent decades. This trend began in 2000 with Inferno, starring Craig Sheffer (Night Breed) and directed by Scott Derrickson, who would go on to direct Marvel's Doctor Strange and its upcoming sequel. Much more of a cop drama with the Cenobites serving as an underpinning of the main plot, Inferno was far more entertaining than its Alan Smithee predecessor. But suffice it to say that when it comes to Hellraiser, the bag has been decidedly mixed, and not every ingredient has been a welcome flavor. Some are arguably more painful than the macabre machinations that spawned Pinhead himself.
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| I hope this helps with the wrinkles. |
The last entry, subtitled Judgment, came out in 2018 after a seven year gap between films. So it will be interesting to gauge the fan fervor for a reboot that will arrive without any real chance to build up nostalgic anticipation. That is... if it happens. With no release date set and the immediate future of many Hollywood projects currently up in the air due to the pandemic, we will just have to wait and see. In the meantime, we can only hope that Bruckner and his creative partners have some sights to show us.
-- Blake O. Kleiner