Remakes and reboots, on the whole, tend to be met with a serious disdain – particularly when they involve projects as revered as the original Hellraiser. While there's been a reboot batted around by Dimension Pictures, with Patrick Lussier at the helm for quite some time, the project hasn't really gained the traction it needs to be made into reality. Which means, it's the perfect time for series creator and writer of the film's source material, Clive Barker, to step in and save the day.
While covering the resurrection of Barker's 1990's cult classic Nightbreed, thanks to a newly revised director's cut being released on Blu Ray, Entertainment Weekly got to talking to the esteemed horror artist about the status of the remake that Bob Weinstein and Dimension Entertainment have been keen on keeping in the pipeline. According to Clive Barker, he's just handed in his second draft to Dimension, and the process seems to be going much better than it did on his 1990 directorial debut.
Of course, with any remake comes a potential to change factors of the originally successful production, and Hellraiser is no exception. Thankfully, it's Barker who will be making the changes, and in the blurb below he shares with EW some of the new material we should expect.
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.
As far as remake-related changes go, having the original writer adding in more of the mythos from the source material is one of those rare bits of change that look like they could do more good than harm to the story. The Hellraiser series has monkeyed around with the back story of Phillip Lemarchand, particularly by making him into a more identifiable character in Hellraiser: Bloodline. Seeing as the Lament Configuration's creator will find himself in one of the most infamous prisons in French history, as well as the fact that Barker doesn't pull punches when it comes to his horror methodology, there's a good chance that this re-write is going to stay in step with the more traditional Hellraiser films.
There's no mention of whether Patrick Lussier is still attached as the director, but considering the article mentions that Clive Barker might be persuaded to return to the director's chair for the first time in decades, perhaps we'll get to see the master himself wield the chains of torment. Here's hoping this long in progress reboot is one that actually gets remade, as it's about time the world was exposed to the horrific delights of Doug Bradley's Pinhead, as well as the rest of the world of Hellraiser, once more.
