A ghastly behind the scenes look at the Hellraiser franchise
With ten films, a collection of books, various comic adaptations and even an assortment of creep-tastic horror collectibles, the Hellraiser franchise has kept us chained with devilish delight since 1987. That being said, aside from tearing your way through the brilliant novella, The Hellbound Heart, how many gruesome, gory facts do you really know about the making of the Hellraiser franchise? Well, how about we shed some light on it?
Clive Barker was not fond of the name Pinhead
In his novel, Barker refers to his character as “Priest” or “Lead Cenobite”, however, the makeup crew actually came up with the name “Pinhead” partially due to his eclectic prosthetics and also as a means to distinguish him from the other Cenobites. So, even though the writer and director disliked the unimaginative name, it stuck amongst the horror genre as the franchise grew in popularity.
S&M was a huge inspiration
It’s pretty obvious that the Cenobites embellish many elements of sadism and masochism — leather spandex, chains and hooks… not to mention the interlinkage of pain and pleasure — but the real fun fact is that Barker took inspiration by spending time in some seedy hotspots in New York and Amsterdam. Now that we mention it, don’t you think the Cenobites look like the members of a punk rock band?
Pinhead was inspired by Dracula
The standard 80s horror villain consisted of weapon-wielding slasher, aimlessly targeting anyone who happened to cross their path. Whereas, Pinhead was rather unique being that he was more intelligent, philosophical and in some cases more classy than traditional horror movie lore. Does this description remind you of anyone? Maybe the aristocratic charm of Dracula perhaps?
It was originally banned in Canada
Despite numerous sexual scenes already being scrapped from the movie, the original film struggled to make it into Canadian theatres. In fact, New World Motion Pictures of Canada had to remove a torture scene featuring hooks pulling apart a body and face, as well as a scene that show rats squirming while nailed to a wall — 40 seconds of trimming later and the horror movie was given an R rating.
Did you learn any new, alarming facts about the Hellraiser franchise? Drop a comment below to let us know what you think.