Clive Barker's reaction to those HELLRAISER concept images...
Earlier this month, we got sent an image from special effects veteran Gary J. Tunnicliffe of his conceptual design for the new Platinum Dunes reboot of the HELLRAISER franchise. You may remember it looked like this...
I didnt like them, Barker admits. I thought they were provocative in the sense of hopefully making people take notice of what worked and what didnt work. I feel that the Pinhead design works best because its geometric. Its very severe and schematized. Each of the squares are the same size, all the scars are laid out in a straight line. It isnt the work of somebody going at somebody elses face with a chainsaw. That, I think, is what makes the thing scary - ritual scarification. This is not crude, vicious slashing. I think the combination of a very organized system of scarring with a nail at every intersection is almost mathematical in its precision. The fact that thats been done to somebody or worse, that theyve done to themselves, is what makes that image powerful. Once you take away the squares all being the same size and the nails all being the same length, you are just left with a slasher victim, which I dont think Pinhead is. I think Pinhead is a priest at the alter of a S & M.Barker goes on to tell Bloody Disgusting that he expects to receive director Patrick Laugier (MARTYRS) script treatment sometime this week, where they will then meet up to discuss what direction they both think the movie should go into. If they both gel, Laugier will begin writing the screenplay immidietly and the pre-production will really start to ramp up.
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