10 Films You Won't Believe Were Released At Christmas

Release Date: December 23, 1988

After writing the scripts for Underworld (1985) and Rawhead Rex (1986), Barker stepped behind the camera for Hellraiser, which offered an Old Dark House gothic nobody had seen before, full of twisted sexuality and grisly violence. The film’s antagonists, the Cenobites, looked like demons in fetish gear, and as they pursued a skinless creature that had escaped their clutches, it was clear that British horror had entered a new era.

Their leader, originally named Priest and called Lead Cenobite in the script, became such an iconic figure that actor Doug Bradley became the first new British horror star since the heyday of Hammer. Bradley returns in a beefed up role in Hellbound, but the franchise’s popularity didn’t translate into huge box office.

Released in the same week as the Harrison Ford/Melanie Griffith comedy Working Girl, Hellbound opened at #8 before quietly slipping out of the top ten with a $12 million domestic gross. The franchise didn’t return to theaters until Miramax acquired the rights four years later, so viewers clearly weren’t interested in watching demons during the festive season.