10 Last-Minute Changes That Saved Horror Movies

Filmmaking is an exhausting and meticulous industry, requiring a ton of preparation, and although shooting can be time-consuming, the prep is significantly longer.

Before a single thing is filmed, the powers-that-be will have spent months or years on casting, finding locations, setting up shots, writing the script, and then rewriting it a dozen times for good measure - all of which takes forever but is necessary to ensure every aspect goes off without a hitch.

However, at times, the most pivotal characters, scenes, and lines are concocted on the spot. While we've looked at this topic before for the wider film industry, now it's time to delve into the horror genre.

Given how horror movies can require an agonising amount of organisation, it's pretty risky to switch things up at the eleventh hour. Still, sometimes those switch-ups totally pay off; a minor character might get beefed up mid-shoot to turn a nobody into a badass hero or an iconic villain; a glaring plot hole may inspire an emergency rewrite that benefits that overarching narrative; or a sequel-baiting ending could be cooked up on set, transforming a one-off story into a thriving franchise.

These decisions may not always pan out, but the following ten horror films definitely benefitted from their last-minute changes.

It's hard to imagine Clive Barker's Hellraiser franchise without Pinhead at the front and centre. Whether the story is set in the past, the underworld, or in deep space, the Cenobite leader is sure to be involved. And yet, the demonic pin-cushion was initially supposed to be a minor villain, while Julia Cotton was to serve as the big bad - not just of the first film, but the entire franchise.

However, everything got switched up thanks to, of all things, a make-up problem. Originally, the dialogue between the Cenobites was spread about evenly, but the elaborate prosthetics and costumes made it difficult for the Cenobite actors to speak. As such, their lines were repurposed to Pinhead, giving him a bigger role in the story.

But that's not all. 

During production, the producers envisioned the needle-faced sadist as a wisecracking campy villain or a mute, like Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers. Doug Bradley rejected these notions, portraying Pinhead as a well-spoken and dignified entity, with Bradley's instincts spot on as he turned a bit-part into a horror icon.

On top of that, Clive Barker decided at the last minute to slap Pinhead's ugly mug on the film's poster, further cementing the character's legacy.