HELLRAISER

But after Barker saw what producers had done with the first two screen adaptations of his work, he came to a simple conclusion: the next film he would have to direct himself. That film was HELLRAISER.

Frank is a man who has grown bored with every pleasure available to him. So he buys an ornate puzzle box from a dealer in curiosities, said to open the door to pleasures beyond human experience. The box works – but waiting on the other side are the Cenobites, beings for whom pain and pleasure are one and the same sensation.

HELLRAISER was made for less than $900,000 and shot in London in the autumn of 1986. Its American producer imposed one condition: the story had to take place somewhere audiences could plausibly mistake for America. The British actors therefore had their accents dubbed over in post-production. Barker was also forced to keep cutting the film, as the first version received the prohibitive X rating in the United States, a classification primarily associated with pornography.

HELLRAISER has long since secured its place in the history of 1980s horror – with its many sequels and the cult surrounding Pinhead putting Barker’s film alongside franchises such as FRIDAY THE 13TH and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. However, it is worth remembering that HELLRAISER is, above all, a grubby, perverse melodrama about desire. Even thirty years after its release, it is the sort of film that will have you watching through your fingers.

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Text: dr Grzegorz Fortuna