I'm one of the few who likes all the Doug Bradley Hellraiser films.

Even the much maligned direct to dvd sequels are enjoyable in their own way. Yes even the Saw rip off Hellworld.

No doubting that the first two are the best. Hellraiser is one of the pinnacles of horror for me. I think its down to the grotesque creations thrown at us via Clive Barkers fertile S&M fueled imagination, and the fact the demons are present in the other films always makes them worthwhile.

I too like them all, Hellworld being my least favourite. Even Revelations is pretty good, just a shame Doug Bradley didn't reprise his role because Pinhead just isn't the same without him

Its the Hellraiser style imagery that i loved about Frankenstein's Army and Necromentia.

With a little tinkering both could have been Hellraiser films. In fact in the case of Necromentia a change of title would have done it. :lol:

Yeah, Necromentia definitely had a Hellraiser feel to it :nod:

Now here is my story with the Cenobites...

I stumbled into the premier of Hellraiser in Berlin, as irt looked just like the film for me (I was so right!) and I had recently discovere Clive through Fangoria and really liked what he wrote, I cannot recall if I was beyond the Books of Blood 1-3 by then... So I went in anticipation and was surprised that Clive was there himself, had a short intro speech and sat down to watch the film with us - a nice gesture! I saw him leave pretty angered during the end tiltles and since I am one who sits untill the last words have scrolled by, I was the last to leave the room at the exit door, I bumped into Clive who was rushing back in, said a short thank you and he said "Oh your English is really good, come hide with me!" - weird, but I thought why not. So we hid behind a curtain that was at that exit door and he pointed me out to two odd looking dudes, saying "I am supposed to give them an interview but their English is so horrible, I do not feel like it". So we waited until they left and he gave me the 30 minutes that had been scheduled for the interview - bummer it was only a chat as memories fade in time, but it was good and I got a lot of questions answered and he told me about his anger about all the censor cuts made to the film and how he sees the world of the cenobites, how Stephen King's praise of his works helped him get a good deal and how he sees horror and was annoyed by many films under that label and so on... Great 30 minutes indeed, he also gave me his agent's address to stay in touch, which stupid me did not...:( But he remembered me as I learned when a schoolmate of my sister was in the US and stumbled into the filming of Lord of Illusions and got into a short chat with Clive and when he mentioned he was from berlin, Clive said that he once had a very nice chat there and got to hear "I know, heard him talk about it many times!" :lol: And Clive laughed along when he learned that we know each other through my sister...

OK, enough about that, but the talk kept a certain view of the cenobite world pretty active in my head and that was (and probably still is) why I do not like part 2 much - it breaks with too many rules that Clive set in his head but left open a bit in the film...

I never saw part 3 until decades later and it was just fun, no more no less...

I had the chance to see part 4 at the Fantasy Film Fest in a raw cut version and I liked it but never got to see that version again, recuts made it somehow weirder, i need to rewatch it to really know...

And what came after that was just pure collection work, not really Hellraiser at all, more like Pinhead Movie of the Week, some ok, some complete crap...

And the last one? I did not even dare to watch it, no Bradley, no Hellraiser - full stop!

Sorry about my lil excerpt from my Diary of a Madman :cool:

I got my Books of Blood 1 - 6 signed by Clive Barker many years ago at the Forbidden Planet book store in London, and he came across to me as a very friendly guy who had a lot of time for his fans. :cool:
The first Hellraiser flick is probably my favourite of the series, closely followed by the sequel.

I could not get the volumes 4-6 in Berlin, or they would have been too expensive back then, so I had them on my shopping list when I had a vacation in London and literally stumbled over Forbidden Planet by mistake as I took a right turn instead of a left turn (I was walking ;)) and there it was and I asked if they had these books and was told that they still had a few signed copies left over from a signing session, so I carefully asked how much more these will cost and the guy laughed and gave me the wonderful info that they charge the cover price - I was so happy and spent a long time in that shop, still the old address in Oxfort Street as far as I remember...

The London megastore is 179 Shaftesbury Avenue. Those copies of Books of Blood you picked up were probably left over from the same signing session I attended. :)

WTF :eek:??? Awsome!!!

I know! I've watched it a few times since yesterday