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!"
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
