To paraphrase Pinhead of the Hellraiser horror-film series: HBO has such sights to show you.
The premium-cable network has a new show is in development, according to Deadline, that will expand on the popular Hellraiser film franchise, which is based on Clive Barker’s 1986 novella, The Hellbound Heart.
The original novella tells the story of Frank Cotton, a man seeking new, extreme experiences, who uses a mysterious puzzle box to open a portal to another dimension. There, he finds members of a bizarre religious order called the Cenobites—led by a figure who would later be called “Pinhead” in the film series—who trap him in their realm and torture him. The man escapes, but it’s only the beginning of the grisly tale. The novella first appeared in the third volume of the Night Visions horror anthology series, which was edited by none other than George R.R. Martin—who would, of course, publish A Game of Thrones just five years later.
Barker himself wrote and directed the first movie in the franchise, 1987’s Hellraiser, and executive-produced 1988’s Hellbound: Hellraiser II. Many of the ensuing sequels—including the most recent, 2018’s Hellraiser: Judgment—were low-budget, straight-to-video productions, with which Barker had no direct involvement. However, he did publish The Scarlet Gospels, a novel-length sequel to the novella, in 2015. It appears that the English author currently has no direct production role in the HBO show; the series is also unrelated to a Hellraiser reboot feature film that’s in the works.
According to Deadline, David Gordon Green is set to helm the HBO series’ early episodes; he most recently directed the hugely successful 2018 Halloween reboot movie, starring Jamie Lee Curtis.
Last November, it was announced that a Hulu original film was in development, based on stories from Barker’s 1980s horror anthologies The Books of Blood. A few other tales in the collections were previously made into movies, including “The Forbidden,“ which became the 1992 film Candyman. Oscar-winner Jordan Peele recently co-wrote and co-produced a new Candyman sequel, helmed by Little Woods director Nia DaCosta; its scheduled June 2020 release was delayed until September 25, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.
