Y’know what we could all use during these troubled times? Some light, easy, feel-good entertainment. What’s that? Per Deadline, HBO is developing aHellraiserTV series based onClive Barker’s notorious, graphically violent, gothically vulgar horror property? Hmm. Well. I guess that works, too.
Best known from Barker’s 1987 horror classic, based on his own 1986 novellaThe Hellbound Heart,Hellraiserhas since spawned a multiple feature-film franchise, and embedded Pinhead, the leading monstrous Cenobite who’s got, well, pins in his head into our cultural consciousness alongside luminaries like Jason and Michael Myers. And speaking of Michael Myers, it’sDavid Gordon Green, who recently helmed the well-regardedHalloweenreboot for the big screen, who will be directing many of the initial episodes, including the pilot.
The newHellraiserseries comes from genre maestrosMichael Dougherty(Trick r' Treat,Godzilla: King of the Monsters) andMark Verheiden(Battlestar Galactica,Heroes) – I for one am excited to see Dougherty in a prime creative position, as I find even his more accessible works likeKrampusstuffed with gleefully unbridled, imaginative horrors, and the idea of him going off the leash in the world ofHellraiser, all lensed by Green’s impeccable widescreen photography, really excites me. Their take on the material is not a remake but rather a continuation, operating under the assumption that we’re all familiar with theHellraisermythology, the Cenobites under Pinhead ravaging humanity with a desire to balance good with pure evil. I’m a hugeHellraiser-head, and this take really excites me: If this crew simply wants to make a case-of-the-week procedural where the Cenobites fuck up new folks every episode, I’min.
Green, Dougherty, and Verheiden all serve as executive producers alongsideDanandAndrew Farah(Ready Player One),Roy Lee(It),Lawrence Kuppin(Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth),David Salzman(MADtv),Eric Gardner(Elvira: Mistress of the Dark),Danny McBride(Halloween),Jody Hill(The Righteous Gemstones),Brandon James(Vice Principals), andAdam Salzman(MADtv).
If you’re craving for more heads to stick pins in, check out the intel on the unrelated, upcomingbig-screen take onHellraiser.
