Clive Barker Calls ‘Hellraiser: Revival’ a “Wake-Up Call,” Says He Has Many Ideas for Future Films [Exclusive]

Clive Barker has more Hellraiser stories to tell. After decades of watching others exploit the franchise, he has little patience left for the business practices that shaped its direction.

Speaking exclusively with Dread Central to celebrate the release of Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival, the writer and filmmaker discussed reclaiming part of his creation, his frustrations with Bob Weinstein, and why the new game could offer a way forward for the movies.

“I think what was achieved in the game is a wake-up call to anyone who’s been involved in the making of a franchise like Hellraiser,” Barker told me.

“It says to get your ideas warmed over so you can go back into existing worlds in a brand new way. I have many ideas that I’d like to see realized in the Hellraiser universe, and I’m planning to keep my fingers in that pie.”

Having just completed Revival, I think that’s the exciting part. Beyond being a fantastic old-school horror experience, it feels like a proof of concept for how much room there is to explore this mythology. If the game connects with enough people, maybe it helps show the people writing the checks that Hellraiser doesn’t have to keep living inside the same proverbial box.

Pun intended.

Barker isn’t announcing a movie adaptation of the game. But he clearly sees something in its willingness to push the material that he’d like to bring back to the films.

That conversation gets considerably more pointed when we discuss what getting his rights back actually meant to him.

Barker secured the return of his U.S. copyright interests in The Hellbound Heart and his original Hellraiser screenplay, effective December 2021.

His answer, however, was much more personal than legal.

“It meant that I never had to go into Bob Weinstein’s office and hear him admit that he owed me money but wouldn’t give it to me unless I gave him another script,” Barker alleged.