Clive on Hellraiser II: Hellbound

84 - INT. BARE CHAMBER - HELL
Kirsty begins to work furiously at the box she has brought from Malahide's house. It sent them away at the end of Hellraiser. She obviously hopes it will work again.
Pinhead raises a hand and the box simply flies out of Kirsty's hands and hovers in the air between them. Kirsty stares, open-mouthed.
PINHEAD : How can it send us back, child? We're already here. And so are you.
Suddenly Pinhead works at the box himself - by remote control and with dazzling skill.
He turns the box rapidly through positions Kirsty and we have never seen before - even opening it out at one stage into a large, two-dimensional square. Finally, it closes itself down - but in a wholly new shape; a white, multi-faceted, diamond shape - and drops it back into Kirsty's hands.
He stares at Kirsty and makes a small gesture with his brow. It is almost cute. If anything, it resembles the look Steve gave Kirsty after swallowing the cigarette in Hellraiser. Then his face assumes its normal deadly blankness.
Kirsty shakes her head dumbly and begins to back into a corner hoping that if they converge on her, she might just be able to slip around them and get back into the labyrinth.
KIRSTY : No! You... You can't! It wasn't me... I didn't do it! I didn't open the box!
FEMALE CENOBITE : Didn't open the box. And what was it last time? Didn't know what the box was. And yet we DO keep finding each other, don't we?
PINHEAD : Oh, Kirsty; so eager to play, so reluctant to admit it.
FEMALE CENOBITE : Perhaps you're teasing us. Are you teasing us?

Second draft - by Peter Atkins - 1 November 1987

"It would be great to get some sense of mythology. I'm very much into pulling the elements of myth together. I would be pleased if people could get a sense of the history of the Cenobites and this puzzle box. What's great with the second picture is that we've established certain traditions which we can now exploit... At the beginning of the second picture we'll have five minutes which will summarize what took place in the first one, because so much of what happens in the second picture springs from the first. It's a genuine sequel. You've got to understand what Frank did to Julia in the first picture. You've got to know. Once you've got that momentum going you've got a tradition on your hands and I like that element. I think that's great fun. I would like to think we could carry on the plot, picking up the momentum of Hellraiser I into Hellraiser II and then pick up the end of this one and get into Hellraiser III. In principle you could take the title sequences off II and III and show four hours of relentless horror movie. That's a dream."

Go Straight To Hell

By Edwin Pouncey, (i) New Musical Express, 2 April 1988 (ii) Clive Barker's Shadows in Eden

"There were clearly many questions left unanswered by the film ['Hellraiser'] which we couldn't do the first time around as we didn't have the budget. The sequel was conceived with this in mind, which is why we pick up the story literally minutes after the climax. To catch the momentum and consciously carry on the mythological development was a challenge I found irresistibly exciting. 'Hellbound' illuminates many of the concepts I was happy to leave as mysteries in 'Hellraiser' while continuing on a spiral of weirdness I can develop even more in a third film. In many ways I see 'Hellbound' as an advance from the teaser trailer that was 'Hellraiser', which sets up the precedents for 'Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth'. Without even realising it, I have created an epic horror trilogy in the 'Star Wars' vein!"

Hellbound: Hellraiser II

By Alan Jones, (i) Cinefantastique, Vol 19, No 1/2, January 1989 (ii) Clive Barker's Shadows in Eden (as "See You In Hell, Darling)

"For lots of reasons the timing didn't work for me to direct the second one. They wanted a sequel and they wanted it reasonably fast, and I was just too involved elsewhere. I've just delivered one novel and I'm delivering another before the end of the year. I've also got a screenplay for my next picture, which is a fantasy adventure which we'll hopefully get into pre-production before the end of the year."

The Hell It Is

By Peter Hogan, Melody Maker, 19 March 1988

"I have to deliver a new novel by the middle of summer, however, I still feel I can exercise a useful influence over the production. It's based on my original story and it is very much in the tradition of Hellraiser. [It] continues the spiral of weirdness begun in the first picture. Tony brings a freshness to the material as well as a passion for science fiction that will tinge the material in a very interesting way. Hellraiser was a medium budget movie with an emphasis on the bizarre, the outlandish, the surreal. Tony has taken the sequel in a slightly different direction. We are opening up the story. We are showing Leviathan, plus the great Lament Configuration. We travel to the hell from which the cenobites were raised and we've even got a how-to- make-a-cenobite sequence! It's going to be a lot of fun. We have a massive body count this time. It's a much more spectacular film."

Hellraiser II : Hellbound

By Philip Nutman, Fangoria No 75, July 1988

"I have tremendous respect for Tony's instincts, based on the way Hellraiser was cut. Tony has immense editorial skill and a wonderful grasp of the genre. When Chris Figg and I started looking for a director for the second film, we needed someone who would show great passion for the material, and we agreed that Tony was the ideal choice."

Hellbound : Breaking The Last Taboo

By Philip Nutman, Fangoria, No 76, August 1988

[Re. reshoot of ending] "I didn't feel what we had was perverse enough. Now we have a spectacularly perverse ending, in terms of the imagery. The new ending brings the two pictures full circle. We've got two or three sequences in the new film that are extremely strong. But we may have a problem with the MPAA. The first picture was a haunted house movie; the sequel's an asylum picture. It's much stronger meat in terms of the Grand Guignol tradition... .What happens when you work on anything for long is that you become used to what's going on and you inevitably overlook the fact that the material is very strong. It's not until you show people something they've not seen before and they end up hiding under their seats that you realise just how nasty it is. The sequel's a less perverse picture [than 'Hellraiser'], but in many ways it's more graphic; when the bloodletting happens, it does so in a significant way. Yet I feel it will appeal to a wider audience because there's an adventure element that wasn't in the first one - the descent into Hell - and there are some spectacular special effects, wonderful matte work, animation. This picture is more akin to 'Dream Warriors' in its roller-coaster aspect. Once it starts, it goes! I am excited by the notion of taking the story forward and by the fact that certain elements which weren't explained in the first will be answered in spades. I'm excited because certain technical things have been achieved that we weren't able to attempt before, and because it looks like we're going to get a third picture out of it, which will take us even further."

If You Knew Clive Like We Know Clive

By Philip Nutman, Fangoria, No 78, October 1988

"One of the things that may have saved us with the Rating Board is that it does get a little fantastical towards the end. It allows us a little bit of freedom. They seem to object - and I think that's correct if you are going to object to anything - they may as well object to the stuff you could actually go out and imitate. You can't go out and imitate anything that happens towards the end of the end of our movie - unless you're a Cenobite!
"In this country [England] we won't lose that much of the picture, which I'm delighted about. In total we'll maybe lose two minutes, which, given the violence... I think that's fair. There were a few moments. But we haven't really had that much problem when push comes to shove, given how extreme the picture is. We've got through a lot of very strong imagery. And I'm very pleased. Hollywood Reporter in a review called it one of the most gruesome and nightmarish movies ever made. So I'm happy!
"I was going to [have a cameo appearance] and then we cut it out. It wasn't very good. I didn't have a performance, I just came in with a piece of special effects on my face, but it wasn't anything we took terribly seriously."

Running With The Monsters

By Gerald Houghton, Grim Humour, No 14, [Autumn] 1989

"Hellraiser was designed to be a showreel, and that showreel became a big success. It was a movie designed to be made for a small amount of money, to show people I could write and direct movies and turn their investment into a profit. I enjoyed the experience, but it was inevitably limiting because the budget was so small. Tony Randel has twice that amount to make Hellbound: Hellraiser II and I won't say I didn't envy him; I did. I took a hands-off approach to Hellbound because I felt it was Peter Atkins and Tony's movie. It was up to them to do with it what they would. But while watching them I thought, "I wouldn't mind a slice of this." I wouldn't mind having the opportunity to use full studio facilities instead of an abandoned house in North London and a small soundstage, which is how I made Hellraiser. Watching Tony gave me a focus on the kind of creative control a studio environment can give you, the range of lighting, floating walls and the ability to physically accommodate the camera. I couldn't do that with Hellraiser. The last three years have been a great education, film-wise. I have very mixed feelings about [Hellbound] and did so a year ago... ..The whole point is, a year ago I said Tony would bring to the picture a certain science fiction bent and a number of other things, which I do indeed believe he brought to the picture. His passion for matte paintings, passion for young girls in jeopardy and a style of rhetorical storytelling are there. They are not creative decisions I would have made, decisions I necessarily agree with, but they are Tony's and it's his picture. The reviews were mixed; those people who liked Hellraiser didn't seem to like Hellbound and vice versa. At least Tony didn't try to send up the sequel like Jack Sholder did with Nightmare On Elm Street 2, which was to blow the conceit Wes Craven had created in the original. Hellbound is not a picture I would have made - but I didn't make it."

Bring On The Monsters !

By Philip Nutman, Fangoria, No 87, October 1989

"'Hellbound' is a sea of mythological images and allusions. There is the Frankenstein myth - the mad doctor who loses control. There's certainly the theme of Orpheus in the underworld, the difference being that it is a daughter in search of her father as opposed to Orpheus searching for Eurydice. There is the classic imagery of the labyrinth, the Minotaur and a whole bunch of allusions to other horror movies. But I don't think any of these things are essential to the picture. They are there for whoever wants them, but for those who want a good time on Friday night, the picture is a roller-coaster ride."

Clive Barker Wishes You A Hellish Little Holiday

By Peter Keough, Chicago Sun Times, 25 December 1988

...other comments

69 - INT. THE BLOOD-BOUDOIR - DAY
JULIA : Oh, Kirsty. They didn't tell you, did they? I'm afraid they've changed the rules of the fairy tale; I'm no longer just the wicked step-mother.
The smile disappears and she delivers the next line with an utterly straight face. It is, after all, the truth.
JULIA : Now I'm the Evil Queen.
The hatred and the heat returns to her voice.
JULIA : So come on; Take your best shot, Snow White.
Kirsty scrambles to her feet and again charges at Julia.
Julia steps forward to meet her advance and delivers a single back-handed swipe across Kirsty's face with such force that not only is the girl knocked off her feet but is actually knocked unconscious.
Kirsty rolls onto her back and lies at Julia's feet.
Julia stares down at the unconscious body. When it was awake, it was Kirsty and her attitude to it was based on personal enmity. Now it is simply another body and she judges it differently; it is firm, full, healthy, and young. We see the expression on her face change from hatred and triumph to pure appetite. She licks her lips and her eyes glisten. She begins to bend slightly towards it.

Second draft - by Peter Atkins - 1 November 1987

Pete Atkins : "I spent an evening with Clive and he told me the story. I borrowed the previous Hellraiser script. I had no idea what scripts looked like, but I knew the rhythm of movies, and two and a half weeks later I had a first draft."

Hellbound: A One Way Ticket To Hellraiser II

By John Gilbert, Fear No 3, November/December 1988

Pete Atkins : "Clive provided me with a very thorough outline of the story, who was in it - and whether they were dead or not! I proceeded from there."

Hellbound

By [ ], Hellbound UK Press Kit, 1988

Tony Randel : "You never know whether you can do something like this, but you never let anybody know that. I finally said, `What the hell, I could do as good of a job as some of the people we're considering.' So I convinced New World and Clive to let me do the picture. New World, especially, took a lot of convincing...
"I wanted to bring something new to the sequel, I knew it would feel contextually the same because Clive and I have a similarity of styles to start with, but I wanted to enlarge the scope of the picture. It eventually encompasses the entirity of hell itself, which creates a kind of inverse claustrophobia: you're in this vast open space where anything can happen, which can be more oppressive than being in a closed, inescapable place."

Director Conjures Up His Hades

By Bob Strauss, Chicago Sun-Times, 25 December 1988

Clare Higgins : "I hope you understand [Julia's] reasons for being an unpleasant character, because you see the depths she's prepared to plumb for love. She's a great deal nastier this time, and if anybody sympathises with her, I'm doing something wrong. I really want everybody to hate me."

Hellbound: A One Way Ticket To Hellraiser II

By John Gilbert, Fear No 3, November/December 1988

Tony Randel : "I had to try for the job. I knew it was risky because if I had failed, I would have found it impossible to go back to being an executive. I knew I'd be working in a supermarket check-out stand if I blew it...
"There is a new wave out there, although I'm not sure exactly where it's finally going. Clive is the one who decided to bring together horror and sex in a fresh variation on the themes, and this is the time for it. I mean, sex has become a horror, hasn't it?
"The time had come for horror to be taken seriously again. If you look at the classics of the '30s, they made their statements in serious contexts. And that's why there's no kidding around in Hellbound. If you're going to shock, then shock - don't dilute it with satire."

Hellbound: Sex, Horror Twine In Evil Sequel

By John Stanley, The San Francisco Chronicle, 18 December 1988

Christopher Figg : "New World was very excited about the footage we were sending them on Hellraiser while that was in production, so a sequel was suggested before principal photography was completed in January 1987. Since Clive knew what direction a sequel should go in, we had our first draft for Hellbound ready by last August. The second draft was ready by mid-October and approved immediately, so we were able to put the budget and logistics together very, very quickly."

Hellbound : Breaking The Last Taboo

By Philip Nutman, Fangoria, No 76, August 1988

Pete Atkins : "Hellraiser was an examination of the fulfilment of hedonistic dreams and nightmares. Hellbound is perhaps a little more. It's not only concerned with the desire for possession, it's also to do with the desire for power. Maybe, you see, they're the same thing."

I Was A Teenage Pinhead

By David Galbraith, Kerrang, No 187, 14 May 1988

Nick Vince : [Re. the Chatterer] "When he was thinking of it, Clive had this image of a chattering monkey in his mind. And there's nothing else he can do. I mean it's anger, it's fear, it's excitement, it's...The reverse reason is that he is so angry he can't see, he can't hear what's going on; being angry against the world. But at the same time he's gotta be careful, because he can be hurt.
"It was when he was being mean: he chases Kirsty and Tiffany down a corridor and into a lift, and gets trapped in the lift and his fingers get trapped in the lift and move down the door, and as the lift goes down they get cut off by the lift. It was a lovely piece because the way the fingers happened to end up, with the central finger pointed up and all the others curved down. I think, to be honest, it took us too far away from the original vision, that he didn't need to behave in that way. Funny enough, it kind of weakened him when he's thrashing around like that. When he moves slowly and deliberately, I think that's when he's the most frightening... And it was eventually cut, for whatever reasons."

Idle Chatterer

By Diane Keating, Coenobium, Issue No 6, [1992]

Geoff Portass : "With Hellbound we view [censorship] as a backhanded compliment in that most cuts were made in our scenes, which means our work must have been reasonably good!"

Games Without Frontiers

By Brian J. Robb, Fear, No.6, May/June 1989

Pete Atkins : [On the image of the Cenobites as surgeons] "It exists. And it is on the cutting room floor. Which, quite frankly is where it belongs. It was a sequence that just didn't work. Maybe I wrote it badly or maybe Tony shot it badly, maybe Doug and Barbie performed it badly, whatever... it was just naff so we cut it out. It certainly wasn't a censorship thing. It was our decision to lose it because it simply wasn't working. As to why the people who package the video can be so brain-dead as to feature a scene that isn't in the movie... well, go figure. All it did was whet [the] fans' appetite and then let them down. Bloody silly. Shame as well because it's a potent image... Can you imagine coming up from the anaesthetic, finding yourself strapped to an operating table and seeing those blue-skinned bastards leering down at you dressed in green gowns and wielding scalpels. I actually put that scene in as a tribute to Clive because one of his first sketches of Pinhead, before the first movie was made, was of him in an apron which looked like a cross between a butcher's smock and a surgeon's gown."

Talking Pleasure and Pain with Pete Atkins

By Ade Cattell, Headcheese and Chainsaws, Issue 6, 1990 (note: full text here)

Peter Atkins : "The development of the Cenobites is something that Clive was very keen to do once New World suggested a sequel. Hellbound reveals details about the Cenobites that we didn't know before. We learn who they were and why they became what they are."

Hellbound : Breaking The Last Taboo

By Philip Nutman, Fangoria, No 76, August 1988

Clare Higgins : "The most difficult thing I had to do in Hellbound was walk down the wind tunnels with a jet engine blowing at me, keep my eyes open and look evil at the same time! There's a lot of wind in this movie... and blood... and slime... and gore..."

Hellbound

By [ ], Hellbound UK Press Kit, 1988

Kenneth Cranham : "I had so much glue and rubber on me it was unbelievable, but you get used to it eventually, and the flying wasn't so bad - just so long as I didn't look down! I thought I would overract as a Cenobite, but I didn't."

Hellbound: A One Way Ticket To Hellraiser II

By John Gilbert, Fear No 3, November/December 1988

Tony Randel : "There's no other picture in the marketplace like it. This season the major studios have no action movies, no Dirty Harrys or Rambos, and no fantasy pictures like `Star Trek.' It's a bit risky, since it's definitely not a Christmas movie, but it could fill a gap...
"It did take a few weeks to get the R rating, it's not a light film. It's fairly heavy, and I assumed it would get an X. I'm pretty familiar with the way they work. I edited some of `Crimes of Passion' after it got an X and Ken Russell walked off the picture.
"Hellbound is a better film as a result of the cuts. It's been tightened up, especially in the middle. No scenes were cut, just shots here and there. The ratings board gives you general guidelines; they never ask you to cut certain shots. It doesn't feel hacked up, the way some movies do after they've gone through this.''

Hellbound Holiday: Scary Christmas, All You Horror Fans

By John Hartl, The Seattle Times, 16 December 1988

Doug Bradley : "[Pinhead] was an English army officer in an unspecified place and time, though roughly in the Far East in the late 20's or early 30's. He was a very pucker Englishman, a public school type who went straight into the army. He felt terribly out of place and unfulfilled because he was only there through family tradition. So from his sterile viewpoint, what he hears of the Lament box is very appealing. I see him alone in his Nissan hut trying to solve the puzzle - which he obviously does, and is transformed into Pinhead.
"I don't see him as the first Cenobite. Of the four we know about, he is the leader, but the Cenobites have been around for centuries. To me, Pinhead is the chief Cenobite of the 20th Century."

The Pride of Pinhead

By Philip Nutman, Fangoria, No 82, May 1989

Peter Atkins : "I hadn't done any what they call spec screenplays before writing Hellbound, I'd only written fiction. So the first movie that I wrote was Hellbound, and obviously that was a sequel to Hellraiser. In the same sense you could say the stuff that we had done in the made and like certainties that had influenced Clive had actually also influenced me. Not just the short films that we had done, but also the work we had done in the theater. Although there might be some somatic interests in common, they really have very little in common with commercial theatrical features.
"Hellbound was a story that Clive and I came up with together. It hadn't been fully detailed. Basically we batched out a skeletal plot outline in one night at Clive's apartment in London. From there we presented that to Chris Figg and New World and they approved that and I went off and did the screenplay on my own.
"I was involved but not on the set for the whole shooting period. Once you hand one draft in that's not the end of it. They have notes and you do a second draft, and then they have more notes and you do a third draft. Then they hire a director and he has some ideas and you have to do a fourth draft and finally the movie can be shot. On Hellbound I worked very closely with Tony Randall once he'd been hired. Although that one was shot in England, where I lived at the time, I wasn't down for the shooting until about two-thirds of the way through and stayed for the final two and a half weeks of the shoot."

From The Dog Days To Bloodlines

By [Stephen Dressler and Cheryl Bentzen], Lost Souls, Issue 3, 1996

Roger Ebert : "First Rule Of Repetition Of Names : When the same names are repeated in a movie more than four times a minute for more than three minutes in a row, the audience breaks out into sarcastic laughter, and some of the ruder members are likely to start shouting, 'Kirsty!' and 'Tiffany!' at the screen. See Hellbound: Hellraiser II."

The Bigger Little Book Of Hollywood Cliches

By Roger Ebert, 1999