While we are undoubtedly going to be treated to het another dismal entry in the severely mismanaged and watered down Hellraiser franchise, the real brass ring is already being held just out of the reach of fans in Barker’s The Scarlet Gospels. The Gospel’s which marked Barker’s return to the film franchise which skyrocketed his career in the 80’s also represents a return to form for the series which has languished ever since the third entry in the series hit theaters in 1992.
It came as no surprise that Pinhead himself has had some issues with the direction of the much beloved story after the corporate movie engine started to churn out sequels just to keep control of the rights and the actor was very vocal about his disdain at this year’s Days of the Dead convention. Not only has Bradley (now 62) been literally left out of latter installments of the series (2011’s embarrassing Hellraiser: Revelations and the soon to be despised Hellraiser: Judgement) but his seminal portrayl of the titular character of Pinhead has been largely disregarded by the series new helmer Gary Tunnicliffe.
It’s not shocking then to see Bradley yearn for a return to the series’ roots with a theatrical adaptation of The Scarlet Gospels. Bradley even went on to voice a wishlist of directors that would bring the book to life should Barker himself not sit in the directing chair? SO who made the short list, a list literally so small that it began and ended with one name? That would be genre favorite Guillermo Del Toro.
Although Del Toro had not crossed my mind before in regards to Gospels, the possibilities are pretty damn exciting. What do you think?
