Clive Barker's Hellraiser is considered one of the most iconic horror films of the 1980s. Adapted from his own novella, Barker made his directorial debut with the terrifying cult-classic. The movie took seven weeks to shoot and cost roughly $1 million to produce, grossing an estimated $14.5 million in North America alone.

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Following the critical and financial success, New World Pictures turned Hellraiser into a lucrative three-decade horror franchise. Barker has since departed from the franchise but continues to lend his blessing to those willing to carry on the lasting legacy of Pinhead and the Cenobites. As for the original, here are some behind the scenes facts about the making of Hellraiser.

Original Title

Hellraiser was originally supposed to be titled The Hellbound Heart, named for the Clive Barker novella from which the story is adapted. However, the studio balked at the title, claiming it sounded too much like a romance movie.

As a result, Clive Barker suggested the title Sadomasochists From Beyond The Grave. When that title was also discarded by the producers, Barker drew suggestions from anyone on set, prompting a 60-year-old female assistant to offer a wildly obscene alternative.

Original Beginning

The opening of Hellraiser was drastically different than the way it's depicted in the final cut. The initial idea was to show the Butterball Cenobite (Simon Bamford) putting Frank's deformed face back together.

Once Barker shifted the focus of the film to Pinhead (Doug Bradley), as a result of Butterball's inability to speak through heavy makeup, the scene was reshot. In the reshoot, Pinhead is the one who reassembles Frank's face, not Butterball. For decades later, Bamford had no clue his hands had been replaced in the sequence.

Original Soundtrack

Barker originally pegged English experimental rock group Coil to score Hellraiser, claiming their music was the only kind that could make his bowels churn. In a cost-cutting measure, however, the studio nixed the Coil score in favor of a cheaper house-band arrangement.

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The nine-song soundtrack that Coil recorded for Hellraiser was ultimately released on the band's compilation disc Unnatural History II: Smiling in the Face of Perversity." The soundtrack can also be found on the band's equally rare album, "The Unreleased Themes For Hellraiser."

Pinhead Nickname

In Barker's source novella and early drafts of the film's screenplay, the Pinhead character is referred to as Priest. Later, the script was altered to call the character Lead Cenobite.

It wasn't until production began that the nickname Pinhead was mentioned on-set. The nickname stuck, leading to one of the most iconic horror villains of all time. However, Barker has always hated the nickname, claiming it was undignified. In the 2011 comic series he wrote, he restored the name Priest in place of Pinhead. Baker also teased that Priest has a real Cenobite name and that he plans to reveal such in future work.

Aesthetic Inspiration

Pinhead looking serious in Hellraiser 1987.

Barker found inspiration for the visual aesthetic of Hellraiser from various sources. For the Cenobites and gritty S&M environment, Barker drew on punk subculture, Roman Catholocism, and trips to S&M clubs in Holland and NYC.

As for Pinhead, Barker drew on African fetish art, masks, and sculptures. His original sketches for the character included naval piercings to suggest genital mutilation. The sketches were turned into a mask licensed by Composite Effects, which was included in the 30th-anniversary celebration of the movie in 2017.

Doug Bradley's Casting

Doug Bradley was initially offered two roles in Hellraiser. He had his choice to either play one of the mattress movers or the Lead Cenobite. As an upcoming actor desperate to stand out, Bradley nearly turned down the Lead Cenobite for fear his face would be too unrecognizable beneath heavy makeup.

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Bradley ultimately opted to play Pinhead and has since become one of the most infamous horror villains ever committed to celluloid. Even so, Bradley had trouble hitting his marks onset due to low-visibility in black contact lenses.

Pinhead's Make-Up

It took roughly six hours to apply Pinhead's prosthetic makeup on Doug Bradley every day. Over the course of the franchise, Bradley became so adept at applying and removing the makeup on set that he's often been credited as a makeup assistant on several of the Hellraiser films.

Once Bradley wore the prosthesis for the first time, he got into character by silently staring at himself alone in the mirror for several minutes.

Camera Test

One of the most memorable shots in Hellraiser features a bloodsoaked Frank (Sean Chapman) hung upside down as the camera wildly spins around. The shot was the very first image filmed for the movie and meant to be a camera test for first-time director Clive Barker.

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The shot was so disturbing that it made the final cut. Once the scene was completed on set, Chapman was so dizzy he couldn't refrain from vomiting.

Bizarre Promotion

To give the movie a promotional push, producers organized a very unique marketing ploy. A Home Shopping Network program offered Hellraiser fans the chance to purchase merchandise from the film. Items included a Lament Configuration tissue box, a Hellraiser thermos, a coffee-mug, etc.

The program was hosted by a chipper old lady who claimed to be a huge fan of the film. The program was also included in the rare, first edition VHS release of the movie.

Canceled Video Game

In the wake of the film's successful release, Color Dreams developed a video-game based on Hellraiser in 1990. While the project was ultimately nixed, the game would have been one of the first to allow a player to save the game and resume at that point later on.

Color Dreams presented the game to Nintendo, which mandated a fee to evaluate the game before officially sponsoring it. Color Dreams opted against the fee, severing ties with Nintendo and ultimately killing the video game.

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