| Author | Message | ||
     David_lees (David_lees) Username: David_lees Registered: 12-2011 Posted From: 92.22.18.200 |
Clive Barker says: "We are also actively in conversation about doing a 'Nightbreed' television series which will be for cable, so it will have a chance to be as sexy or as graphic in terms of the violence as we need it to be," says Barker. "For example, do you have Spartacus over there? Oh my God, it redefines gruesome... I also applaud them for finally realising it’s not a bad thing to see a manhood once in a while – it’s not as if half the world doesn’t see it daily..." Barker continues, "The sensitivity of our culture has sort of caught up with Nightbreed. I don’t wish to be immodest, but the general sense is that the movie failed because people didn’t want to associate with the monster and I think our culture has changed – I think our culture is now ready to embrace the ambiguity. You’ve only got to look at Twilight where obviously the monsters are the good guys – I’m not a huge fan but I’m enough of a fan to watch and see monsters being celebrated." http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/28935 This could be pretty amazing if done right. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
'Cabal' is a brilliant novel and was the last of Clive's purely horror works of the 'Books Of Blood' variety. The film was a fascinating curate's egg of a picture that appeared an abject failure at the time, in the wake of 'Hellraiser', but has since grown in my estimation. From the sound of it, though, and remembering how the 'Hellraiser' franchise went, with Clive's approval, I fear this US TV series could morph into something closer to 'The Vampire Diaries' than anything truly cutting edge. Here's hoping not... | ||
| Christopher Overend (Chris_overend) Username: Chris_overend Registered: 03-2012 Posted From: 217.33.165.66 |
Hi, I'm Chris and I'm new on here. Glad to meet you all! I loved the first Hellraiser film; the book was fantastic. I've never read Nightbreed though. @Stephenw: Timing can be everything for a movie, as you've mentioned that Hellraiser took the shine off Cabal. I loved John Carpenter's The Thing, and I think it would have done far better at the box office, had it not been released two weeks after ET and on the same day as Blade Runner. | ||
| Stephen Theaker (Stephen_theaker) Username: Stephen_theaker Registered: 12-2009 Posted From: 77.98.13.43 |
I can see Nightbreed working as a TV series - Grimm, True Blood and Supernatural all have similar themes and are doing pretty well. Chris - welcome! | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 92.8.31.62 |
Is it you, Chris? | ||
| John Forth (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 82.24.1.217 |
Welcome Chris. It seems NIGHTBREED is having something of a resurgence, what with the recent showing of the two- and a half-hour cut. Here's hoping it sees the light of day, as I'd love to see his original vision for the film. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.29.255.62 |
Chris has ridden the ghost train featured in The Companion. Respect! | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.154.169.2 |
He's the George Lucas of horror! Clive - I haven't seen a human public willy in weeks. | ||
| Christopher Overend (Chris_overend) Username: Chris_overend Registered: 03-2012 Posted From: 217.33.165.66 |
I have ridden that Ghost Train; I can't tell you how excited I was when I read The Companion and realised I had been on that ride, and so many times! I grew up in Greasby and was in Frankby cubs and scouts; our stomping ground was Thurstaston Common of Thieving Fear fame. I also used to dog-walk on the Wirral Way down to Parkgate, and there are a few of Ramsey's stories set in that area too. Ice cream to die for... I'm reading Richard Laymon's Funland at the moment; I'll put Cabal as my next read. I've recently got a copy of The Overnight as well from the US; that's next after Cabal. I have a friend who worked in that Borders store where it was set, and I'd been in there a few times before it shut. I loved The Grin of the Dark, Ramsey; that is a masterpiece, and I don't use the term lightly. I read your Just for You short story Gary, I loved it. I wished my sisters would vanish when I was little, but I wouldn't wish that on anyone! Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone. | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 92.8.25.176 |
Thanks for all that, Christopher! A man who can spell Thurstaston correctly has my vote! | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.29.255.62 |
Glad you enjoyed my tale, Chris! Nasty little thing, isn't it? | ||
| Christopher Overend (Chris_overend) Username: Chris_overend Registered: 03-2012 Posted From: 217.33.165.66 |
Thurstaston, I still love that place, especially at night. There are some fantastic sunsets, and sunrises too. Have you any other Merseyside-based works in the pipeline? | ||
| Carolinec (Carolinec) Username: Carolinec Registered: 06-2009 Posted From: 92.232.199.129 |
Oooo, a newbie for me to sink my teeth into! Hi, Chris!  | ||
| Mark_lynch (Mark_lynch) Username: Mark_lynch Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 92.40.253.226 |
Greetings, Chris. I liked Nightbreed when it came out, though more for its potential than what was on screen. I remember watching it in black and white for some reason at a later date and liking it a whole lot more for that. A TV series... Hmm. Dunno. Depends how they'd do it. A bunch of teenagers mooning about being monsters - no thanks. A brutal hymn to grimness and vile bags of flesh - go on, then. | ||
| Christopher Overend (Chris_overend) Username: Chris_overend Registered: 03-2012 Posted From: 92.26.199.242 |
@Gary They're both nasty little things, the story itself and the creature in the box. It is good though, there is always a sense of something scary inbound. That's something I am trying to work on myself. @Carolinec Don't bite too hard! Nice to meet you. Following up on the other day, I bought Cabal in Waterstones, and I'm halfway through Funland now, so I should be able to talk to you with a little more authority about this in a couple of days...  | ||
| Christopher Overend (Chris_overend) Username: Chris_overend Registered: 03-2012 Posted From: 78.148.192.90 |
@Ramsey, When you said "Is it you, Chris?" were you referring to me being the Ghost Train rider? | ||
| John Forth (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 82.24.1.217 |
Apparently there's now a HELLRAISER TV series in the works as well: http://uk.tv.ign.com/articles/122/1222190p1.html | ||
| Stephen Theaker (Stephen_theaker) Username: Stephen_theaker Registered: 12-2009 Posted From: 77.98.13.43 |
That doesn't sound at all promising... | ||
| David_lees (David_lees) Username: David_lees Registered: 12-2011 Posted From: 92.22.41.70 |
Actually, a Hellraiser TV series could potentially be fantastic. It would provide a chance to really explore the human characters and their motivations for opening the box beyond the three-act structure of the movies and their inevitable focus on gore and spectacle. Keep the Cenobites very much in the background like the best of the comics always did. | ||
| Matthew Fryer (Matthew_fryer) Username: Matthew_fryer Registered: 08-2009 Posted From: 90.195.182.50 |
I agree, David. Some of the comic stories are fantastic. Although judging by the promo image of the remote with the pins, they're clinging to the icon. I like Pinhead, but people tend to paint him fondly and just make him quip all the time rather than exploring the concepts. | ||
| Stephen Theaker (Stephen_theaker) Username: Stephen_theaker Registered: 12-2009 Posted From: 77.98.13.43 |
Put the Hellraiser ideas into a programme made with the production values of Lost and you could have a classic, but this is a company that went bankrupt after racking up $600 million in debt, and before that was responsible for making mini-series for the Sci Fi Channel. If this project ever gets made I'll be surprised. If it gets made and isn't just a cheapo anthology series filmed in somewhere like Canada or South Africa I'll eat my hat... I'd love to be wrong, though. Apart from the hat-eating. | ||
| John Forth (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 82.24.1.217 |
The original HELLRAISER comics from Epic in the early 90s were very good (issue three, with a tale by this board's very own Pete Atkins, was a standout for me). It worked as a themed anthology, with the writers free to use - or not - the Cenobites as they saw fit. When the editors tried to bring a continuing story into it, though, things kind of fell apart. A lot of the troubling images and neat, self-contained stories were replaced with a band of "chosen ones" battling Pinhead and co with swords and axes, all of which kind of missed the point of the original films. The recent Boom! ongoing series has gone down the same road, unfortunately. I have a feeling the series might go the same way. | ||
| John Forth (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 82.24.1.217 |
Meant to say: I think NIGHTBREED lends itself more to a continuing series than HELLRAISER. Again, the Epic comics that came out around the same time as the Hellraiser ones seem to back this up. They were actually a pretty decent continuation of the film (at least until their untimely cancellation). | ||
| David_lees (David_lees) Username: David_lees Registered: 12-2011 Posted From: 92.22.41.70 |
Yeah, the whole Harrower's thing was my least favourite part of those comics. I believe they were Clive Barker's creation though, and it was also his idea to bring them back in the new comics, which I haven't read yet but I'm really interested in after reading a couple of interviews with the writer. | ||
| John Forth (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 82.24.1.217 |
I read the first four or five issues of the new comic, David. It was okay, and implemented the Harrowers idea in a way that's more consistent with the tone of the first couple of films. But the focus is still a little too much on Pinhead, bit too much 'good vs evil' for my liking, rather than exploring some of the other, more interesting facets of the mythos. | ||
| Matthew Fryer (Matthew_fryer) Username: Matthew_fryer Registered: 08-2009 Posted From: 90.195.182.50 |
Absolutely, John. In the earlier comics, every issue was full of snippets of personal damnation that really dug around and made you feel uneasy. This is why I ever really took to the Harrowers. The mythos works better without avenging action heroes running about the place, lopping off heads and stuff. The Nightbreed comics were mostly very good. I remember buying them as they came out, and being utterly delighted when I realised they weren't just doing 4 and were carrying on past the end of the movie. The Rawhead Rex tie-in was brilliant. I was gutted when it got cancelled, though the quality of artwork had begun to vary condsiderably towards the end. | ||
| John Forth (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 217.196.227.249 |
Agree about the Nightbreed comics, Matthew. You're spot on about the artwork, though. In fact, I think I remember it changing for the worse halfway through an issue of the Rawhead Rex tie-in (which was, as you've said, otherwise really enjoyable). | ||
| Matthew Fryer (Matthew_fryer) Username: Matthew_fryer Registered: 08-2009 Posted From: 90.195.182.50 |
Yes. The artwork in the first couple of Rawhead Rex tie-ins was so sumptious that the change was quite brutal. I'll have to dig my collection out and have a look. | ||
| Christopher Overend (Chris_overend) Username: Chris_overend Registered: 03-2012 Posted From: 2.100.140.232 |
@Ramsey et al, I thought you might like this:  | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.77.198 |
Wow, let's hope that's the one! | ||
| Christopher Overend (Chris_overend) Username: Chris_overend Registered: 03-2012 Posted From: 92.26.205.167 |
This is the Ghost Train described in the first half of the story, I think; the one of legend was demolished before I was born. If I remember correctly, Gary, the figure in the window and the vulture were motorised, and would move. Being as young as I was, they were terrifying, but enticing all the same. The merry-go-round to the right I think was called The Easy Rider; it was anything but. It span so fast people would scream to be let off. In fact, I think that's the roundabout Ramsey is describing Stone as riding in The Companion, although I wouldn't presume as such without his confirmation. | ||
| Christopher Overend (Chris_overend) Username: Chris_overend Registered: 03-2012 Posted From: 217.33.165.66 |
Bumped - Ramsey: New Brighton Ghost Train; I found this picture on the net. | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 92.8.28.84 |
Hey, well done, Christopher! I've a feeling it also shows up in J. K. Potter's image of the tale. | ||
| Christopher Overend (Chris_overend) Username: Chris_overend Registered: 03-2012 Posted From: 217.33.165.66 |
Those K. K. Potter images —I think they were in the middle of Alone with the Horrors— were very good, from what I remember. Truly frightening, and demonstrate great skill, given they were produced before CGI was available. |