Hellraiser [1987]

Country of Origin: UK
Year of Production: 1987
Running Times: 94 mins [USA]     89 mins [Sweden]
Length: 8,390 ft
Format: 35mm
Colour Format: Technicolor
Ratio: 1.85:1
Sound: Dolby Stereo

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Rivdel Ltd / New World Pictures / Cinemarque Entertainment B.V. / Film Futures
Executive Producers: David Saunders, Christopher Webster, Mark Armstrong
Producer: Christopher Figg
Associate Producer: Selwyn Roberts
Production Co-Ordinator: Clare St John

SCRIPT
Script: Clive Barker [from his novella The Hellbound Heart]

DIRECTION
Director: Clive Barker
1st Assistant Director: Selwyn Roberts
2nd Assistant Director: Waldo Roeg
3rd Assistant Director: Rupert Ryle-Hodges

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Robin Vidgeon
Camera Operator: David Worley
Rostrum Camera: Tim Field
Best Boy: Gary Donoghue
Gaffer: Steve Foster
Clapper Loader: Clive Mackey
Focus Puller: Danny Shelmerdine
Camera Grip: Gary Hutchings
Electricians: Andrew Hebden, Raymond Wardley
Stills: Tom Collins
Additional Stills: Katya Grenfell
Cameras and Lighting: Samuelsons, London
Cameras and Lenses: Panavision

EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Editor: Richard Marden, Tony Randel [uncredited]
1st Assistant Editor: Roy Birchley

MUSIC
Music / Orchestrator: Christopher Young
Conductor: Paul Francis Witt
Music Supervisor: Anne Atkins Young
Music Consultant: Paul Francis Witt
Percussion Consultant: Mark Zimowski
Synthesiser Programming / Performed By: Tom Calderaro
Score Mixer: Jeff Vaughn [uncredited]

SOUND
Sound Mixer: John Midgley
Chief Dubbing Mixer: Graham V. Hartstone
Dubbing Mixers: Nicolas LeMessurier, Michael Carter
Dubbing Editor: Tony Message
Assistant Dubbing Editor: Joe Gilmore
Sound Effects Editor: John Ireland
Assistant Effects Editor: David Beesley
Boom Operator: Clive Osbourne

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Sally Sutton
Hair: Aileen Seaton
Costume Designers: Joanna Johnston
Cenobite Costume Designer: Jane Wildgoose
Cenobite Costume Assistant: Rosemary Sylvester Fisher
Wardrobe Supervisor: Daryl Bristow
Wardrobe Assistants: Brian Cox, Jane Howells

SPECIAL MAKE UP EFFECTS
Special Make Up Effects Designer: Bob Keen
Special Make Up Effects Workshop Supervisor: Geoffrey Portass
Special Make Up Effects and Creature Crew: Nigel Booth, Julian Caldow, Paul Catling, Stuart Conran, David Elsey, Little John, David Keen, William Petty, Roy Puddefoot, Jason Reed, Ian Rolph, Jim Sandys, Simon Sayce, Cliff Wallace

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects: Effects Associate Ltd [uncredited]
Animation: Nick Xypnitos
Optical Supervisor: Peter Watson
Titles and Opticals: Optical Film Effects Ltd
Optical Printers: Dick Dimbleby, Peter Swinson

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Mike Buchanan
Art Director: Jocelyn James
Art Department Assistant: Mark Stevenson
Production Buyer: Belinda Edwards
Property Master: Ron Allett
Stand By Props: Paul Turner, Paul Purdey
Prop Stand-By: Gerry O'Connor
Chargehand Carpenter: Steve Ede
Stand-By Carpenter: John Potter
Stand-By Painter: Colin Lovering
Stand-By Stagehand: Derek Ede
Stand-By Rigger: Richard Harris
Construction Stand-By: John Rankin
Sketch Artist: Floyd Jones Hughes
Film Extracts: Oxford Scientific Films
Bankers to the Production: Arbuthnot Latham Ltd

MISCELLANEOUS
Script Supervisor: Ene Watts
Production Auditor: Alex Matcham
Production Accountant: Pat Poole
Unit Publicist: Steve Jones
Additional Publicity: Dennis Davidson Associates
Assistants to the Producer: Su Lim, Selby McCreery
Jobfit Trainees: Stephen Banks, Carmella Prudente
Floor Runner: Robert Fabbri
Unit Drivers: Terry English, Ron Narduzzo, Micky Grover, John Collins
Catering: Five Star Catering

LOCATIONS
Locations: London, England, UK; The Production Village, Cricklewood, London, England, UK
Location Manager: Jane Studd

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks To: Marie Fisher; John Dunne; Alan Parker; Piers Gibson; John Gregson; Kaleidoscope; Christopher Hobbs; R.J. Kizer; Image Animation
Many Special Thanks To: Anthony Randel of New World Pictures

STUNTS
Stunt Arranger: Jim Dowdall
Stunts: Bill Weston

CASTING
Casting Director: Sheila Trezise
Assistant to the Casting Director: Ping Mudie

CAST
Andrew Robinson [Larry]
Clare Higgins [Julia]
Ashley Laurence [Kirsty]
Sean Chapman [Frank]
Oliver Smith [Frank the monster]
Robert Hines [Steve]
Antony Allen [1st victim]
Leon Davis [2nd victim]
Michael Cassidy [3rd victim]
Frank Baker [derelict]
Kenneth Nelson [Bill]
Gay Baynes [Evelyn]
Niall Buggy [dinner guest]
Dave Atkins, Oliver Parker [moving men]
Pamela Sholto [complaining customer]
Doug Bradley [lead Cenobite]
Nicholas Vince [chattering Cenobite]
Simon Bamford ['butterball' Cenobite]
Grace Kirby [female Cenobite]
Sharon Bower [nurse]
Raul Newney [doctor]

STAND-INS
Stand-Ins: Alan Harris, Kathy Sinclair

American thrill seeker Frank Cotton buys a mystical puzzle box which, which solved, drags him into to a limbo world inhabited by the hellish Cenobites, leather clad angels of pain and misery. His physical remains, meanwhile, seem to be stashed beneath the floorboards of his north London home. When his brother Larry arrives to claim the house, accompanied by troubled wife Julia - who earlier indulged in a passionate and violent affair with Frank - and resourceful daughter Kirsty, an accident cuts Larry's hand, and his blood reactivate Frank's dismembered remains. As Julia falls under the spell of the deranged Frank, killing men she picks up in order to complete Frank's physical restoration, the Cenobites come looking for their runaway victim - and only Kirsty, armed with the Lament Configuration, can stop them... [Full Synopsis]

An astonishing feature debut [following a couple of earlier experimental shorts] from horror renaissance man Barker, Hellraiser remains one of the most adult and disturbing horror movies from the 1980s. Loaded with atmosphere, kinky sexual allusions and flat-out gore, it introduced a new "franchise monster" to the world of fanboy adulation in the shape of Pinhead, a leather clad fallen angel. It looked for a brief moment like it might revitalise the moribund post-Hammer British film industry, but all that came of it was a string of increasingly worthless sequels. The original, however, remains a classic. [Full Review]

Australia
Video Distributor: Roadshow Home Video

Netherlands
Theatrical Distributor: RCV Film Distribution

UK
Theatrical Distributors: Entertainment
Video Distributor: New World Video; Cinema Club; The Video Collection
DVD Distributor: VCI

USA
Theatrical Distributor: New World Pictures / Cinemarque Entertainment BV
Video Distributor: New World Home Video; Starmaker; Image Entertainment; Anchor Bay Entertainment
DVD Distributor: Anchor Bay [DV10330]; [DV11232]
Laserdisc Distributor: Image [INW5186]; Lumivision [catalogue number not known]; Lumivision [LVD9524]

CENSORSHIP HISTORY

Australia
Rating: R

Finland
Rating: K-16

France
Rating: -12

Germany
Rating: 18

Netherlands
Rating: 16

Norway
Rating: 18

Sweden
Rating: 15
Cut by 4.5 mins. Later shown uncut on subscription TV.

UK
Rating: 18
When Julia hammers her first victim to death, the BBFC originally cut the scene, removing a few shots of the victim pleading with her to stop. The footage was restored to the DVD release, but only in the widescreen version - the accompanying pan-and-scan version is still cut.

USA
Rating: R

1988
Fantasporto
Critics' Award [Clive Barker] - winner
Best Film [Clive Barker] - nominated

1987
September
11: UK - theatrical release
18: USA - theatrical release

1988
January
29: Sweden - theatrical release

February
Day Unknown: Portugal - shown at the Fantasporto Film Festival
24: France - theatrical release

1996
March
20: USA - laserdisc release [Lumivision [LVD9524]]

June
4: USA - laserdisc release [Lumivision [catalogue number not known]]

1998
March
3: USA - DVD release [Anchor Bay [DV10330]]

2000
September
19: USA - DVD release [Anchor Bay [DV11232]]

2001
December
29: USA - television broadcast [on Sci-Fi]

It will tear your soul apart.

There are no limits.

To some he's an angel, to some he's a demon.

Satan's done waitin'.

Demons to some. Angels to others.

He'll tear your soul apart.

Clive Barker's Hellraiser I: The Original - Dutch DVD title
Fogo Maldito - Portugese title
Hellraiser - Das Tor zur Hölle - West German title
Hellraiser, los que traen el infierno - Spanish title
Le pacte - French title
Sadomasochists From Beyond the Grave - working title
Shaitan Ka Beta - Hindi Indian title
Wyslannik piekiel - Polish title

SEQUELS
Hellbound: Hellraiser II [1988]
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth [1992]
Hellraiser: Bloodline [1996]
Hellraiser: Inferno [2000]
Hellraiser: Hellseeker [2001]
Hellraiser: Deader [2005]
Hellraiser: Hellworld [2005]
Hellraiser: Prophecy [2006]

SEE ALSO
Bride of Chucky [1998]
Dark City [1998]
Event Horizon [1997]
Scream [1996]
Shrieker [1997]
Tainted [1998]

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
Basic Instinct [1992]

MAGAZINES

City Limits 10 September 1987 pp.22, 25 [UK]
review

L'ecran fantastique no.76 pp.58-61 [France]
illustrated article

Empire June/July 1989 p.99 [UK]
review

Empire December 1998 p.150 [UK]
review

Fear July 1990 p.72 [UK]
review

Fear February 1991 pp.18-21 [UK]
interview

Films and Filming February 1987 pp.22-23 [UK]
article

Films and Filming September 1987 p.36 [UK]
review

Hollywood Reporter 6 August 1987 pp.3, 17 [USA]
review

Mad Movies 52 pp.31-33 [Italy]
review

Monthly Film Bulletin September 1987 pp.276-277 [UK]
credits, synopsis, review

Première March 1988 p.21 [France]
review [by Stella Molitor]

Screen International 27 September 1986 p.14 [UK]
credits

Screen International 4 October 1986 p.17 [UK]
credits

Screen International 13 June 1987 [UK]
review

Sight and Sound March 1993 p.61 [UK]
review

Sight and Sound Autumn 1987 pp.233-234 [UK]
review

Starburst 100 pp.16-19 [UK]
review

Starburst 101 pp.36-37 [UK]
interview

Starburst no.108 [August 1987] p.21 [UK]
review

Starburst no.110 [October 1987] pp.12-14 [UK]
interview

Stills no.29 [February 1987] [UK]
review

Strange Adventures Summer Special 1989 p.9 [UK]
review

Time Out 2 September 1987 pp.18-20 [UK]
interview

Time Out 9 September 1987 p.33 [UK]
review

Variety 20 May 1987 p.42 [USA]
review

Video Business 24 November 1986 p.21 [UK]
note

BOOKS

The Hellraiser Chronicles [UK: Titan Books]
illustrated production notes

Hoffman's Guide to SF, Horror and Fantasy Movies 1991 - 1992 p.170
credits, review

KEYWORDS

cenobites, chains, demons, dismemberment, families, fire, hell, infidelity, london, the occult, pain, puzzle boxes, rats, sado-masochism, sex, skin, the supernatural, torture, vagrants

Last Updated: 6 October, 2007