March 17, 2016

With the new HELLRAISER film HELLRAISER: JUDGMENT currently shooting under the direction of FX guru Gary Tunnicliffe and with Paul T. Taylor taking over the role of Pinhead, it’s gotten us thinking about the central villain and lead cenobite from Clive Barker’s legendary film and novella.

Believe it or not, over the years, Pinhead, has come dangerously close to doing battle with some of his movie maniac brethren!

Most notably was the proposed MICHAEL MYERS VS PINHEAD, the idea which spawned immediately following the huge box office success of 2003’s FREDDY VS JASON. Clive Barker had mentioned during several panel discussions over the years that he was seriously contemplating the idea, if anything because it would’ve been him writing it, with John Carpenter on board to direct. And while it would’ve been a huge payday for all involved (I mean, really. Is there any other reason Carpenter would’ve done it?), it never came to fruition primarily because of the hold that both the Akkad’s and the Weinsteins had over their HALLOWEEN villain. Barker famously said at a Fangoria Weekend Of Horrors convention, “they treat that character as if he’s Hamlet.”

Also, it would’ve been interesting to see what that mash-up would’ve been like, mainly because I can’t possibly imagine any reason why or how those two would meet. But where there’s a will, there’s a way!

Another notorious rumor which was later confirmed was that in the final moments of FREDDY VS JASON, we would’ve seen the two still battling it out in hell and then Pinhead would’ve cameoed to break it up and ask, “Gentlemen, what seems to be the problem?” That would’ve been a fun way to tie in those 3 icons, but could they possibly have sustained or made Pinhead work in the context of a full feature length film?

When I interviewed Tony Todd for the Blu-Ray release of Scream Factory’s CANDYMAN: FAREWELL TO THE FLESH, I asked if he’d ever been approached with potential versus pitches for his Candyman persona. The only one brought up (though thankfully no one never followed up on), was a potential CANDYMAN VS LEPRECHAUN, to which the actor balked at.

However, he admitted that if Candyman did ever have to have battle another icon, the only one he would approve of is Pinhead, which makes sense because then you’d be combining two of Clive Barker’s myths and characters in one story; which is not too far removed from what Barker himself did in his most recent novel THE SCARLET GOSPELS, which features both Pinhead and Harry D’Amour from THE LAST ILLUSION and LORD OF ILLUSIONS.

So with that all said, let’s open up the polls. Surely, Pinhead is better off surrounded by his cenobites in the HELLRAISER world, but hypothetically speaking, if he were to fight one of his fellow horror icons, which one would you most like to see him square up against?