September 25, 2005

Fangoria Weekend of Horrors, Secaucus, NJ, September 25th, 2005 at the Crowne Plaza Meadowlands

The man everyone wanted to see, the big show himself, CLIVE BARKER hit the stage to thunderous applause after Tony showed us a cool little promo reel of his Greatest Hits. As usual, Clive was a consummate gentleman… intelligent, well-spoken, engaging and funny. He talked at length about all of his upcoming projects, which further whipped us already-salivating masses into a frenzy. He absolutely beamed when talking about his collection of paintings, Visions Of Heaven and Hell. It’s a gorgeous coffee-table book with literally hundreds of his unique paintings and illustrations. Clive explained how he is completely free when he paints, how there is no outside influence “fucking up” his creative flow. He also spoke at length about his new literary opus, The Scarlet Gospels. It combines mythologies found in the Harry D’Amour (Lord of Illusions) and Hellraiser stories, and was written with the ultimate “death” of Pinhead in mind! Yes, Mr. Barker plans on giving ‘ol Pinhead a fitting farewell, burying him “… some place even Dimension Films could not get a hold of him!” He felt that he should be the one, and only one, that writes the final word on a character that honestly got away from him. When asked about the rumored Michael Myers Vs. Pinhead film, she simply let out a “HA!” “It came across my desk for two seconds, and then the producers behind the Halloween films decided they didn’t want to degrade their character by putting him in a movie with Pinhead. (Pause) As if Michael Myers is f**king Hamlet!” He did mention that one of his all time favorite movies is Destroy All Monsters and that if he did get the chance to tackle a “versus” film, he would put Jason, Freddy, Michael, Pinhead and the rest in one big movie with the intent of destroying them all.

Clive told us about the second and third books in his Abarat series. He acknowledged how even though they were considered “children’s books,” they had some pretty dark content and it was going to get even darker as the series went on. The movie version, alas, was at the mercy of the Disney company who owns the film rights and he did not know a concrete start date. Another odd project (but cool nonetheless) was a line of plush toys (!) he created called the Jump Tribe. Each one comes with it’s own little book, written and illustrated by Barker. These were created with children in mind, because as he puts it, “a child’s imagination needs to be encouraged… it’s a muscle that needs nourishment.” A topic that seemed to be the unofficial whipping boy of the entire weekend was the absurdity of PG-13 horror. Clive weighed in about the sheer ridiculousness of PG-13 versions of his work on film, and remarked on how hard and frustrating it was to work inside the studio system. “There is no way anything from the Books Of Blood could be a PG-13 movie! It’s impossible!” This led to the announcement that the first films to be produced by his new independent production company will be a recently completed film called The Plague, followed by an adaptation of his Books of Blood story, The Midnight Meat Train. Clive promised a nasty, gory, dark little movie that followed closely to the source material. He also stated that he intended on filming in New York, as per the setting of the story. He mentioned how he would like to further explore the world of Cabal (Nightbreed), but not in another film. He talked about how television was “actively talked about” as a possibility and even hinted at returning to the directors chair!

Also, the big-screen version of his gruesome McFarlane Toy series Tortured Souls was a bit delayed (because of Doom, lol), but definitely in the works over at Universal, and should start production next year. At one point, Clive got very sincere about was the importance of individuality. He said that he wasn’t alright with simply being accepted as “normal.” His creativity, sexuality, tastes and interests make him different and he embraces that, because we are ALL different and that’s what makes us special. It was a very touching and eloquent statement, and in my opinion, the whole room felt a lot cozier with all us so-called weirdos together celebrating our uniqueness. Clive finished up with a funny story about whale meat, and proceeded to sign autographs and take the time to speak with every single person that asked. It’s no wonder why Clive Barker is a Fango favorite and a true class act!

Clive Barker stayed after the event was over to insure that every fan got to meet him. He spent a few minutes with each and every person that came up to his table, instigated in-depth conversations with his fans, and happily signed as many items as you brought. His art book Visions Of Heaven and Hell (released next month) was selling exclusively at this Fango show and was completely sold out by the end of Sunday evening! Again, Clive is truly a class act!

*All photos by Robert V. Galluzzo and property of Icons Of Fright.com