An blockbuster video game release has the power to reboot interest in a brand, especially when it concerns a true myth. This is the conviction of author and director Clive Barker, who has shown himself very open to continuing his forty-year relationship with Hellraiser, on the eve of the release of the video game Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival for consoles and Windows, published about ten days ago. Barker spoke briefly with Dread Central, reaffirming his enduring bond with the myth of Pinhead.
Clive Barker Does Not Rule Out More Hellraiser, Inspired by the Revival Video Game
With a year to go until the fortieth anniversary of the Hellraiser myth, which in 1987 Clive Barker drew from his own novella The Hellbound Heart (1986). One of the most famous horror villains in cinema history emerged, affectionately nicknamed Pinhead, the Hell Priest, in a universe of depraved sadomasochism populated by his terrifying Cenobites, a world that produced as many as ten sequels up to the last Hellraiser of 2022, directed by David Bruckner and conceived as a remake/reboot. A multi-talented figure, writer, dramatist, illustrator and director, Barker has long been an admirer of video games, to which he began contributing as early as 2001 with Clive Barker’s Undying, followed by Clive Barker’s Jericho (2007) and precisely Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival (2026). The work undertaken to support the production Saber Interactive has rekindled Barker’s interest in his creation: “I believe what has been achieved in the game represents a wake-up call for anyone involved in a brand like Hellraiser. It pushes you to re-enter worlds already defined in entirely new ways. I have many ideas I would like to see realized in the Hellraiser universe, and I intend to keep my hands in the mix for the future.”
Barker, who made his directorial debut with Hellraiser, has not directed a feature film since the distant 1995, when he signed The Lord of Illusions, but over the decades he has not failed to serve as an executive producer on films adapted from his literary works: recently it even happened for a cartoon, Night of the Zoopocalypse (2025), based on his humorous short story “ZOOmbies.” Here below is the trailer for the video game Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival, whose viewing we recommend for a mature audience.
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