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This book explores the diverse literary, film and visionary creations of the polymathic and influential British artist Clive Barker. It presents groundbreaking essays that critically reevaluate Barker's oeuvre. These include in-depth analyses of his celebrated and lesser known novels, short stories, theme park designs, screen and comic book adaptations, film direction and production, sketches and book illustrations, as well as responses to his material from critics and fan communities. The book examines Barker's earlier fiction and its place within British horror fiction and socio-cultural contexts. Selected tales from the Books of Blood are exemplary in their response to the frustrations and political radicalism of the 1980s British cultural anxieties. Aiming to rally those who stand defiant of Thatcher's polarising vision of neoliberal British conservatism, Weaveworld is revealed to be a savage indictment of 1980s British politics. The book explores Barker's transition from author to filmmaker, and how his vision was translated, captured, and occasionally compromised in its adaptation from page to the screen. Barker's work contains features which can be potentially read as feminine and queer, positioning them within traditions of the Gothic, the melodrama and the fantastic. The book examines Barker's works, especially Hellraiser, Nightbreed, and Lord of Illusions, through the critical lenses of queer culture, desire, and brand recognition. It considers Barker's complex and multi-layered marks in the field, exploring and re-evaluating his works, focusing on Tortured Souls and Mister B. Gone's new myths of the flesh'.
depiction of a young woman’s awakening sexuality. Hellraiser (Clive Barker, 1987) is part of what has been termed by some critics ‘body horror’. Characteristically for this type of horror, the film utilises sophisticated cosmetic effects to construct extremely realistic images of the human body torn apart and rearranged. It has been argued that this fascination with bodily destruction is an expression of a broader inability to find an Other upon which inner fears can be projected and materialised. 2 While
finding the world sexy. (Clive Barker) 1 Inspired by the failure of two previous adaptations of his work, 2 Clive Barker endeavoured to direct his own interpretation of his novella The Hellbound Heart . Adapted as Hellraiser (1987), Barker's debut featured images of sadomasochism, deconstructed bodies, and
Clive Barker once explained that, for him, ‘Horror is over and again about the body.’ 1 It should be obvious, even to the casual reader, that his back catalogue as a writer, director, and illustrator more than corroborates this statement. From the extreme landscapes of his directorial debut Hellraiser (1987), where corporeal pleasure
are widely regarded in the horror community; fans, scholars, and artists in the field continually point to Barker's career as a polymath as being far-reaching and significant. Despite these accolades, scholarly engagement with his work beyond the hugely successful Books of Blood and the Hellraiser series has been strangely stagnant. His numerous works in fiction, film, and art have come to
fiction) is in fact extremely popular amongst female horror fans and holds strong appeals for women. 6 The filmic adaptations of his work are a specific pleasure for these female horror fans, with Hellraiser , Candyman , and Nightbreed being well-loved and highly regarded films amongst this group. In the discussion that follows, I will interrogate the ways in which these
Halloween celebration experienced new variations on Barker's particular brand of horror with Hell and Harvest mazes. 2 The three mazes were a success for Universal Studios and Barker, coming at a time when the author had already achieved iconic status within the horror community and popular culture for the films Hellraiser (1987) and Candyman (1992), and his prolific
entice such forward wits To practise more than heavenly power permits. (Christopher Marlowe) 2 When you attempted to live beyond death, you entered my domain. You should be very careful what you wish for … it just might come true! ( Hellraiser
splatterpunk/body horror that made his reputation. This is a reputation also founded, of course, on the film Hellraiser , which cemented Barker in the public imagination as a purveyor of transgressive, sexually charged horror fiction. This perception, driven by market forces and fan culture, partly obscures the content of his early work, which is more varied and widely interesting than
nothing but trouble. As a mainstream filmmaker, 4 Barker had started with something of an Orson Welles moment. From the triumph of Hellraiser (1987) came the disaster of Nightbreed (1990), which, like The Magnificent Ambersons ( 1942 ), was compromised and re-edited following studio interference. 5 Though also compromised in theatrical exhibition Lord of Illusions fared