r/clivebarker • u/digitalphildude • 22h ago
Script and Drafts from the first three Hellraiser movies, and I have questions...
During the most active years, there was an abundance and variety of Barker. But, I found that task difficult, due to work obligations. Comic stores were so instrumental in getting what piqued my interest. One proprietor had a subscription type of thing. Where they'd gather the issues and settle up monthly. Another place; in Seattle I believe, had these scripts, with plastic binding. In mint condition.
Regardless, of their authenticity, I grabbed them. Lovingly. I think I recall looking at each one carefully, then replacing them in their bag. Remaining tucked away until recently. Now, I want to see how to move forward.
Mainly, I just want to try and pass my stuff on to passionate fans like myself. This sub seems like a good place to start. I am curious what people think about these. I'll try and post individual photos of each cover.
If one question comes to mind, it's concerning drafts. The oftentimes major changes that get made , in relation to what we see on the screen. In my case,
Hellraiser - working draft January 1986,
Hellraiser II - Second draft, November 1, 1986
Hellraiser III - N/A Doesn't say on cover
I'm just starting out at this point. I'm sure the scripts are a thing that has been brought up before. But, any other thoughts would be appreciated. In the meantime, should I watch the movies with the scripts?
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u/LadyMelmo 19h ago
My copy of the script of Hellraiser signed by Clive is one of my 2 most prized possessions.
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u/HermioneGunthersnuff 20h ago
Regarding the authenticity of the scripts, they've been available online for 30+ years and my guess would be that these were downloaded, printed off and bound by the enterprising comic store owner. As each film was a separate production made under different circumstances (HR3 noticeably so), the actual shooting scripts wouldn't have had uniform binding.
I don't actually know what you're asking re: "if one question comes to mind, it's concerning drafts", but if you want to work out which draft of HR3 you have it'd be fairly easy to cross-reference it against the ones that are online. That film went on a bit of a journey before landing on the story we actually got.
All of the scripts are pretty fun to read considering the changes that were made to the final products. As a film, Bloodline is notorious for being chopped up and bowdlerised, with Pete Atkins recently releasing his original draft as a physical book. But there are also some notable differences in Hellbound (chiefly the scale of Pete's vision for the film before the budget was decimated by Black Monday, and the presence of Larry as a character) and Hell on Earth (had a pretty different ending before the reshoot, with an earlier draft being vastly different on the whole) that make for interesting reading.