“No tears, please. It’s a waste of good suffering.” My boyfriend made the mistake of allowing me to pick out the movie on one of our earliest dates way back in the late 80’s. I chose Hellraiser which was based upon this novella. I didn’t know he had never seen a horror movie and couldn’t figure out why he was so pale and quiet when we left the theater. The poor boy married me and his movie going experiences have never been the same and I’ll always have fond feelings for Hellraiser. Recently I re...

"No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering." The Hellbound Heart is, in my humble opinion, Clive Barker's finest work of horror. I know most people give that to The Books of Blood, and while I found them enjoyable, I've never really found the need to return them. In contrast, I find that I reread this one every couple of years. What makes The Hellbound Heart work? For one thing, it's short. Often if I'm enjoying a book, I want it to go on longer, but here Barker finds pretty much the perf...

Rare RARE (!) instance in which the movie actually manages to surpass the novel. & only barely. Then again, Barker directed his own creation on celluloid, so there's that. "Hellraiser" is not even included in the sacred list of horror films I adore (the genre which may be the hardest to love, easiest to make fun of, and which for that reason is my favorite), but no one can't say that it isn't mega creepy & creative. The merger of pleasure and pain-- Ahhh!This novella (which can be digested in on...

I'm a big fan of Clive Barker and Hellraiser is one of my favourite horror films so I was fairly certain I would enjoy this one. And enjoy it I did. There are definitely some differences between the book and the film so it was interesting to see the changes but I think both work fantastically well. The opening chapter alone is so goddamn strong it's mind-blowing. The ideas and the imagery are grotesque and fascinating, the writing is evocative and really works on all the senses making for an int...

Interesting.Well, it's official. I'm *not* a Clive Barker fan. I love horror. Horror is a precious genre because the stakes are very high--I'm naturally prone to be a timid, fearful person when it comes to adventure or doing risky things. For instance, I would never consider bungee jumping or parachuting from an airplane. I would skip a white water rafting trip or a zipline through the jungle. I don't even like to go inside a haunted house attraction at the carnival.But I do love reading horror

Please allow me to introduce myself. Actually, let's save the introductions for when I meet up with you later this evening, in the wee hours of the night.First things first, as an inhabitant of the Dimension of Everlasting Pain I am not exactly a disinterested party when it comes to reviewing this novella. But I do feel I am able to provide a relatively unbiased review of this famous work, despite my intimate knowledge of all of the delightful and inspiring torture tableaux on display.The Hel...

"No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering."In a quest to satiate his darkest pleasures, Frank Cotton obtains and opens Lemarchand's box, summoning the cenobites who instead of granting him pleasure and entry into this promised new world, torture him and trap him within the box. However, his brother's wife, Julia, who had a previous dalliance with Frank, has found a way to bring him back - and it involves blood.Well, I had to use that quote, didn't I?! Even though there was literally a pl...

I grew up being terrified by Pinhead and the cenobites in Hellraiser. They are gruesome and the very things that nightmares are made of. So naturally, I wanted to see what Clive Barker's original story was like. Surprisingly, it was very similar to the original movie, down to the dialogue. I didn't love the writing style, and felt there was a lot of detail and depth missing at various portions of the book, but after the mid-way point, I got the hang of it. The book is disturbing, ugly, and viole...

3.5 stars.Hellraiser..... ...... it will tear your soul apart.This wasn't a bad little novella - except some of the sentences seemed to be thrown together; like Frankenstein's monster. I'm not sure if its the authors writing style? - but every so often there would be a sentence that staunched the flow - and some words he used were unnecessary. The dictionary didn't know the meaning.Frank Cotton gains possession of Lemarchands puzzle box (a box of wonders) - aka Lemarchands Configuration - after

Although I enjoyed the book, The Hellbound Heart, the movie version, Hellraiser - with the awesomely cheesy blue and yellow 80's FX - is a bit better and mainly because it was more fully realized.And, as a fun note, John Kozak, the singer of my band, Of The Arcane, had his head sculpted by our friend, Mitch Gonzales, into the likeness of Pinhead, and was presented to Clive at the very first signing we attended of his at The Dark Carnival bookstore, in Berkeley, CA. Clive liked it so much, Mitch

Ah, Hellraiser! One of the first *proper* horror movies I ever watched, on VHS tape at a sleepover when I was around 8/9 years old (probably wholly inappropriate oops). But by God, did the cenobites make an impression on me.Finally got around to reading the novella, which inspired this classic horror movie (it was adapted into a movie by Clive Barker himself) and felt throughly impressed! And I have to say, this is one of the rare instances that I prefer the movie adaptation over the book, but...

4.5! If you consider yourself a horror fan then you must read this book! It's an absolute classic! The Hellbound Heart starts out from the perspective of Frank. This man is trying to figure out how to open the Lemarchand's box, so that he can unleash Cenobites into this world. Frank was told that once they came they could give him absolute pleasure. Well, it's safe to say that things go horribly wrong and the Cenobites trap Frank in their realm. Later on his brother and his brother's wife Ju

Have you met your monthly quota of books that include people being torn apart by fish-hooks on chains then dragged off into endless torment? No? Then I suggest you read some Clive Barker.It's been a while since I visited the fevered worlds of Barker's imagination and I'd forgotten how readable he can be. Barker was very big in the 80s and 90s, and this book was the beginning of a multitude of his magical horror stories where sex, death and the occult are closely intertwined. Some of Barker's boo...

This book is regarded by many as one of horror's absolute classics. There is also a well know movie series under the Hellraiser title. Well, don't get me wrong, the book has some fine ingredients: the Cenobites (absolute eerie characters from hell or who knows where), the magic dice device that summons them and Frank trying desperately to become human again. And that's the point. The main story about Julia (doesn't love Roy), Rory (unloved husband, brother of Frank) and Frank (son of a gun, dare...

My introduction to the fiction of Clive Barker is The Hellbound Heart, a compulsively readable and horribly tasteful novella soaked in blood, sex and magic. It's a fast read but abounds in small delights. Published in 1986 as the third volume of the anthology Night Visions edited by George R.R. Martin and a stand-alone with the release of a film adaptation written and directed by Barker as Hellraiser, this piece excels as storytelling and prose. Character and detail fall further down the list, b...

Years ago I read Clive Barker and didn't like him. My problem was that I kept comparing him to my favorite horror author, Stephen King, and didn't tolerate any differentiation of style. Thankfully I've grown out of that and can appreciate Clive Barker's work for what it is and wow does this man have a unique and twisted imagination. There's a line most horror authors won't cross but Clive Barker leaps over the line and then some. I definitely plan to read more from him. This novella was short, s...

One of the better (possibly the best) books of Clive Barker's that I've read. I like the sparse structure with a clean straight through narrative.Extraordinary idea and well executed. Will suit horror fans. While there is some gore, it's never gratuitous or over done.The imagery in this book is remarkable for me in that it stays with me. It's moved into 'iconic,' status.

“In moments they would be here-the ones Kircher had called the Cenobites, theologians of the Order of the Gash. Summoned from their experiments in the higher reaches of pleasure, to bring their ageless heads into a world of rain and failure.”All hail Clive Barker, the king of arty (but mostly not farty*) horror. The Hellbound Heart is the novella which Barker adapted into the successful 1987 movie Hellraiser, which he also directed. The Hellbound Heart is the story of Frank Cotton, a very depra...

This is Frank.Frank is not having a good time. No, sir, he is not. You see, Frank thought he was signing up for a time of his life when he summoned the gruesome Cenobites, but he made a mistake of not reading the terms and conditions when he summoned them. Now he is stuck in eternal torment in Cenobite world and it's not the figurative eternal torment that poets and lovers feel, but quite literal eternal torment where his flesh is ripped from his body until he is nothing but chunks of meat. Seri...

Frank Cotton activated the Lemarchand Configuration and was whisked away by the Cenobites to experience "pleasure" no mortal has ever felt. Now, Frank's brother Rory and his wife Julie live in the house where his experiment occurred. Frank's looking to return to the fields we know and the price is blood...As part of my continuing horror education, I had to give Clive Barker a shot, thus The Hellbound Heart.This novella is pretty memorable but I wouldn't say I was scared by it. More creeped out t...