David Bruckner (The Night House), who helmed Netflix’s The Ritual as well as sections of Bloody Disgusting’s horror anthologies V/H/S and Southbound, is directing the relaunch of the Hellraiser franchise for Spyglass Media, set to be a Hulu feature film written by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski (SiREN, Super Dark Times, The Night House).
Odessa A’zion was recently cast in a lead role, but we know very little about the movie at this time. Speaking with SFX Magazine this week, Bruckner teases the film ever-so-slightly.
“We can’t say anything about it yet,” Bruckner tells SFX, via Games Radar. “But it is something that we are actively working towards, and it is a joy and a dream for a filmmaker like myself to dive into that world.”
Bruckner continues, “All I’ll say is that we are aiming to be as true as we can to the original material. The Hellbound Heart is also a primary source of inspiration, as well as the original film. But then it is something of a small reimagining.”
The Hellbound Heart is of course the Clive Barker novella that Barker himself turned into the original Hellraiser feature film, and it sounds like Bruckner’s film will be going back to that original source material rather than continuing any of the storylines from the various sequels that have come along over the years. Expected, of course, and a good thing to hear.
Stay tuned for more as we learn it.
As you may recall, a “Hellraiser” television series is also in the works at HBO Max with David Gordon Green (Halloween, Halloween Kills) directing the pilot and “several more initial episodes,” and Michael Dougherty (Trick ‘r Treat, Krampus, Godzilla: King of the Monsters) writing alongside Mark Verheiden (“Battlestar Galactica”). Clive Barker will executive produce.