They Don’t Make Trailers Like That Anymore: HELLRAISER (1987)

This week marks the anniversary of the directorial debut of Clive Barker.  Barker was not the first writer to sit himself down behind the camera to adapt his own work--ask my Dread Media pal Des Reddick about William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist II: Legion sometimes--but he may have been the most successful of these aspiring auteurs.  He only made three films, but all three are exceptional pieces of work.  While his last film, Lord of Illusions, is my personal favorite, I can’t deny that his first was a real shot across the bow of genre cinema.  Unlike some writers-turned-directors, Barker chose to make Hellraiser a relatively simple, intimate film, and that’s why I think it works--when you boil it down, it’s basically a haunted house film with some weird bits in the margins.  And because it’s so simple, Barker is able to keep control of it and make it work cinematically.

Of course, in 1987, Clive Barker was still something of a cult writer.  His name was not on the lips of the mainstream, so the trailer begins with a narrative ‘crawl’ displaying a quote from the Most Famous Horror Writer Alive Today declaring Barker the ‘future of horror.’  I like how the editor timed the reveal of Stephen King’s name to the sound of bells pealing.  Then...

Well, all chaos breaks loose.  It is obvious to me that whoever put together this trailer wanted to a) emphasize the mood over the plot and b) really liked Pinhead and that closet monster.  The narration is very vague--the only hint of a plot is letting us know this film happens in a house---over very quick cuts, mostly of the actors.  There’s no dialogue save for a quick ‘Oh my God’ from Claire Higgins and the stinger of Pinhead promising to tear our soul apart.  And what’s remarkable is what this editor chooses to keep in.  It seems that New World Pictures wanted us to see the Cenobites--who only appear in the film briefly--more than the actual villains of the piece.  Shots of these demons and the aforementioned closet monster compete with shots of Ashley Laurence (who, let’s be honest, gives Good Scairt) for the most screen time.  I wouldn’t say the trailer is lying, but I have to be honest and say the editor was leaving a few facts out.

That didn’t stop it from working, though.

Trailer courtesy Forever Cinematic Trailers