The Phantasmagoria Hellraiser Special! Time to play . . .
Celebrating the Hellraiser franchise, featuring interviews with the cast and crew, fiction, articles, artwork, reviews and more!
Dark bleatings, my pinheaded tribe! You might have already seen my video review of this spectacular issue of Phantasmagoria, but you know me, I like to but my typing fingers where my mouth is. Wow. That was a weird thing to say. At least “weird” is appropriate because we’re talking about Hellraiser.
This special is enormous, and so I’ve broken this review down into categories. Enjoy!
Introductions
The issue opens with an interesting and informative introduction from the legend that is Stephen Jones, and is swiftly followed by an enthusiastic editorial from Trevor Kennedy. Both pieces scream that the authors are Hellraiser fans, and set a really uplifting tone for the rest of what’s to come.
The Hellraiser Tapes
These sections were great. Each Hellraiser Tape serves as a biographical, conversational, feature piece about its subject. We get pieces on Clive Barker, Christopher Figg (producer), Bob Keen (SFX), Andrew Robinson (actor), Claire Higgins (actor), Ashley Laurence (actor), Kenneth Cranham (actor), Anthony Hickox (director), Terry Farrell (actor), and – my favourite – a unique tape about the birth of Frank. This was a spectacular little section, complete with storyboard, about our favourite skinless zombie’s grand entrance.
Interviews
Trevor Kennedy interviews Tony Randell (director of Hellraiser 2), and Doug Bradley (plays Pinhead), and Nicholas Vince (plays the Chatterer).
Kelly Dunn interviews Christopher Young (Hellraiser 2 composer), and Imogen Boorman (plays Tiffany in Hellraiser 2).
Alison Weir interviews Geoff Portass (make-up artist, Hellraiser 2).
Dean M. Drinkel interviews Barbie Wilde (plays the Hell Priestess).
Dave Jeffery interviews Simon Bradford (plays Butterball).
John Gilbert interviews Peter Atkins (screenwriter).
All of these interviews were great, it has to be said. My favourites were Doug Bradley (an expansive conversation with brilliantly thoughtful responses from Doug, and interesting questions from Trevor), Barbie Wilde (what an interesting career!), and both of Kelly Dunn’s interviews because Kelly’s interview style is unique.
Features and Articles
Due to the sheer excellence of all involved in producing Phantasmagoria, it should come as no surprise that I’m about to tell you that the features were great too. We are treated to such pieces as ’12 Reasons Why it is One of the Greatest Horror Films Ever Made’, character praise for particular Hellraiser staples, in depth discussion about the sequels, and (my favourite) ‘In the Name of Obsession: Navigating the Labyrinth of Hellraiser 2’ – a wonderful exploration of the making of the movie. AND MORE!
All of the features and articles were unique and brought a different angle of the franchise to the table. So much variety in the discussions!
Film and Script Nerd Stuff
As well as everything mentioned above, we’re also treated to a lot of great images. Movie posters, film stills, original artwork, call sheets, scripts, story treatments – honestly this section is an absolute goldmine if you’re a script geek, like me. There are also loads of reviews (the movies and such).
Fiction
And then lookie here – they treated us to several pieces of fiction, based on Hellraiser, of course. I would usually review the individual stories but I’ve decided not to do that here because half of the fun of discovering these short stories in the issue was also discovering who had written them. What a wonderful way to close out this edition.
Overall, obviously this was a tremendous read. I highly recommend it to Hellraiser fans. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that if you have an interest in the behind the scenes aspects, this is an absolute MUST to have in your collection. I’d also recommend it to film and script fans who enjoy the background information and learning about how things are made.
If you’d like to check it out, I’ve popped both the Amazon sales link and the direct link for the issue at Phantasmagoria below:
HELLRAISER EDITION – PHANTASMAGORIA
Bleeeeat!
Happy Goat Horror 
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