The Pursuit of Possibilities – brand new 60-minute discussion between acclaimed horror authors Paula D. Ashe (We Are Here To Hurt Each Other) and Eric LaRocca (Everything the Dark Eats) celebrating the queerness of Hellraiser and the importance of Clive Barker as a queer writer Archival audio commentary with director Tony Randel, writer Peter Atkins and actor Ashley Laurence – This archival audio commentary from 2000 with the director, writer and lead actor Ashley Laurence is another decent one. There’s quite a bit of overlap from the prior commentary that Randel and Atkins did but this one’s a little more lively due to the inclusion of Laurence. Under the Skin: Doug Bradley on Hellbound - archival interview with the iconic actor about his second appearance as 'Pinhead' And into this morass of stagnating blood and guts came Barker’s bizarre creation, itself a Frankenstein of unlimited imagination and horribly suffocating production restrictions, a film that at once showcased a first-time film maker and an author (the film is based on one of his novellas, The Hellbound Heart) whose worlds far exceeded anything in horror or dark fantasy before and arguably since. Far more than the sum of its parts, it opened up a landscape of twisted sexual fantasy intertwined with equally perverse physical torture; it parlayed a prosthetic-driven creature feature into the midst of a very suburban melodrama; and it delivered a sense of the dreamily uncanny, of the off-kilter shot through impossible environments (is it set in the UK? The US? Even our world? Who knows?) and nightmare logic with no discernible rhyme nor reason… EPK – An extended electronic press kit with the edited version previously included on Arrow’s Blu-ray of Hell on Earth with new clips and behind-the-scenes B roll, discovered by Stephen Jones. It runs for 12 minutes and it’s another neat inclusion.

After the great success of the first film, New World Pictures immediately green-lit a sequel that came out a year later, entitled Hellbound: Hellraiser II. This time, Clive Barker stepped down from the director’s chair and Tony Randell took the reins, after helping out with the production of the first film and even being an uncredited editor. Archival features, including two audio commentaries, interviews with Doug Bradley, Sean Baker, Stephen Thrower, trailers, TV spots, image gallery and draft screenplays – LEGACY Books of Blood and Beyond: The Literary Works of Clive Barker - archival appreciation by horror author David Gatwalk of Barker’s written work, from The Books of Blood to The Scarlet Gospels A selection of trailers and TV spots are included, as well as an image gallery. Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth extras

Hellraiser: Quartet of Torment – Limited Edition 4K boxset review

Power of Imagination, a brand new 60-minute discussion about Hellraiser and the work of Clive Barker by film scholars Sorcha Ní Fhlainn (editor of Clive Barker: Dark Imaginer) and Karmel Kniprath Brand new and exclusive 4K restorations of Hellraiser, Hellbound: Hellraiser II, Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth and Hellraiser: Bloodline by Arrow Films from the original camera negatives Behind the scenes footage – 2 minutes of behind the scenes footage from the film shoot. It’s a neat inclusion. Being Frank: Sean Chapman on Hellbound - archival interview about the actor's return to the role of Frank Cotton

Lost in the Labyrinth – archival featurette featuring interviews with Barker, Randel, Keen, Atkins and othersBrand new audio commentaries for all four films by film critic Kim Newman and Hellraiser unit publicist Stephen Jones, also joined by screenwriter Peter Atkins on Hellraiser: Bloodline Regardless of how you feel about the film, Hellraiser: Bloodline is unquestionably one of the more unique entries in the franchise. It's the one that takes Pinhead to space, the one that features an impossibly young-looking Adam Scott in full-blown 1796 dandy mode (powdered wig and all), the one that's more-or-less an anthology film. Depending on where you stand, the wild swings Hellraiser: Bloodline takes might be features or bugs, though there's no wondering where the film's director, Kevin Yagher, stands on the theatrically-released version: he had his name removed, choosing instead to release the film under an "Alan Smithee" credit. Flesh is a Trap - visual essay exploring body horror and transcendence in the work of Clive Barker by genre author Guy Adams (The World House) – NEW (18 mins) Unboxing Hellraiser, a brand new visual essay celebrating the Lament Configuration by genre author Alexandra Benedict (The Beauty of Murder)

A histrionic, hyperbolic quote it may be…but when it comes from the lips of one Stephen King (himself referencing it from a quote about, ironically, The Boss…Bruce Springsteen), it really shouldn’t be so easily dismissed as mere marketing fluff. Hellraiser: Resurrection – An archival vintage featurette created for the 2000 DVD release. It contains interviews from the cast and crew. It’s a standard documentary from this era, and a lot of the information is present on the prior special features and audio commentaries, but it’s a nice inclusion regardless. The Pursuit of Possibilities - discussion between acclaimed horror authors Paula D. Ashe (We Are Here To Hurt Each Other) and Eric LaRocca (Everything the Dark Eats) celebrating the queerness of Hellraiser and the importance of Clive Barker as a queer writer – NEW (41 mins) Hell Was What They Wanted! - appreciation of Hellbound, the Hellraiser mythos and the work of Clive Barker by horror authors George Daniel Lea (Born in Blood) and Kit Power (The Finite) – NEW (85 mins)Hellraiser | Quartet Of Torment | Chatterer Slipcase | Arrow Store Exclusive | Limited Edition 4K UHD Newly uncovered extended Electronic Press Kit (EPK) interviews with Clive Barker and stars Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence, and effects artist Bob Keen, shot during the making of Hellraiser, with a new introduction by Stephen Jones and Kim Newman, plus the original 1987 EPK – NEW (41 mins) Newly uncovered workprint version of the film, providing a fascinating insight into how it changed during post production But the return of Barker to being a much more active participant in the fourth film, Hellraiser: Bloodline, promised much…an anthology structure across multiple timelines to explore the origins of the box (now wonderfully known as The Lament Configuration). Yet its strangled production and sadly typical studio interference gutted a lot of what could have been, leaving an interesting but hugely flawed curio that remains to this day the last Hellraiser film to see the inside of a cinema…

Under the Skin: Doug Bradley on Hellbound – archival interview with the iconic actor about his second appearance as ‘Pinhead’ An image gallery is also included, as well as first and final draft screenplays. Hellbound: Hellraiser II extras

Hellraiser: Quartet of Torment 4K Extras

In the 1980s, Clive Barker changed the face of horror fiction, throwing out the rules to expose new vistas of terror and beauty, expanding the horizons for every genre writer who followed him. With Hellraiser, his first feature film, he did the same for cinema. October 30, 2023 , Joel Fisher , No Comment Pigeon Shrine Halloween Frightfest Film Review – Maria (2023) Bloodline is much of the same – it has a slightly more active surround expansion (likely due to its more mid-90s approach to such things) and it does go a touch deeper with its sound effects (space will tend to do that…) but its very much of an audio piece with its brethren: technically well done but more of a perfunctory original mix than an exercise in audio audacity. Unboxing Hellraiser - visual essay celebrating the Lament Configuration by genre author Alexandra Benedict (The Beauty of Murder) – NEW (21 mins) Power of Imagination - discussion about Hellraiser and the work of Clive Barker by film scholars Sorcha Ní Fhlainn (editor of Clive Barker: Dark Imaginer) and Karmel Kniprath – NEW (58 mins)