The Hellbound Heart
Ratings123
Average rating4
This holds up pretty well from my teenage reading years. Story of a world-weary hedonist biting off more than he realized with exploring extra-dimensional pleasures. Barker has vivid descriptive powers here and really paints a picture of this world.
Funny enough, I think the first movie did a really good job translating this into a film. Beat for beat I think it was there.
This book was fine, but overall it was disappointing to me. The characters all felt very one note and unrealistic (Julia's actions were at least interesting but her reasons for doing them were pretty stupid), aside from Julia's murders the gore almost all takes place off-page or is barely described (why else am I reading this?) and the prose was so overwrought and goofy. There is a part near the end where Barker wants to convey that a dead character is possessed by one of the cenobites so that character turns to Kirsty and essentially just says, “I'm a cenobite!”
A criminal named Frank acquires an interesting box that can be used to conjure up whatever the solutionist desires, or so he thinks. Seeking the pleasures of the world, Frank solves the box and opens up a doorway in his bedroom, welcoming in a few interesting guests. These guests, named Cenobites, who wear some sort of pseudo-sadomasochism apparel, eventually grant Frank his wish.
|| “ Your most treasured depravity is child's play beside the experiences we offer.”
We are then introduced to Frank's brother, Rory, and his wife, Julia, whom Frank had an affair with right before their wedding day. Since that day, Julia has wanted Frank back, so you can sense her surprise when he shows up in her room, but something is definitely awry. He asks Julia for a favor that is downright depraved and immoral.
|| “No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering.”
If you are familiar with the movie Hellraiser, then you will be at home with this novella. Although Pinhead is not mentioned by name, the descriptions of the creatures and Frank's transformation are much more terrifying to read than how they are depicted on screen. (imo)
Barker has an extraordinary way of describing extreme violence with haunting realism. Since there is really no character to ‘root for', you find yourself becoming enveloped in the ferocity and savagery of the story. It's curiously sensual in parts, and the ending packs a punch that I will not soon forget.
|| “ Everything tires with time, and starts to seek some opposition, to save it from itself.”
I believe this is considered a classic in the splatter-punk genre, and although it touches on some pretty heavy themes, it was quite good. Are there any other must-reads in the genre that I should add to my reading list?
This book makes you desire desire itself.
I worked with this girl at work for about six months, and i really liked her. She had a boyfriend. I got her to cheat on this guy and eventually me and her after many many ups and downs got together. I tried very very very hard to get her to be with me. Eventually I got what i wanted and we started dating. Everything was perfect. I cheated on her with my ex, and after I told her what I did she broke up with me. Everything was not perfect, and part of me started not to feel bad, because honestly she was really bad girlfriend, and calling us a couple was insulting to me. A week after she broke up with me I read this book, and it started to make me feel a lot less bad.
The Hellbound Heart does a really good job at making you not feel as bad about cheating on your perfect girlfriend. Something about the way the affair in this book is written makes it seem desirable. Even though Rory is depected as a guy who did literally nothing wrong, you cant help but want to ignore that because the same thing that happens to Julia will happen to you. Frank embodies both pleasure and the desire to feel pleasure, and he WILL draw you in.
This book was just meh, wasn't bad in a way and I'll probably read the second but I didn't find it particularly spectacular either. A good read if you're into body horror but wasn't particularly scary. Also a good read I think if you have watched or plan to watch the movies as it could be fun to compare the two.
For my first supernatural horror novel (and impressively presented gothic romance), the read was pretty pleasant all the way through. It wasn't the most gripping story I've read, but I still enjoyed the tension, graphic moments, and overall atmosphere; moreover, I enjoyed the prose themselves: balancing flowery language with a grim glaze. My favorite aspect of the story was probably the characters, though, but even this element wasn't particularly remarkable compared to the stuff I've read thus far this year. Nonetheless, the atmosphere and general tone of the story was successfully creepy―maybe even sinister―for my money; I didn't consider it “scary”, per se, but I still think the horror elements were pulled off effectively for what it is. And whether it affected me or not, this story was objectively weird (even for me) and appropriately engaging enough to lure its reader into the The Hellbound Heart series, however I don't feel compelled enough to check out the remaining two novels. This goes the same for Heart's film adaption series, Hellraiser from which I've only seen the first installment but, like its source material, was still fairly enjoyable. But I appreciate Heart pushing its graphic nature considerably further than the movie adapation already went, which I'm always excited about regarding the adaptations v. source material discussion.
Ahh, I wish this was longer! Plenty of great, gruesome imagery. Not enough femme Pinhead. I really enjoy the film and it's very faithful to the book, but it does some heavy lifting to expand on this.
Read this years ago, so I am re-reading the book that started the Pinhead craze, and it still holds up. Wonderful storytelling, excellent descriptions and honestly the characters don't fall as flat as they kind of do in the film. I understand the film is an adaptation, however the book fleshes them out (pun intended) more so. This is still a favorite of mine, and always will be.
This was... bizarre. This is one of those books that makes me think I need to read some essays and interviews before I can understand it. I buddy read this with Destiny in preparation for the Hellraiser remake because (surprise to me!) this was the novella that Hellraiser was based on! Having never seen the film and going into this pretty cold (I knew what Pinhead looked like and that was it), I was definitely... surprised. My first read by Clive Barker was a middle grade horror novel, so this adult erotic horror novella was a bit of a turn.
Unfortunately, I just don't feel like I got this. The writing was excellent - Barker certainly has that going for him - but the story itself was too bizarre for me to follow. I somehow only learned Barker was gay after reading this and I think having that lens would have been helpful for me to get more out of it.
Nu stiu de ce ma asteptam la ceva mai bun tinand cont ca si filmul, si cartea, sunt facute de aceeasi persoana.
I had a strange experience while reading this novella. I only realized, after reaching around the 70% point, that my subconscious was picturing the stuff happening in the style of 80s film practical effects. My imagination is usually pretty straight forward. I picture what's written however my brain thinks it would look. But in this book everything was fake blood and wet puppets and spotlights through smoke and shadow and I loved it. It's got me thinking about actively cultivating different stylistic choices in my imagination while reading and that's new and cool I guess.
That aside, this book is fucking terrific. It was interesting seeing the iterative elements added between the writing of this and the filming of the movie. Like, I find it wild that Kirsty was only changed to being Julia and Rory's stepdaughter in the movie and that she was only a family friend in the book. It feels like that's such an essential piece of the plot and perfectly encapsulates Frank's moral reprehensibility/corruption. Crazy to me that that wasn't in the original draft.
The book does a much better job of portraying Julia's inner world, Frank's motivations, and the worldbuilding at large and makes the Cenobites feel way creepier and alien, but paradoxically also more understandable. Also the BDSM brush they're painted with in the film kinda sends a weird mixed message that I'm not a huge fan of. Stop yucking other people's yum Clive.
One thing I was really looking forward to was seeing how Frank's reanimation scene ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erpHSw3x5cE (straight up top 3 practical effects horror scenes in movie history)) would work in writing, but it mostly just happens off-screen :/.
Book > film imo, but that's me in most cases anyway.
95 out if 100.
Quick, engaging and oddly poetic in the most macabre ways. I love how tightly written this is but gives you enough more and story it's worth revisiting. I really enjoyed Clive's writing style overall. Read in one sitting too.
What a chilling read! A short but compelling read with a satisfying end. Highly recommended.
Read it in only a couple of hours the same day I bought it. And it was so good! And I'm not even a fan of gore at all. But I just couldn't put the book aside. Definitely gonna try another Barker in the future (though hopefully an edition with less typos and printing errors).
The rare case where the movie is better than the book and also the rare case where the movie actually follows the book.
“We have such sights to show you”, yet this is a book. And a short one at that. The movie captivated me with not only its tone and gritty visuals but also with its narrative. The book falls very short in comparison to that.
I don't like horror books because they rely on “terror of the unknown”, eliciting emotions of dread on the reader. I don't fear the unknown and I'm too much in control of my emotions to enjoy the experience I believe.
The book added nothing to the movie experience, and if I hadn't watched the movie, I wouldn't have cared for this book at all.
Hellraiser is to this day my favorite horror movie, one in a very short list, because of the things it added to the genre. The gruesome Leviathan's infernal labyrinth of unimaginable torture, pushing he boundaries of torment beyond the limits of the flesh.
The key to hell is desire, and the price is eternal agony.
Gory, gorgeous, and blazingly fast just like the movie. A classic for a reason.
So, so dark but so freakin' good! I love the movie to bits and pieces but this is even better.