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Hellraiser: Revival’s commitment to being both gnarly and horny has already been thoroughly documented, with PC Gamer’s Wes Fenlon describing it as “nasty nasty” in his preview . This uncompromising attitude to both gore and kink went down well with fans, but it has also been celebrated by Hellraiser’s creator, Clive Barker.
In an interview with horror site Dread Central (via FRVR), Barker admitted that he had concerns about the project going into it, but was thoroughly impressed by the final product. “I’m proud as f**k at the end result,” he said. “I was fearful at one point that the game would be overly censored, but I’m genuinely astonished by how far they’ve been able to push it.”
Barker, who worked closely with developer Saber Interactive to shape Revival’s world and to advise on the game’s story, reckons that Saber Interactive’s work on the game is a prime example of how to approach adapting a license. “I think what was achieved in the game is a wake-up call to anyone who’s been involved in the making of a franchise like Hellraiser,” the author and director explained.
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Barker reclaimed the American franchise rights to Hellraiser several years ago, and Hellraiser: Revival is written as a legacy sequel that ignores the trajectory of the films after Hellraiser 2. “There are many of the Hellraiser movies that were made by the Weinstein brothers that were created simply to hold onto the rights,” Barker explained, pointing out that “less and less” money was spent on those films over time. “It’s not the fault of the writers and directors, but just the way the system works in some cases.”
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But it seems the experience of working with Saber on Revival has whetted Barker’s appetite to further explore the universe he created. “I have many ideas that I’d like to see realised in the Hellraiser universe, and I’m planning to keep my fingers in that pie,” he said. For now, these ideas are being explored in a new series of comic books, but Barker says that he’d “love to go further in the movies.”
Barker also strongly implied that Hellraiser: Revival does not represent the end of his collaboration with Saber. “I’m looking forward to working with them again on some other projects.” It isn’t clear whether this would be a sequel to Revival or an adaptation of a different work by Barker.
The positive reception to Hellraiser: Revival will likely be a relief to Saber Interactive too, following this summer’s Rideshare Stimulator controversy. In August, Saber CEO Matt Karch denied accusations that the company had replaced Rideshare Stimulator writer Stella Sacco with ChatGPT, then issued an apology to Sacco for the way he publicly spoke about her following the allegation. Alongside all this, Saber admitted to using generative AI in a general sense, but the company’s CCO Tim Willits assured players the tech is not used in Hellraiser: Revival or ongoing projects like Jurassic Park: Survival and Space Marine 3.
