In fact, in The Scarlet Gospels when describing him, Barker says that the pins in his head were more like nails driven into his skull, which would also look a lot more brutal that the measly pins he had in the movie.Īnd Pinhead, is that really the sort of name that will inject fear into the veins of us mere mortals? To me, it’s like calling someone a dickhead, but the dick on their head is actually really small, like a pin. I don’t know whether Clive is making a point about his own views of the name here, that he never liked this name that the fans gave his shockingly awesome main bad guy, especially after he was never referenced as such in either the novella or the film (that statement is pure guesswork, though).

The book states that this name is almost a curse to the character, who is also referred to as the Hell Priest (which sounds much better). Only a few pages in and I was already saying to myself, “Oh yeah, here we go!”Īlthough already there was one small detail that I had an issue with, and that was the Lead Cenobite’s name Pinhead. There’s chains, impalements, mutilations, just basically loads of gore soaked death.

Well, he’s back, and he’s mad! So mad that when he’s first introduced he really shows these puny earth magicians that they should not fuck with him. I’m sure you are already aware that this is the return of Pinhead, the iconic Cenobite of The Hellbound Heart and the Hellraiser movies. So yeah, I don’t rate this as one of Mr Barker’s best achievements. Well, there’s a reason you never listened to it more than once, you know. It’s like that album you own that you only listened to once and so can’t remember any of the songs on it. Was it the spoiler-free reviews I’d read when it first came out? Not that I could really remember them but they must have ingrained themselves into my subconscious somehow. The first question is why has it taken me so long to get round to reading this? This is a good question, especially after that first paragraph up there. With that glowing introduction, I think you can see where this review will be going. I finally read The Hellbound Heart, then blitzed his other works, particularly enjoying Weaveworld, Coldheart Canyon, Sacrament, The Damnation Game, and being completely immersed in the worlds of Imajica. A few years later I was initiated into Barker’s written work through the excellent Books of Blood, after hearing about them through the band Acid Bath (RIP). I saw Hellraiser many years ago and it creeped me out like you wouldn’t believe (or maybe you probably would, actually). I think it’s important to state before I start this review that I am a big fan of Clive Barker. Home › book review › Book Review – The Scarlet Gospels by Clive Barkerīook Review – The Scarlet Gospels by Clive Barker

The scarlet gospels review