Hellraiser: Judgment
| Hellraiser: Judgment | |
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Official poster
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| Directed by | Gary J. Tunnicliffe |
| Written by | Gary J. Tunnicliffe |
| Based on | Characters by Clive Barker |
| Starring | Paul T. Taylor Heather Langenkamp |
| Distributed by | Dimension Films |
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Release date
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Hellraiser: Judgment is an upcoming American horror film written and directed by Gary J. Tunnicliffe, and starring Paul T. Taylor, Heather Langenkamp, Damon Carney, Randy Wayne, Alexandra Harris, John Gulagher, Mike Jay Regan, Diane Goldner, Andi Powers, Jeff Fenter, Helena Grace Donald, and Grace Montie. It is the tenth film in the Hellraiser film series.
Three detectives — Sean Carter, David Carter, and Christine Egerton — investigate a serial killer, only to discover a much deeper threat of other worldly proportions.
Although most of the direct-to-video Hellraiser sequels were conceived as original screenplays that were later converted into Hellraiser films, Hellraiser: Judgment was intended to be a Hellraiser film from the beginning. After not being able to direct Hellraiser: Revelations, which he wrote, Gary J. Tunnicliffe was given the opportunity to write and direct a new Hellraiser film by Dimension Films. Dimension Films were required to make another entry in the franchise in order to maintain the rights of the intellectual property. Tunnicliffe pitched Hellraiser: Judgment to Dimension Films three consequetive times, only to be rejected by the studio. As a result, Tunnicliffe wrote a script treatment for a more traditional Hellraiser film titled Hellraiser: Into Darkness to show that he could come up with other ideas. Although the studio embraced Into Darkness, Tunnicliffe insisted on making Judgment. After the studio demanded that Tunnicliffe make excessive changes to the Judgment script, Tunnicliffe removed the Hellraiser elements from it and attempted to make Judgment as an independent film. After Tunnicliffe was unable to find financial backers, he tried to obtain funding via Kickstarter for a brief period of time, but later removed the funding campaign from the site. Dimension Films eventually agreed to allow Tunnicliffe to write and direct the film as part of the Hellraiser franchise.
Although the film originated as a Hellraiser film, it was still Tunnicliffe's intention to differentiate Judgment from its predecessors, with his mantra being to "innovate, not replicate". Tunnicliffe promised that Judgment "will have moments unlike any other [film] you have ever seen", taking inspiration from the works of Hieronymus Bosch, Francis Bacon, David Cronenberg, David Lynch, David Fincher, and Hellraiser creator Clive Barker. Tunnicliffe later elaborated, "I knew what I wanted to make, and I felt like 'you know what, I wrote a traditional Hellraiser story with Revelations and I got raped by the fans. I'm not going to try and appease the fans anymore.' I'm going to make a film for me and I have a very strong idea visually on where I want to go with the story and its going to be very different. I'm going to make a food for me and offer everybody a bite." In regards to the negative reception of the most recent entries in the series, Tunnicliffe responded "I think there has been a huge gap since Dimension are actually trying to do their best by the franchise. I think [The Weinstein Company is] well aware that Hellworld was rushed into production and suffered for it, and Revelations suffered a similar set of problems (when the rights issue came up fast and furious without anyone knowing). Judgment is a rights issue movie, but has been made with the sensibilities and input given to a regular budgeted Dimension feature." In acknowledgment of the negative reactions to Hellraiser: Revelations, Tunnicliffe stated that he was devastated that he was unable to direct the film, and that he was unhappy with the final cut and divergences made from the script. According to Tunnicliffe, "To the fans, I would say this… I know you’ve been let down, and trust me, I have too, but simply give me a chance. I know we can never make a film as great as the first two Hellraiser's, but I think we have a fun script here [and] an opportunity to give you all something that feels a little familiar, a little different, completely terrifying and is a worthy part of the Hellraiser Canon."
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