The Hellraiser Films and Their Legacy (11 page)

Skinned Frank concept sketch for
Hellraiser
(courtesy Clive Barker).

Later he would get to see Cocteau’s other movies at Film Societies in Liverpool, and another that holds a tremendous significance here must surely be
La Belle et la Bête
,
Beauty and the Beast
(1946). The poster for this alone should be enough to send chills of recognition through any
Hellraiser
fan, for its depiction of the two major players is an almost exact replica of Julia and Frank while he is still in his unfinished form. Says Barker of the film, “Garbo purportedly exclaimed, when the Beast, played by Jean Marais, who was Cocteau’s best friend, turns into a Prince, ‘Oh, give me back my beautiful beast!’”
⁴

One cannot discount the effect of William Blake’s (1757–1827) work on Barker in this respect, either. Blake proclaimed the supremacy of the imagination over the rationalism and materialism of the eighteenth century, juxtaposing the ordinary with the extraordinary, envisaging angels against the backdrop of Marylebone and Camden Town. This was a revelation for the young Barker, who immersed himself in volumes by the painter/poet, as well as in work by Bosch and Goya. This blurring of the normal with the abnormal, the palatable with the unpalatable, became the norm as far as Barker was concerned.

Understandably, the director was also eager to carry on the tradition of the Grand Guignol, just as he had done with his own theater productions. Founded in 1897 by Oscar Méténier, the secretary to a police commissioner whose duties included escorting condemned men to their death, the Parisian theater produced plays reliant on violent and bloody set-pieces. If meat was needed in a scene, then real meat was used and actors often “suffered” staged eye-gougings, strangulations and rapes night after night, all very effective and indistinguishable from the actual thing.

Sketch 1 of storyboard for Birth of Frank reshoot.

Sketch 2 of storyboard for Birth of Frank reshoot.

Sketch 3 of storyboard for Birth of Frank reshoot.

Sketch 4 of storyboard for Birth of Frank reshoot.

Sketch 5 of storyboard for Birth of Frank reshoot.

Sketch 6 of storyboard for Birth of Frank reshoot.

Sketch 7 of storyboard for Birth of Frank reshoot.

Sketch 8 of storyboard for Birth of Frank reshoot.

Sketch 9 of storyboard for Birth of Frank reshoot.

Sketch 10 of storyboard for Birth of Frank reshoot.