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Title: The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker ISBN: 0-06-100282-8 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: 01 November, 1991 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.53 (38 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Explore the depravity of the human heart
Comment: This fast-paced, action-packed novella served as the basis for Clive Barker's extreme horror movie masterpiece Hellraiser, but it is well worth reading on its own merits. The human heart and its vulnerability to perverse pleasures of a sensuous nature is a compelling theme at the heart of Barker's writing. Those familiar with the movie will find that this original story matches up fairly closely with what they have seen, but there are some important differences. For one, a little more information about the infamous puzzle box is revealed. The characters are fleshed out a little better, yet Julia remains a cold person whose motives are not completely understandable. The Cenobites are actually featured much less here than in the movie, and the physical descriptions of them are far less developed--Pinhead himself reportedly speaks with a girlish voice in the novella. The blood and gore are certainly here, but their full magnitude is determined by the imagination of the reader. Interestingly, Kirsty's relationship with Rory (who was called Larry in the movie) is ambiguous at best. While one assumes Rory is her father, Kirsty always refers to him by name, and her relationship with him, if he is her father, is not a normal one for she seems to relate to him as some sort of potential lover.
The depth of Barker's vision is much better developed in print than on the movie screen, and that is what makes this novella a must-read for fans of extreme horror. The dark side of the human soul is a source tapped deeply by Barker's imagination, and he is unafraid of revealing the depravity of any given individual. As such, his writing betrays a complexity and ingenious subtlety which critics of horror will never identify or understand. Surprisingly, there is really not a great deal of perverse sexuality in this particular work, so readers who tend to shy away from his Books of Blood may actually find The Hellhound Heart to be the optimal doorway by which to enter the haunted, terrifyingly alive world of this modern master of horror.
Rating: 5
Summary: One of the best pieces of horror I've read in years
Comment: Clive Barker crafted one of the best pieces of modern horror to come along in quite some time with this shocker novella. The Hellbound Heart tells the tale of the human heart and all of it's pain and ecstasy contained within. When Frank solves the puzzle of the Lemarchand box, he discovers the vastness, and the cost, of pleasure and pain. Upon his encounter with otherworldly creatures called the Cenobites, Frank is left as quite a mess to say the least, and when his ex-lover Julia and her husband Rory move in to Frank's old home, that's when we see Barker at his best. Despite the lack of character development and the novel itself is way too short; The Hellbound Heart is some of the most compelling horror stories I have ever read, and it helped cement Barker as one of the genre's true masters. In 1987 Barker would take this story to the big screen (and would also serve as screen writer and director) re-naming it Hellraiser; which would go down as one of the best horror films in the past few decades. All in all, if your into horror literature but have never entered the world of Clive Barker, this is one of the best places to start.
Rating: 5
Summary: part mythological fiction, part psychological commentary
Comment: The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker is a wonderful introduction into the world of hellraiser and the mythology that is the cenobites. The story revolves around a family and their encounter with the Lament cube and the effect it plays on their lives. In the end, it brings nothing but death and torture. The character development is sparse, focusing mainly on the effects of lust, desire, and their inevitable bringing about of nothing but pain and suffering. It is part mythological fiction, part psychological commentary, with each of the three main characters playing a freudian part. Id, Ego, and Superego. I'll leave those who read this wonderful little book to figure out which is which.
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Title: Books of Blood: Volumes One to Three by Clive Barker ISBN: 0425165582 Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group Pub. Date: 01 October, 1998 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: The Damnation Game by Clive Barker ISBN: 0425188930 Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Collected Best by Clive Barker ISBN: 0971024928 Publisher: Checker Book Publishing Group Pub. Date: 01 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: In the Flesh by Clive Barker ISBN: 074341733X Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Cabal by Clive Barker ISBN: 0743417321 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: 01 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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