Oops. We've drawn a complete blank on meaningful comment from Clive - or even passing reference ! All help gratefully received.
Doug Bradley : "We shot [Hellseeker] in Vancouver at the beginning of last year. I've already looped it, so it should be released some time soon, but I still haven't seen it and I haven't heard anything about the release date.
"I think it's very good. I like the script. I got along very well with the director, Rick Bota. He's a first-time director but he did a good job on it. I'm in it a lot more than I was in Inferno and I think it will be better than Inferno... It's got a lot of interesting ideas in it, Rick is doing some really cool stuff with it, so I have high hopes for it."
Pins And Needles
By Chris Fullwood, Firelight Shocks, Issue 4, September 2002
Tim Day : "The Director of Hellseeker, Rick Bota, is an old friend of mine. I actually worked for Rick, who's a fantastic DP, as a Best Boy Grip on three seasons of "Tales From The Crypt". We actually met at Roger Corman's studio. Anyway Rick got the chance to direct Hellseeker and asked me if I'd take a look at what they had sent them. This was the second complete take/script he had looked at. The first one was about a Rave club in an abandoned mall - really just not good. Hellseeker was interesting, written by Carl Dupre (Hellworld) but it needed work. In the original draft Trevor was kind of a prick from the get-go and it was really hard to sympathize with him at all.
"I read Hellbound Heart and what I loved the most about it was the way Clive had created this Gothic Greek Tragedy. I wanted to bring that feel back to the franchise. My goal was to make a Hellraiser that Clive would like. I think it's much more interesting to watch a likeable average person succumb to the evil forces around them than an a jerk or someone who we know is evil already. So Hellseeker became more about trying to outrun your past sins and being forced to come face to face with them. I think we all know someone who lives in denial about the way he treats other people and they way others perceive him and it's always interesting when the truth finally smacks them in the face.
"Neither Pinhead nor the puzzle box were ever supposed to become the icons for the series that they have. Clive always envisioned multiple style puzzle boxes and doors that would lead to the world of the Cenobites. I tried to inject a new puzzle box into Hellseeker. I simply wanted to make the puzzle box round. Rick called me after I turned in my draft and said everyone loved the script except for one word - ROUND. So that's why when Trevor is given the PUZZLE BOX in Hellseeker it's round at first and then turns into the classic version as it rolls across the table.)
"Kirsty wasn't in the original draft. That was Rick's idea to try to get Ashley back. As I worked her back into the story, still not sure if could even get her, my hope was that Kirsty's story would continue in the next sequel leading to a final confrontation with Pinhead in Hellraiser 7. I actually started writing that script before Deader came along... Ashley had started acting in commercials and her agent was really trying to block us from getting the script to her but Doug Bradley stepped in and called her himself. He told her it was the best Hellraiser script since II. She signed on the Friday before shooting started so I had to fly up to Vancouver from LA to work out the final changes to bring her back. She was great and really happy to be back on board. My one regret is that I never got to meet Doug Bradley, he started shooting after I left Vancouver.
"Clive's relationship with Dimension was rocky at this point because of a falling out they had a falling out on Inferno. Dimension had actually told Rick and I that they didn't want Clive to know we were making Hellseeker until he saw it at Blockbuster. So Clive's in a limo in New York coming from the airport and through the small talk tells the driver who he is and the driver responds with 'I just drove a guy who was in the new Hellraiser' - Dean Winters). Clive gives Rick a call, wants to see it, Rick gives me a call, what should we do? I say give it to him, it's his characters and his mythology. Rick shows it to him at Clive's house here in LA and Clive loves it. He thinks it's the best one since II. He gives us some notes on some added shots and inserts he thinks will help, mostly stuff in the third act of the film.
"At first we get a call from the exec at Dimension on the project and he screams at us for letting Clive see it. But five minutes later we get another call from a higher exec who just spoke to Clive and everything's cool. They're thrilled, and relieved, that he liked it. He wanted to give us a nice blurb on the box but he couldn't for some contractual reasons."
Hellseeker and Deader Writer's Short Film
By Tim Day, Hellbound Web Forum, 18 May 2005 (note - full thread online at www.cenobite.com)
Sarah-Jane Redmond : "After being voted the internet's number one villain (Lucy Butler aka the Devil, in Millennium) my career took off...
"Gwen likes it rough... I viewed many dominatrix sessions at a local dungeon... When I auditioned for the part, I used a photograph out of Stanton's illustrated book 'For the man who knows his place' as my headshot. It's a photo of a man on his hands and knees slaving to his female master in his office. Also, I got to die my most gruesome death to date - you'll have to wait to see the movie for that one."
The Arrow Interviews...
By [The Arrow], www.joblo.com/arrow , October 2001
Gary Tunnicliffe : "Rick [Bota] had a very distinct vision of what he wanted. It was very different from the previous Hellraisers, because he's influenced by avant-garde art. Being a DP as well, he's very interested in colour and image."
Monster Invasion - Hellraiser: Hellseeker
By Kier-la Janisse, Fangoria, No 215, August 2002
Ashley Laurence : "I got a call from Doug Bradley at home, and kind of out of the blue he said that he was doing Hellraiser and that the director was talking about the fact that he would love to bring back the Kirsty character in a cameo. And [Doug] thought he would take matters into his own hands and call me at home and see if I was interested...
"[It] was really nice for me [after] so many years, to come back and be in an environment as an adult that I had started as a child - to come back and look at things through those eyes. I understood a lot of things [now] that I was oblivious to when I was involved in it...
"[Rick Bota]'s also a DP, so he visually did a really great job with the Cenobites and the things that show up lurking in the shadows. And so there are those things, [but also] I think a lot of it is exploring the insidious psychology of the lead character"
Going To Hell
By Scott Collura, Cinescape, Issue 66/67, November / December 2002
Tim Day : "Clive called Rick and had him over to his house for a viewing. Clive said that he thinks Hellseeker is the best one since Hellraiser II. I believe he said something like, 'Thank God, somebody finally got it.' Everyone knows how he felt about the previous sequels. It's a little bit of a sore spot between him and Dimension."
Hellraiser: Deader Ready To Roll
By [ ], www.fangoria.com news, 16 August 2002
Gary Tunnicliffe : "I really wanted to get back with Dimension, and I didn't want anyone else to do Pinhead. So I came in with so low a budget that, by the second week of prep, I turned to my wife, Claire-Jane, and asked her if we were going to get paid. She said that the crew would get paid, but we wouldn't. So I did that film for no profit at all. The upside was that I got to do Pinhead, a number of cool Cenobites that were barely glimpsed, a lot of 2nd-unit stuff and a really good gag with silicone eels coming out of Dean Winters' mouth."
Tales Of The Miramax Assassin
By Marc Shapiro, Fangoria, No 219, January 2003
Ryan Rotten : "Whether it was the creators' intention or not, a very Inferno-like vibe flows through this entire film. It's a peek into the life of a despicable character who's fucked up a lot only to realize it's way too late in the game to make any positive life adjustments and now must suffer at the chains of soul-hungry cenobites. Sounds a bit like Craig Sheffer's character from Inferno, don't it?
"Laurence, on the other hand, is still looking radiant. She poses as the film's bookends making a random appearance here and there throughout the film. You can tell she was a tacked-on character from the start. It's a damn shame 'cause in the Hellseeker DVD there's a great deleted scene featuring a banter between Kirsty and Pinhead that should've been left in the film... but I guess that would've been the right thing to do. Having now seen this film, I completely stand by Laurence's decision to not want to speak about the film with Fangoria. She didn't have to come across so bitchy, but I see where she's coming from. Geico Insurance commercials have more substance than this snoozer."
Hellraiser: Hellseeker
By Ryan Rotten, Creature Corner, online at www.creature-corner.com, 18 October 2002