‘The Hellbound Heart’ – Clive Barker (Fontana)

Page Count: 128 Pages

I never leave it too long between watching ‘Hellraiser’ movies (I actually re-watched the 2022 remake the other day, it’s still a good one) but I always seem to leave it far too long between re-reads of ‘The Hellbound Heart’. It’s a particularly slim book, my edition is anyway, so I guess it is too easy to lose it on the shelf.

I came across it again, the other day, and thought to myself that if I don’t read it now, it could literally be years before I come across it again. Plus I was due a bus ride into work, yesterday, and ‘The Hellbound Heart’ is just the right length for a commute so… It came along with me :o)

The Doorway to ultimate pleasure.

At last, he had solved the puzzle of LeMarchand’s box. He was standing on the threshold of a new world of heightened sensations.

In moments, the Cenobites – who had dedicated an eternity to the pursuit of sensuality – would be here. They would reveal dark secrets that would transform him for ever.

But with the exquisite pleasure would come pain beyond imagining. To escape his hideous tormentors and return to this world, he would need the help of his brothers wife Julia, the woman who loved him. But most of all, he would need blood…

There’s no doubt that ‘The Hellbound Heart’ is a creepy read; not least in Barker’s willingness (eagerness?) to show how easily the line between pleasure and pain can be crossed. And I’m not just talking about the sight of the Cenobites either, what they do to Frank in the first chapter (just by over stimulating his senses) makes for compelling reading and the way that chapter ends (and Frank realises what is still to come…) is a great hook for the rest of the story. There are some neat little hints of a wider mythos as well but it’s the way that Barker draws out the thrill of the hunt so well that really got me. Everyone you come across here is either on the hunt or being hunted and Barker uses this as a way of drawing out the tension until it’s time for something utterly grim to happen. He’s very good at delivering both of these kinds of moments.

The only bit that doesn’t quite hit the mark is Barker’s commentary around how there are always secrets hiding in plain sight, under the veneer of suburbia. The commentary is a little heavy-handed and the payoff has a lot to live up to as a result; something that doesn’t quite happen.

That’s not a dealbreaker though, far from it. It’s always fun to read the novella that would eventually become the movie ‘Hellraiser’ and yesterday was no different. Maybe the book isn’t quite as creepy as it wants to be but there is more than enough happening, in the meantime, for this not to matter too much and now I find myself hankering for a rewatch of the first two movies. Oh, go on then ;o)