Horror legend Doug Bradley is best known for playing Pinhead in Clive Barker’s 1987 film “Hellraiser,” and seven of its sequels. Even though he has not dawned the latex since 2005’s “Hellworld,” he would still be willing to return as a darker, older version of the character.
“I certainly never say never. I’ve never said I was done with it. I’ve never said I’m retired from it,” Bradley told Bloody Disgusting. “I’m sensible about these things, too. I was in my mid-30s when I first played the character, and I was just turning 50 when I played him the last time. I ain’t in that age range anymore. I’m now in my 70th year, and to some extent I think special effects makeup is a younger man’s game.”
Ideally, the veteran actor thinks he would be best suited to return in an adaptation of Barker’s 2015 novel “The Scarlet Gospels.” Unlike “The Hellbound Heart” (which “Hellraiser” is based on), “The Scarlet Gospels” focuses on the end of Pinhead. “If we did that, we could maybe present an older Pinhead to be aware of the fact that I am the age I am, that time and gravity does what time and gravity does. An older, darker Pinhead would intrigue me, one not so much in love with the flippant one-liners and the witty comebacks and so forth.”
While Bradley was VERY clear that there is no such project in the works at this time, can any fans blame him for a bit of fantasy casting? And can you blame us for wanting it to happen?
“That would be the perfect bookend to my life in latex, if I can put it that way,” he adds. “I’ve never turned my back completely on the character, but realistically, I think that’s probably that, and that’s fine. I’m proud of what we did with the movies, and I’m proud of my work in it. I’m cool with being where I am now.”
His Thoughts on The Reboot
The last person to play the notorious Cenobite Pinhead was Jamie Clayton in the 2022 David Bruckner-directed “Hellraiser” reboot. Recasting the character as a woman had many horror fans up in arms, but Bradley stood by Clayton’s work.
“Jamie is very slight. She’s tiny across the shoulders,” said Bradley. “I was immediately intrigued by it and kind of sat up. When Pinhead first appears in Hellraiser, it’s very in your face. In spite of the fact that I’m wearing a skirt, it’s very macho. It’s very masculine. It’s, ‘Here we are. We’re Cenobites. We do this, we do that. Fuck with us, and we’ll tear your soul apart.’ It’s very clear.”
“[Jamie] looked rather doll-like, a little bit childlike, and I remembered Clive’s original description of the Pinhead cenobite from The Hellbound Heart,” he adds “It — gender unclear — had a light and breathy voice like that of an excited girl, and that was what I wanted to hear. We didn’t get that. We got a voice that was rather close to the original Pinhead voice. I wanted something that matched the image; something quiet, delicate, a little bit playful, but still with the threat riding through it.
“She wasn’t really asked to do very much. There were some wonderful shots. There’s the distance shot where she’s standing on water outside the house; beautiful, beautiful shot. But I felt she wasn’t asked to be terribly proactive thereafter. So I was excited, intrigued, and ultimately a little bit disappointed — but not by Jamie’s performance at all.”
Bradley will star in the upcoming horror movie “Thorns” which opened in select theaters on February 23rd. You can check out the trailer below:
