Doug Bradley Talks ‘Hellrasier’

I came across a great interview with Doug Bradley, the English actor famous for his role as Pinhead in the Hellraiser series. His voice and face are synonymous with pain, blood and all the yummy things that make the cenobites the amazing creatures that they are.

Dread Central did the interview with Bradley and in it he discusses how the character came about (it almost didn’t!) and his feelings about the Hellraiser remake.

“Having someone else play Pinhead and the fact that they are doing a remake bothers me on so many different levels. That character, much like Robert (Englund) and Freddy, is one that I really worked hard to make mine, and seeing someone else become Pinhead feels like a kick in the teeth,” Bradley told Dread.

The earliest incarnation of pinhead appeared in a play by Hellraiser creator Clive Barker called Hunters in the Snow. He later appeared in a 16 mm, black and white film called The Forbidden. Barker took his inspiration for the cenobites from punk rock, Catholicism and S & M fashion. He looked at African fetish sculptures for Pinhead specifically and he sees the figure as a cross between novelist Oscar Wilde and English playwright Noel Coward. Pinhead was originally named The Priest but was first credited in the film as simply the ‘Lead Cenobite.’ In the novella, The Hellbound Heart, he’s known as the Engineer–but no matter what his name, Bradley’s character definitely goes down in history as one of the most frightening monstrosities horror has to offer.