I don't really remember much about the original Hellraiser other than a slightly confusing plot (but to be fair I was only 12 at the time, so some of the sadomasochistic subtext might have been a bit over my head), a puzzle box, and some highly disturbing scenes involving fish hooks. Last November Variety had reported that Barker had signed to write and produce the remake, but this is the first news we have heard out of the project since the original announcement. Now, Shock Till You Drop has reported that Seraphim Film's Joe Daley confirmed that novelist Clive Barker just turned in a forty-page treatment for the film.

Based on Barker's novella The Hellbound Heart, the original film was released in 1987 and was written and directed by Barker himself. The story followed a man trapped in a dimension of infinite pleasure and torture who persuades his girlfriend to bring him a steady supply of victims to help him escape. Barker had promised that his update will not deviate too much from the original film but, Barker also said that "There are some areas of the first movie where I think we can be a lot more intense and a lot more scary,". Barker has been busy working on his Books of Blood adaptation Meat Train, with the possibility of more from the series in the near future. So, hopes for a completed Hellraiser script might be a little premature. Especially since at this point, we don't know for sure if there even is a treatment.

Just around the time I'd finished devouring every Stephen King paperback known to man, a friend of mine asked me if I'd read "Clive Barker's Books of Blood" yet. I said "no." (This was over 20 years ago, so don't get all crazy on me, horror freaks.) My next trip to the local book store sent me home whistling a happy tune with all three editions of the Books of Blood tucked beneath my arm. (I've since graduated to this omnibus edition.) And to say I loved these slick, sick, twisted little terror stories would be an understatement on par with "Halloween is a good movie."

(For the record, in the U.S. the "Books" are known as Books of Blood Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3, The Inhuman Condition, In the Flesh and Cabal. So now you know how to track 'em down. Previous films based on some of these short stories include Rawhead Rex (from a Volume 3 tale), Candyman, which is based on a story from Vol. 5 called "The Forbidden," and Nightbreed, which came from the title tale in Vol. 6. The classic Hellraiser sprang not from the Books of Blood series, but from a standalone novel called The Hellbound Heart. The upcoming Midnight Meat Train is based on a story from Volume 1 -- and it's one seriously nasty story, believe me. Lastly, my very favorite "BoB" story is one called "In the Hills, the Cities," and if you've ever read it, then you know why you could never make a movie out of it. Darnit.)

Anyway, all that geek blather poured out so I could share some news from ShockTillYouDrop.com (a fine new horror site with a really goofy name), and that news is this: Looks like the company behind Meat Train is planning to unleash a whole bunch of Books of Blood adaptations over the next few years. The next two on the docket look to be "The Book of Blood" and "Pig Blood Blues," both of which can be found in Volume 1 -- and yes there are some stories in that book that don't have the word "blood" in the title. But like Mr. Barker says: "Everyone's a book of blood; whenever we're opened we're red."

Long before he got just a little bit weary of churning out nothing but high-end hardcore horror tales, a young Clive (Hellraiser) Barker wrote a handful of volumes called The Books of Blood. (Here in the U.S. they're known as Books of Blood Vol. 1 - 3, The Inhuman Condition, In the Flesh, and Cabal  ... and they're all pretty darn awesome.) Anyway, one of the best stories in the very first book was called The Midnight Meat Train, and it was about a stupidly intrepid NYC photographer who travels deep into the bowels of the hellacious subway system to track down a vicious serial killer ... and discovers a whole lot of horrible gruesomeness for his trouble.

So get ready for Midnight Train, the movie version. I could have sworn I'd read that Barker would be involved as a producer, and I certainly do hope that's true. (Anyone out there remember Rawhead Rex?) If so, he'll be working from an adapted screenplay by first-timer Jeff Buhler, and he's also hired himself a first-time director: Patrick Tatopoulos, a veteran production designer / FX wizard whose work you might have enjoyed in Dark City, Pitch Black, Underworld, and Silent Hill ... all flicks that are dark, dangerous, and pretty damn slick.

Midnight Train goes into production this summer, and you'll never guess who'll be releasing the flick stateside. Yep, those wonderful horror freaks over at Lionsgate. Gotta love 'em.

(OK, I'll admit it: I kinda liked Rawhead Rex ... but most of those Hellraiser sequels are just awful.)