doug bradley Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The name Doug Bradley might not ring any bells right away -- except of course if you're a serious horror fan. Mr. Bradley holds the distinction of playing the immortal Pinhead in all eight of the Hellraiser films. So when I heard that A) the first four flicks in the series would soon be broadcast in Hi-Def, and B) I'd be able to share a few moments chatting with the British actor ... needless to say, I was more than interested. Below, we talk all things Hellraiser, and ask Bradley if he's involved in the new Hellraiser remake. (Regarding the Hellraiser HD marathon, it'll play on the Monsters HD network on October 27 and 28, beginning at 9pm on both evenings. Click here for more info.) And now on with the conversation...

Cinematical: Pinhead was your first role in a feature film. Did it ever occur to you that the character could go on to have this sort of shelf life?

Doug Bradley: Absolutely not..For two reasons: Firstly, in the first film I'd been paid union minimum rates for a character with no name completely in latex on screen for less than 10 minutes -- so I didn't think it was going to amount to much, but I was excited to play the part. The makeup was extraordinary and the film was so different than any horror film I'd known of. Secondly, as an actor you don't think like that and you shouldn't look at it like that. You should be focused on the work as work and not looking at it as a meal ticket or the next big franchise. If you had told me the first day I started on Hellraiser that 20 years later I'd be here (conducting this interview) and have the type of fans I have, I wouldn't have known what planet I was on.

Cinematical: Do you find that being known as a "horror icon" has prevented you from acquiring roles in different genres? Is there a downside to being a "horror guy"?

DB: I don't think being known as a "horror icon" has prevented me and I've never looked at it as a downside. I suppose if they're casting for comedies, they don't automatically think to themselves that guy who plays Pinhead in Hellraiser seems terribly funny. You have genre roles and genre filmmakers looking for you. I was a fan of horror films long before I even knew I wanted to be an actor, so I definitely don't look at this as a downside. I have no problem with being in this genre and I haven't found a downside. The fans are wonderful and everything is tremendous fun.

Sure, it's easy enough to find the up-side of the handsome hunks of horror film. Hunks are easy. They're (mostly) hot, with their nicely whitened teeth and their hair product-styled to perfection, their six-pack abs, their ... sorry, where was I? Oh, right. Hunks versus Slashers. Jeff and Monika have already brought you the hottest hunks and chicks of horror; guess who drew the short straw and had to pick the slashers? (Actually, I volunteered for this one, so I guess that says something freaky about me ... ) My mission: to determine the hottest horror slashers (at least, according to me). These are the bad boys of horror you just can't stop thinking about, the ones who keep popping up in your dreams ... or nightmares. Whether they slash with blades on their fingers, roque mallets, or your basic kitchen knife, these are the boys you don't want to bring home to introduce to the folks over Sunday dinner ... unless you want your family to be the main course.

Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates (Psycho) My mother always told me: Never date a mama's boy. Little Normie's devotion to his mother was sweet, sure, but his methods of showing it left a little to be desired. But you have to admit, there's something about a guy who might stab you through the shower curtain if the mood strikes that guarantees that you'll never be bored while getting ready for your big date night. Anthony Perkins' striking performance as Norman Bates set the bar for horror slashers for decades -- even after all these years, watching Psycho still sends shivers up your spine. (View the trailer for Psycho or go straight to the gallery!)

Doug Bradley as Pinhead (Hellraiser) Sure, all those nails stuck into his skull give new meaning to the word "hammered" -- not to mention making it a little tricksy to coordinate outfits for those hot dates to movie premieres -- but at least, in his own bizarrely twisted way, Pinhead had a sense of fair play. Of course, if you make the wrong choice, your evening is gonna go downhill in a hurry. There's nothing like giant fishhooks pulling your flesh 14 different ways to put a damper on date night. On the plus side, though, you're probably pretty safe being walked home after dinner by a guy who looks like he had a close encounter with a nail gun, on purpose. (View the trailer for Hellraiser ... or go straight to the gallery!)

You only have to visit one horror convention to understand why, twelve years after Pumpkinhead 2: Blood Wings hit the scene, we're now getting a pair of seriously unnecessary sequels. (Pumpkinhead 4: Blood Feud aired last month.) It's because horror fans are painfully loyal patrons, and they've agreed that the Pumpkinhead character is pretty damn evil, vicious and slick-looking. I suppose we can blame thank director Stan Winston for creating a low-budget 1989 monster movie that the fanbase really embraced, and (as always) those loyal fans are being summarily punished for making the original Pumpkinhead an underground hit on home video. (I actually have kind of a soft spot for Pumpkinhead 2, mindlessly entertaining trash that it is.)

Speaking of trash, Pupmkinhead 3: Ashes to Ashes is every bit the infantile, obvious and amateurish affair that one would expect from a project bankrolled by the Sci-Fi Channel. I hate to say it so callously, but I'm fairly certain that the Sci-Fi Channel guys are well aware of how rotten their "original programming" movies actually are. Sure, Sci-Fi sometimes airs some really solid titles (Dog Soldiers, for example), but when you're dealing with their own stuff, you're generally dealing with the bottom of the genre barrel.

Waaaay back in April I shared the news that Pumpkinhead 3 would soon arrive from director Jake West (Evil Aliens) and actors Lance Henriksen (Near Dark) and Doug Bradley (Hellraiser), and it looks like "soon" equals October 28th ... on the Sci-Fi Channel. Ugh. I may just wait for the DVD release...

But wait, there's more! Aside from Pumpkinhead 3: Ashes to Ashes, we also have a fourth chapter to (kinda) look forward to! Pumpkinhead 4: Blood Feud (formerly Pumpkinhead 4: Love Hurts) recently wrapped production under the eye of writer/director Mike Hurst, he of Room 6, House of the Dead 2, and Mansquito. Mr. Henriksen will be returning for Part 4, whereas Mr. Bradley will ... not. (Is that a Part 3 spoiler? Sorry.)

The Sci-Fi Channel co-bankrolled both of these flicks, and if you've seen more than four or five "Sci-Fi Originals" in your time, then you probably know what you're getting yourself into. If I'm not mistaken, these guys tried the same thing last year with Return of the Living Dead 4: Necropolis and Return of the Living Dead 5: Rave to the Grave -- and those didn't really work out too well.

[Thanks to Bloody-Disgusting.com for the reminders.]

Normally the announcement of a title like Pumpkinhead 3: Ashes to Ashes would not warrant a big and excited post here at Cinematical -- mainly because sequels like Pumpkinhead 3 happen all the time, and most of 'em suck hard-boiled eggs. But not all latecoming sequels to semi-forgotten monster movies can claim to have both Lance Henriksen and Doug Bradley on their cast lists ... plus P3 will be directed by a guy named Jake West, and if you haven't seen West's Evil Aliens yet, well, you're in for a huge and splattery treat.

Bradley is known throughout the realm of Horrorland as "the guy who played Pinhead in the brilliant Hellraiser and its gradually lamer series of sequels," while Henriksen is a genre god second only to someone like Bruce Campbell or Joss Whedon. Best known for his performance as the "synthetic human" Bishop in James Cameron's Aliens, Mr. Henriksen has spent much of his career in the horror/sci-fi end of the spectrum. Despite the fact that he's appeared in movies like Dog Day Afternoon, Network, and The Right Stuff, Henriksen's most often recognized as the cop from The Terminator, the daddy vampire from Near Dark, and the cyborg who got ripped in half from Aliens.

Evil Aliens will hit R1 DVD later this year, courtesy of Image Entertainment. Pumpkinhead 3 is currently in production. (And by the way, both Pumpkinhead movies are actually pretty solid. Give 'em a rental if vengeful monsters are your thing.)