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If I were a more superstitious person, I would start to think that Dimension's Hellraiser remake is cursed. It has been a long time since Clive Barker first signed on to help re-write his original story for the screen ... again, but here we are three years later and not a day closer to a finished product. The last anyone had heard was that Pascal Laugier (Martyrs) had signed up to direct. But, thanks to an update from Barker's Twitter feed, we now know that "Pascal Laugier is regrettably no longer on the Hellraiser remake. I think Martyrs is extraordinary, I don't know much more. I mean why would anyone tell me? I mostly discover these things here or through friends who still buy the trades."

The horror-remake has had a revolving door cast for a couple of years now, and Laugier isn't the first director to walk. Originally, the French directors Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury (Inside / A l'interieur) were supposed to be shooting Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton's script, but Bustillo and Maury soon left the film thanks to "creative differences." Laugier was supposed to be their replacement, and we might be back to square one now that rumors are swirling that Dimension has plans to commission an entirely new script as well.

After the jump: so, will Hellraiser ever get made? Plus some of my fantasy picks for a new director.

There's nothing quite like a father incensed with possible harm to his kid and fighting the odds to find and save her. But it's familiar. We've been there, and seen that. So, what would that be like with a French director who freaked out film festival audiences with Martyrs? The Hollywood Reporter posts that Pascal Laugier has been tapped to write and direct a new supernatural thriller called Details. Based on a short story by China Mieville, the film follows a dad obsessed with finding his missing daughter. However, this isn't a simple case of kidnapping -- she disappears after "stirring up dark forces." But if you want something more familiar, the man is also bringing us the Hellraiser remake.

In other news...

Are you ready? Hollywood is bringing us a romcom that will strap us in seats for a full month of romantic comedy! Okay, not quite, but The Hollywood Reporter does say that Lionsgate has picked up a spec by new writer Corinne Kingsbury called 31 Days of Larry. So far, we've got one lone word to describe it: "irreverent." Let's hope that doesn't mean a romcom starring Kevin James, as he's romanced by Adam Sandler. I'm a bit tarnished on the whole "Larry" on the big screen thing. (Not James, just anything that reminds me of that film.)

It is no secret that horror maestro Clive Barker has not had good luck lately with feature films. But to his credit, it hasn't made him bitter about seeing his work translated for the big screen. In an interview with MTV, Barker got the chance to weigh in on the upcoming remake of Hellraiser for Dimension Films -- and judging from his comments, he seems to be in a good place with the project. Barker told MTV, "I never get tired of revisiting [characters] if there is a good story to be told." He seemed genuinely excited about what he has planned for the story of a puzzle box from another dimension and the 'human pin-cushion'.

Back in February, Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton were hired to work on the re-write of the Barker-approved script. But the project had another setback when the French directing duo of Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo (À l'intérieur) left the project due to "creative differences." So for now it looks like Pin-Head and the Gang are without a director. Hopefully, Dimension can get the ball rolling on the remake, because I don't think Barker could take another disappointment at the box office.

After the jump...find out what Barker really thinks about PG-13 horror.

One of the most ferociously entertaining horror flicks of the past several years is Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury's Inside (aka A l'interieur), which will be hitting DVD a little later this year. We already knew that the Frenchmen had been tapped to direct the Hellraiser remake for Dimension, but the project recently got bumped back to 2009.

Now that the strike is over, the producers can take some steps towards getting the flick moving. To that end, horror-lovin' screenwriters Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton have been hired to help get the new (Barker-approved) Hellraiser ... raised. Genre fans will remember Marc and Pat from their debut flick Feast, plus they also joined the Twisted team last year when they provided the screenplay for Saw 4. (And yes, they also worked on Feast 2. And Saw 5. Oh, and Feast 3.)

According to Shock, the duo also have The Midnight Man in production with Dimension, so obviously the studio likes these guys. More word on Hellraiser, Inside, Saw 5, The Midnight Man, and the new Feasts as it becomes available.

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!)

Since the 1980s was a time of truly horrifying fashions and some downright scary hairdos (pass the Aquanet, please) it's no surprise that it was also a boom period for horror films. Some of the biggest horror franchises in history came into their own then, and the decade was marked by the emergence of home video, the greatest thing ever to happen to horror. I'm presenting these in no particular order, but these are all flicks I found time to enjoy between solving my Rubik's Cube and admiring girls in leg-warmers (I keep hoping those will come back).

The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Despite what ultimately ended up on screen, this project began its undead life as a more or less official sequel to the movie that gave birth to the modern zombie genre. After completion of Night of the Living Dead, director George Romero and co-screenwriter John Russo both held sequel rights. While Romero continued the series with 1978's Dawn of the Dead, Russo's sequel came in the form of a potboiler of a novel called Return of the Living Dead. The book is a real chore to plod through, but apparently writer/director Dan O'Bannon liked it enough to turn it into a film which fortunately bears no resemblance to Russo's novel. In the film, the events of Night of the Living Dead are more or less based on a true occurrence, but names and details were changed to avoid law suits. Several drums of the chemical manufactured by the military to reanimate the dead were mistakenly shipped to Uneeda Medical Supply. A dopey pair of guys release the chemical which makes its way into some cadavers in the warehouse and eventually the cemetery across the street, where a gang of punk rockers are killing time. These zombies are more selective than most, feasting only on brains. Not everything works perfectly, but the zombie known as Tarman is pretty cool, Linnea Quigley is naked most of the time and there's an awesome punk soundtrack.

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.

At the risk of sounding -- I don't know -- cynical, I have to say I'm a little surprised to read this article in The Hollywood Reporter. Apparently, horror master Clive Barker is partnering with Walden Media, who are primarily known for kid-friendly fare like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and the upcoming Charlotte's Web, to develop an original thriller for kids centered around Edgar Allen Poe. Although, I guess I shouldn't really be surprised considering Barker has actually done some other projects for kids before, such as the books The Thief of Always and his recent fantasy series The Books of Abarat -- both of which are also currently being developed as films.

Still, most of my experiences with Barker come from watching his films, not from reading his books. Perhaps I'm in the minority but I don't exactly consider Candyman, Nightbreed or Hellraiser suitable for kids -- although I'm sure Pinhead would make an excellent babysitter. Well, I guess everyone deserves a chance to change and try different things, so I can't really fault Barker for wanting to stretch with this new project. That said, what's his reason for wanting to tell this kind of story? "I think we might have a chance with this project to bring the character of Poe alive for a new audience and weave his shadowy existence into the dark enchantments of his stories so that for our protagonist, and for our audience, it will be difficult to be sure where one finishes and the other takes flight," Barker said.

And what about my concerns regarding the blood, violence and other explicit scenes that are usually a large part of the Clive Barker "experience"? "This project is an opportunity for us to reimagine a genre that is generally associated with an older audience," Alex Schwartz, exec vp of production at Walden media said. "By focusing on mood and atmosphere rather than blood and guts, Clive Barker brings a smart, literate take on the horror genre that will expose young audiences to its great literary underpinnings." Ok, I'll buy that.

The as-yet untitled film will revolve around a group of teenagers who attempt to uncover what happened during the last weeks of Edgar Allen Poe's life. Unfortunately, their investigation inadvertently triggers a curse that unlocks Poe's nightmares from which the teenagers must escape. Barker will also produce the film through his Seraphim Films' with Anthony DiBlasi and Joseph Daley exec producing. No word yet on casting or a potential start date. What do you guys think? Can Barker make the transition from horror to kid's films, or should he stick to what he does best?

For a good long while there it looked like horror master Clive Barker was going to escape unscathed from the Remake Renaissance that's been plaguing the planet for the past several years ... but nope. Looks like the celebrated author / artist / filmmaker has been bitten by the re-do bug; he'll be penning the screenplay for a Hellraiser remake for good ol' Bob Weinstein.

Over at his official website, Mr. Barker seems quite pleased with the fact that he'll be writing and producing (but not directing) this new-fangled vision of Pinhead's wrath -- but someone should have reminded Clive that the Weinsteins don't always treat their genre flicks with the greatest respect. (Just ask the guys who (finally) got their Feast released ... on the one-weekend midnight-only circuit.)

Ah well, I suppose it could have been worse. Somene might have gone ahead and remade Hellraiser completely without Barker's involvement ... and that would have been a fiasco. (Rent a few of the sequels and you'll see what I mean.) Meanwhile, that movie version of Midnight Meat Train is still stuck in limbo somewhere, which sucks because it's one of CB's most wonderfully splattery stories.

But really, wouldn't Rawhead Rex be better suited for the remake treatment? Hellraiser is already good movie!