Clive Barker spoke to MTV and said something you hear rarely these days — he’s all for the remakes of his movies Hellraiser and Candyman. He feels that so long as there’s a good story to be told, why not go and re-visit these characters we know and love?
The writer/director goes on to say that the last few Hellraiser movies went and just used the character to make money with no story, so they didn’t work, but if the story is great, he’s excited for the new ones.
Barker also touched on the dreaded PG-13 rating and its place in the horror genre. What he says is pretty much identical to my views on it, so I’m quoting as much as I can get in hopes that maybe Clive Barker throwing it down will be a little clearer to all of those people who say, “They can get away with a lot of stuff in PG-13 these days, so it’s no concern.”
It’s one of the most disgusting developments in the last few years; the whole notion of a PG-13 horror movie to me is a contradiction in terms. It’s like having a XXX Disney picture. It doesn’t work. To me, you don’t have to throw blood around in every scene, but there has to be a sense — and this is not my quote, it’s Wes Craven’s quote. Wes says that ‘When you go into a horror movie, you need to feel that you’re in the hands of a madman.’ Now what madman makes a PG-13 picture, right? Your horror-movie madman…doesn’t neaten up all the edges and make it all nice for mommy. They [studios] do it because they want to bring in younger audiences and make more money. But they don’t make better movies.
Amen, brother. Amen!
Clive Barker is now my new hero!
There’s so many different sub-genres buried within the over-all horror genre: ghosts, monsters, slashers, realistic, psycho killers, torture porn, and so on. None of these has shown me that they can successfully surpass the “thriller” and reach “horror” with or without gore and naked college girls running around with two big exceptions — Poltergeist and Jaws — which are great, great horror movies that were made when it was either PG or R. The plain and simple fact is that these days, there’s a certain tone that you can only accomplish with an R-rating and it hurts me to have watched the embarrassing fall of the genre that’s taken place.
Let us also not forget that an R rating doesn’t guarantee a good movie. Most of the R-rated horrors we get are violence-based with a terrible story, as Mr. Barker mentioned earlier. For example, movies like The Hills Have Eyes, which was so bad I would have actually rather watch some awful PG-13 horror like One Missed Call.
Man, I never get sick of bitching about Hollywood short-comings.
I agree totally. A horror movie should be disturbing on at least some level. Disturbing in a way that will upset children. I guess the word I’m looking for is (duh) ‘Horriffic!’
How about every single great horror movie made before 1965?
Damn skippy
[...] suspect that the real reason Barker (and the anonymous poster at Geeks of Doom who linked approvingly to the Barker interviw) objects to PG-13 horror is that it undercuts the point he is trying to make. [...]
[...] Clive Barker Hates PG-13 Horror, OK With Remakes Yes! Someone feels as I about PG-13 horror. (tags: geek geeksofdoom movie clivebarker) [...]