Indeed so! :)

I have to confess I only managed to catch the 2nd and 3rd movie so far - I really have to hunt down the first one now... The story of british Captain Elliot Spencer, who eventually became Pinhead, is quite interesting as well though.

Hmm. The Lament Configuration would make for an excellent Chaos/Slaanesh artefact, too ...

Lynata said:

If I end up getting BC I'm half contemplating a 40k treatment of the Hellraiser mythose... and then twisting it more into a hommage then translation as is 40k's heritage ;-)

As #3 goes, I did like the addition of Elleot Spencer and more has been done with his story in the comic series. However, I have to say that the inclusion is about the only good thing #3 had to contribute to the mythose. The rest of it was a rather silly stereo-typical early 90's mindless blood-romp. It also deviated strongly from Barker's original idea and vision for who/what the Cenobites/Order of the Gash was. It started a sad way-too-Judeo-Christian trend that wasn't supposed to be there, a trend that #4 (Bloodlines) picked up and went screaming with in a way too Hollywood-ized fiasco that should never have been made. Originally, the Cenobites weren't evil, they were beyond such things. They weren't out to be evil, sew destruction, or any of that -you solve the puzzle and they come to give you what your soul cries out for, experience beyond mortal flesh. About the only real connection they had to Judeo-Christian beliefs, or any belief structure for that matter, is it was theorized in one story (getting back to the Barker roots) that various religions concepts of hell or torment in the afterlife might have sprung from them and the rituals surrounding The Puzzle.

2 was a good addition, albeit an over the top cheesy kind of good addition. The first and original is still the best of the lot.

As the movies go, there's actually 8 in the series, though the number that actually count will vary from fan to fan.

#5 (Inferno) receives a lot of hate because it deviates from the established format of #3 and #4, which I felt was a damned good thing. It reestablished Pinhead as a more neutral force of nature as opposed to Teh Evols. It is also criticized a bit for diverging from or not adding to any larger over-arching plot. It doesn't involve, pick up, or lay to rest any of the threads left by the previous 4 movies and doesn't really involve Pinhead which a lot of fans feel every movie should. It's a self contained story in and of it's self, but again, I see that as a good thing and, as stories go, it really not a half bad one at all. It's also more of a mystery and less of a slaughter-fest or survival type of situation where a detective has to figure out just what the hell is going on as his life falls apart around him. It focuses more on the Puzzle, those who would seek it, and what happens when it is solved and less on crazy cenobites rampaging around slaughtering folks. In all, it is much closer to the original story in theme, feel and substance; fans of #3 and #4 tend to hate it while fans of #1 tend to like it (or at least not hate it avidly).

#6 (Hellseeker) Reintroduces Kristy in a very twisted tale in the same vein as #5. Again, as it was written and executed in a similar vein to #5 and was received about the same by the fans. It's closer to the original story then 3 and 4 and fans of those two tend to hate it more then fans of 1 and 2.

#7 (Deader) in which a reporter stumbles across a strange cult in Bucharest comprised of nihilistic kids who commit suicide but never die, was actually just a movie script titled "Deader" that the film execs thought would sell better if it was a Hellraiser movie. So they rote in a 3rd act, tossed in some cenobites and the puzzle box, slapped Hellraiser on it, and called it a day. It's really not a good movie but passable I guess. Again, those who liked the more slasher styled Hellraisers hated this one with the only ones who liked it coming from the fans who liked #1 and the latter installments.

#8 (Hellworld) is someones mental abortion that, again, the film execs thought would possibly sell maybe if they tagged Hellraiser onto it. So they did, tossed in some Cenobites, and go! Also, it involves virtual reality (some some such) and fallows the mindless slasher rout, but not even the fans of the Hellraisers that took that direction seem to rarely have anything good to say about this one... it's just bad, really bad.

Above the movies, I'd recommend checking out the novella, The Hellbound Heart if you're interested in such. It's the essence that the good movies are trying to capture, so why not go to the source, huh?

I find it generally a good idea to ignore any but the first two Hellraiser movies. The other movies have their moments but they are few and far between. The novella is great as are the comics, if you can find them.  

One thing to keep in mind is that the Cenobites are the foot soldiers of Leviathan who is all about order, not chaos.

ItsUncertainWho said:

Just replace order for chaos and chaos for order ;-p Or perhaps recast Pinhead and the cenobites as Inquisitor Pinhead and his Acolytes XD Still, like most anything, a direct translation of 40k <-> Hellraiser doesn't quite work, but the bones are there to transported over and built upon.

I'd toss 5 on that stack as well, but that one seems to be hit or miss amongst the fans, some love it, some hate it.

Oh, and BOOM studios has picked up and is releasing a new Hellraiser series and the original 90's series has been collected and re-released in a TPB, so it shouldn't be that hard to find. Good stuff!

The novel might indeed be a good idea - I'll be sure to put that on my list!

I've just stumbled into all of that by sheer chance (being up late and watching the "right" channel), even though the name of the franchise was of course something I've heard from time to time. That said, I can't believe watching it had eluded me for so long. Must be the same kind of timing I've exhibited with the Song of Ice and Fire books. On the other hand this at least spared me the tortorous gaps between releases so far. :b

Graver said:

Don't get me wrong, the more I think about it the more I have this feeling that a Slaanesh/Cenobite type character may very well be the first thing I make when this book hits. 

Good idea getting some examples from media for people to use as examples.  In addition to reading the 40K novels focusing on the Chaos Space Marines I have a few examples that might be useful.  I suggest interested individuals also look up the tropes used in the series and characters that you want to emulate to distille the elements you want.

Darth Malgus (Star Wars:  Old Republic:  Decieved) - Darth Malgus represents traits that would make for a fine Khornite or Undivided warrior, a man of uncompromising honor and courage yet also a storm of fury in combat who seeks improvement through comflict.

Any Sith from the Darth Bane trilogy.

Darth Caedus (Star Wars:  Legacy of the Force) - A blend of arcane mastery, manipulation, diplomacy and combat skill that any Tzneetchian, Slanneshi or Undivided Chaos Sorcerer Lord should aspire to.

Shockwave (Transformers) - The cold and calculating logic, utterly devoid of compassion; emotion or concionce, exibited by the Decepticon mad genius could be used to make a chilling Tech-Priest of the Dark Mechanus or Obliterator.

Accelerator (To Aru Majutsu no Index) - THis one would be kind of an iconoclast as he is technically a pacifist.  The thing is that Accelerator seeks to become so powerful, ruthless, sadistic and brutal that the mere thought of challenging him becomes utterly ludicrous.  That might be a challenge but could be fun.  I could see a Slanneshi taking such a stance.

Shidou-sensei (Highschool of the Dead) - This guy took over a group of refugees and turned them into his own personal cult in a couple of days after a zombie apacolypse.  Someone willing to exploit dispair, play on the hopes and fears of the crowd and sexually manipulate others could learn a lesson or two from Shidou-sensei and be an effective Apostate Preacher.

Alucard (Hellsing) - The sheer confidence about one's own power, utter ruthlessness and the fact that he knows he is a monster and is perfectly fine with it make Alucard a good example of ideas for a Chaos warrior.  Also the SS major who is the big villian and his "I love war" speech make for a good example of the devious, warmongering madman.

Barrigan Lundisborn (Bleach) - The second espada's ability to rot his enemies to bone and utter arrogance regarding his invincibility could make for a very fun Nurglish Sorcer Lord, especially if the sorcery abilities let you play up using decay as a weapon.

Can you play a moraly good character? 

 No.

Well I guess you could-ish. But would they really be chaos, or atleast chaos for long.

 I'd personally answer "Define what you mean by a morally good character".

Cause, really, that can be quite tricky to tell in the WH40k setting.

Morality is entirely subjective on the society and culture a person grows up in. Most rogue traders kill off their siblings to prevent another potential heir to their warrant, most feral world tribes would find the concept disgusting about killing their kin, but by the same account probably quite happy to eliminate potential rival tribes over a food source, to the point theyre extinct.

MKX said:

But you can play a rogue trader that is a moraly good person that doesn't do that kind of questionable stuff.

Moraly good person like today moraly good person. I'm not interested in moral relativistic justification why most chaos is not evil.

thor2006 said:

That's not exaclty what I thought. My problem is, a certain number of chaotic followers will act because they think what they are doing is "good". Well, if I throw away this "relativistic" thinking...

I think someone can be corrupted by Chaos and do morally "bad" things against his will, or worse, not be aware of what he's really doing (hallucinations...).

If someone from the 21st century could be a chaotic follower...Well, I'd say yes, cause our moral isn't exactly the shiny white knight in shiny armor, but you'll say I'm being all relativistic again :P