Hellraiser Casting Call

As soon as you hear the words “crowd funded”, you know that franchise has gone down hill! Hellraiser has never attracted the biggest budgets for its films, but the last few entries were really bottom of the barrel when it came down to cash flow. The latest entry, named as Hellraiser: Judgment just sounds awful.

Ok lets start from the top. Back in September 2013, Judgement Director Gary Tunnicliffe, started a kick starter project called (what do you know!) Judgment that failed miserably.  Asking for $195,000 to make the film, the project raise only $8k. Watching the short film they created as part of the campaign, it’s easy to see why. Tunnicliffee clearly see’s himself as Clive Baker incarnate, but his amateurish camera angles and lack of any pace, the film looks like something fresh out of film school. 

Now we know that Dimension Films have desperately grasped at keeping hold of the franchise in the past, rushing out direct to DVD Revelations, the first Hellraiser film not to star Doug Bradley.  Judgment sounds like another rushed attempt at holding the dogs at bay, whilst Clive Barker explores rebooting the series, something he has been talking about for years now.

Now Gary Tunnicliffe is not a film director, he is a visual effects artists, and his kick start film sounded remarkably like a Hellraiser rip-off, the story being about a man who is judged by a series of other worldly creatures. He has already managed to piss off Doug Bradley, insisting on him singing a three page gagging order before he could look at a rough draft of the script, acting as if his film is the next Starwars! Seriously Gary, we know what your films about…you did a bloody KICKSTART page about it. With Bradley out of the project, Pin head is apparently being replaced with a character called the Auditor, who you can see on the kickstarter video.

You can read Doug’s Rant on his facebook page

And Yes, it does indeed look as if his kickstarter script and the new hellraiser movie are one in the same, as a casting call went out for characters actually in his failed campaign. Straight from OKC’s face book page

ALISON CARTER – Female, 28-35. Sean’s perfect, adoring wife. But something is missing. Her husband has been distant, even cold. He has forgotten her on her birthday. Alison makes it her mission to help her husband, but she hides a very dark secret. (TOPLESS/PARTIAL NUDITY. SIMULATED SEX.)

THE AUDITOR – Male, 40-60. All business, very matter-of-fact. Clearly not of this earth. He learns of your sins, your transgressions, your evils, and takes careful note of them before passing them on to the Assessor for judgment. Think of him more as an accountant from Hell. A great character actor with a great face is needed to bring this role from the other world to ours. SUPPORTING

THE JURY – Females, early 20s. These three, naked, perfectly beautiful girls have faces that have been shredded away; blood, bone, muscle, sinew and teeth exposed. They pass the horrific verdicts onto all offending mortals. They will also wear tight-fitting body suits and portray our “stitchers.” Dance experience might be fun here, but not required. (NUDITY REQUIRED) 4 SCENES

HODGES – Male, 50s. He is the rotund Medical Examiner; a Hawaiian shirt-wearing, basement-working bureaucrat with information on Crystal Lanning’s murder—but the information doesn’t come without a slimy proposal for Detective Egerton. 1 SCENE. 10 LINES, 3 SPEECHES

CRYSTAL LANNING – Female, 21. She is a beautiful socialite. She wears a black, designer micro cocktail dress, carries a Chanel purse, and barks into her bejeweled cell phone, wobbling out of her Uber Black on ridiculous high heels. She is also never far from her beloved little dog, “Baby.” She will suffer a grisly, horrific end, and it is her murder that sets our story in action. Must be comfortable with her body. Will be seen in a thong. 2 SCENES.

CLEANERS – Females, 65+. These terrifying, aging, naked women clean bodies for punishment by licking them head to toe. They tear away their victim’s clothes, not unlike a pack of wolves, forcing their tongues upon Watkins. (NUDITY REQUIRED)

VAGRANT – Male, 55+. Rough, disheveled, homeless man. Perhaps he is hairy, perhaps he is missing teeth. You can almost smell him through the screen. So it is odd and out of character for him to eloquently quote Charles Dickens in a whisper to Sean. 1 SCENE

LANDLADY – Female, 50+. A cigarette dangles from her mouth as she snorts obscenities to the police. 1 SCENE.

SOCCER BOY – Male, 8-11. A small soccer boy who’s ball clearly bounced in the wrong yard. 1 SCENE, 1 LINE.

MORMON 1 – Male, 20-28. MUST SPEAK GERMAN. He shows up at the door on his bicycle, in typical black pants and white short-sleeved shirt. 1 SCENE, 1 LINE

BUTCHER – Male, 30-45. A huge, behemoth of a man. A huge bouncer/doorman type. With his giant scythe, in large, hack-like movements, he slices meat from Watkins’ back. 1 SCENE. NO LINES.

SURGEON – Male, 30-60. The skinniest guy we can find. A full or partial lower limb amputee. Either a dancer or martial arts expert, or perhaps even a full or partial lower-limb amputee, giving him a real ROAD WARRIOR feel. He is lowered on a harness, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE style. With surgical precision, he vivisects Watkins on the gruesome operating table. 1 SCENE. NO LINES.

No matter how you look at it, this film just sound awfull. No pin-head, an amauter director and a script from a failed kickstarter campaign. This is one film in not holding out much hope for, nor am I looking forward to it.