The Hellbound Heart: A Novel

This is a cool little novella, about 150 pages, with big lettering. I finished it in two nights, but could have read it in a day. Its about what you would expect, if you have ever seen 'Hell Raiser'. Its a little different and has more detail than the movie it inspired. If you like Clive Barker or S&M or gory horror, you'll like this.

This book leaves little doubt that Clive Barker has an incredible imagination linked and obviously influenced by H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft often wrote of alternate dimensions, realms, in which foul denizens wait, hatching diabolical intentions and torturous ideas about harming Mankind. "The Hellbound Heart" is a book with such a scenario at its center. Demons, known here as Cenobites, who are summoned through the opening of a unique artifact called Lemarchand's box. In fact, the entire first chapter reads more like Lovecraft than at any other point in this novella. This book is very short, a little over 160 pages in length, and the margins are narrow with fairly large print. This is a quick read, the modernized style of writing leaving no room for catching your breath. It is entertaining, albeit very naive. I have little doubt that Clive Barker looks back on this book and thinks about how little he knew about characterization and their driving motivations. His writing is clearly ambitious, but the characters are so thinly drawn, their reasons for their actions so tenuously wrought, that I just waited around for another paragraph of straight creative description. I longed for the return of the malevolent Cenobites on many occasions. Kirsty is never fully explained. Is she somebody's daughter, as it is shown in the film version, "Hellraiser"? Is she Julia's daughter? Frank's? It is never directly stated. As for Julia, it seems unlikely that a fleeting love/lust affair would drive her to commit murders. Perhaps it was the affect of the demons lurking upstairs, but that is never suggested. Just all of a sudden she goes out and brings home her first victim/sacrifice. The most interesting character is Frank who aches for new and intense experiences beyond human understanding. So much so that he opens Lemarchand's box and is generously given his requests, to horrifying effect. The first chapter is worth reading again and again, but the film version of this story has much better dialogue and the actors give such splendid performances that it is unlikely I will ever want to read this book cover to cover again. This book shows a very young Clive Barker creatively conjuring the spirit of H.P. Lovecraft, oftentimes matching that master's ideas, but the characterization needs fleshing out(pun intended). The dialogue is rarely passionate or loaded with emotional depth, leaving the reader with a hollow feeling of what could have been. There are many fine ideas here, many inspired moments, but the end result, the overall effect, is one of ambitious youth and ignorant technique.

The Hellbound Heart was originally written before Clive Barker became "The Future Of Horror". This is what one would expect from a seasoned writer with years of 'getting away with it' behind him. It also shows what was left out of the filmed version (we'll see what the remake brings). This is a stunning edition with original cenobite designs drawn by Clive as well as the original first chapter reprinted with annotations and notes by the author. A must for Clive fans. If you're new to the mans writings be prepared to sleep with the light on for quite a while.

I hate reviews that praise a book/movie/game endlessly. It always strikes me as a fanboi review which I can disregard without taking too seriously. Despite that I now proceed to praise this book lavishly hoping you'll take it seriously.

The book itself is really really short. I finished it in one day. Despite the age of the book (written ~25 years ago) it is still engaging and is simple enough to be timeless.

This book is probably one of the best character pieces I've ever read. The three main characters (I discount Rory) are engaging and real. You can relate (with horror) to the motivations of all of them and the way they respond to each other (Frank manipulating Julia, Julia's slavish lust for Frank, Julia's dislike of Kirsty, Kirsty's dislike of Julia, etc). The Cenobites are (disappointingly) blank slates; horrors that just give the main characters a framework to be evil. Rory is also just an object to move the story along.

The plot is very similar to the Hellraiser movie with some subtle differences (ex. Kirsty goes from family friend to daughter) and I assume at this point you have seen the movie already. This is a shame because I was still frightened (a bit) even knowing the plot so I can only imagine what a uninitiated reader would feel. I can't say enough good things about how great the plot is although it is faintly similar to the story of Faust.

The setting was the most lacking part of the book. There really isn't much physical space taken up by the story. Really the story takes place almost entirely in the room where Frank dies and is reborn. The rest of it is very generic but this actually helps with the surreal feeling.

Overall I can't recommend this story enough. It's a nice tight short tale with very little wrong with it. It's easy to see why such a great short story (or short novel) became a classic horror movie. The only complaints I have are 1) how sad it is to see the movie franchise based on this book go so horrible bad and 2) why hasn't Clive Barker's new manuscript the Scarlet Gospels not been published yet?!

But honestly - they did great justice to this novella. An easy read, full of suspense, and not quite as gorey as the movies, though this may be due to Barker's style of not over-describing the violent scenes and allowing the reader to supply the amount of gore they are emotionally comfortable experiencing.

The line between pleasure and pain is often so thin as to be completely nonexistent. Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of sadomasochism knows that receiving and inflicting pain can be a singularly euphoric experience. Few books ever explore this dichotomy as openly as The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker. Barker managers to plum the common human psyche, the dark recesses of our collective unconscious so to speak, and present a vision that can be seen as a cautionary morality play. Because sexuality is a primary impulse (in much the same way that food is) it can be both exhilarating and dangerous. Barker captures the darkest aspects of human sexuality in his tale.

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Hellraiser is a great book. For anyone who comes here to read this book in preparation for Scarlet Gospels you are doing both bad and great thing.
Bad: You don't really need this book for bacground, as character called Pinhead or Hell Priest (or Lead Cenobite from film) is not really making an appearance here. The truth is, the only cenobite with nails in her head is female... The 1987 movie Hellraiser has provided more in terms of graphic representation of the character. Also you won't really need this to read the Scarlet Gospels.

Great: This book is universes better than Scarlet Gospels as you will undoubtedly experience for yourself once you have finished the book. The imagination and capability of showing fantastic realms at our fingertips hidden in everyday mundane world is something that only Clive Barker can do and in such short book you will find solid characters, great story and lot of magic. Enjoy.

I had one small problem and that is that this version of ebook had no cover image. It was little disappointing.

Clive Barker's 1986 novella "The Hellbound Heart" is a true work of horror fiction that uses the most intricate and descriptive language throughout the entire book. It is no coincidence that this novella spawned one of the most successful horror movie franchises of all time. Each character helps move the story along perfectly and this story provides many more intricate details into the atmosphere when compared to the original Hellraiser film. I could not recommend this work any more strongly to any horror enthusiast, film or literature.

Well written and quickly paced, a good novella for anyone wanted a look into the metaphysical depth of hedonism. The only issue is several characters aren't entirely fleshed out, making it hard at times to care what happens to them. Besides that it is an enjoyable read.

Truly engrossing from cover to cover and especially creepy. Having been a huge fan of the Hellraiser series for many years, I was very excited to finally read the short story that started it all. Clive's imagery is stunning, giving life to the disturbing in such a way that will stick for a long time. The history behind the Cenobites and the Lament Configuration is as enigmatic as ever, giving the story even more of a creepy, otherworldly feel. I would definitely recommend this book to a fan of Clive Barker, Hellraiser, or the horror genre in general.

The movie Hellraiser is a horror masterpiece but even after watching it a bunch of times I didn't really understand what Frank was up to. The Hellbound Heart, which is the basis of the movie, explained a lot of the mystery in an excellent surprisingly creepy package which goes beyond the gore that the movie delivers. At $7.50 for about 150 pages, there is room to complain about the price but the novella itself is excellent. Grab it if you want a good read for a cross country flight.

The movie Hellraiser is a horror masterpiece but even after watching it a bunch of times I didn't really understand what Frank was up to. The Hellbound Heart, which is the basis of the movie, explained a lot of the mystery in an excellent surprisingly creepy package which goes beyond the gore that the movie delivers. At $7.50 for about 150 pages, there is room to complain about the price but the novella itself is excellent. Grab it if you want a good read for a cross country flight.

I consider myself a radical feminist and I just love Barker's style. He has a very unusual and empathetic view for women, much more whole, imo, than even many feminist writers or supposed feminist books.

As a child of abuse, the dark bondage is relatable, as his world mimics my nightmares. The character is very strong and this is probably one of the most unique stories I have ever read. I'm so glad I'm alive to read it!

I liked The Hellbound Heart, but there was something cold and grotesque about both Barker's story as well as his writing that turned me off. I enjoy a lot of horror, but this was more "dismal" than it was "scary." For what it was, it was good, hence the three stars. Just not enjoyable enough to return to Barker again.