I am a fan of the Hellraiser series in theory but not really in principal. I find the core concept to be absolutely horrifying, and the expanded lore surrounding Leviathan and the Order of the Gash to be outstanding. The comics seem like they do a really good job of expanding on things, but the only actual film media of the series I like is Huluraiser. Everything else is fairly lame, schlocky trash.
The books are another issue. The Hellbound Heart is fantastic, and The Scarlet Gospels was so good that it made me think a little harder about the movies and helped me to enjoy them more. Part of the problem with the movies is there’s weird stuff that never gets explained. Like why does the extradimensional gateway seem to be behind walls all the time? How does Frank come back? Why does so much stuff seem like it’s just supposed to be magic?
Well, the reason why is it’s magic! The Scarlet Gospels makes it clear that magic exists in this universe, and it expands on it in a worthy way. It also better relates how the heavenly biblical pantheon works into things, even including Lucifer as a character. If you’re a fan of John Constantine, there’s even a character following that pattern, acting as a magician and occult detective, and it’s pretty awesome.
Ultimately, this book took a long time for Clive Barker to finish, and I’m glad he did. The books in this series are so good that they make me take another look at the movies and actually improved my view of them. If you like the Hellraiser series I’d say give them a look, although if you appreciate the campier elements of the movies it may actually ruin this for you a small amount, as the tone is very different.
The one thing that will keep this from being a full-throated recommendation is that there is rape present in this story, and it is presented to inspire “manly rage” and all that bullshit as opposed to how it affects the woman who endures it, and that understandably is a dealbreaker for many people. Aside from that, this is a solid book and a worthy expansion on the material that I recommend.