The Hellbound Heart
Encyclopedia
The Hellbound Heart is a horror
novella
by Clive Barker
, first published in November 1986
by Dark Harvest in the third volume of their Night Visions anthology series, and notable for becoming the basis for the 1987 movie Hellraiser
and its franchise
. It was re-released as a stand-alone title by HarperCollins
in 1988, after the success of the movie, along with an audiobook recorded by Clive Barker and published by Simon & Schuster Audioworks
. It retains the gory, visceral style that Barker introduced in his series of collected short stories The Books of Blood. The story focuses on a mystical puzzle box and the horror it wreaks on a family which is unfortunate enough to come across it.
who has spent his life in a selfish, single-minded pursuit of the ultimate sensual
experience. Having lived a life of world travel, engaging in countless crimes and every sexual experience known to mankind, Frank is now a nihilist
, his pursuits having left him feeling unfulfilled and still wanting more extreme experiences. Jaded to the point that conventional sexual activity now leaves him completely unstimulated, Frank hears rumors of Lament Configuration
, an artifact he learned about on his travels, a puzzle box that is said to act as a portal to an extradimensional realm of unfathomable carnal pleasure. Locating the owner in Düsseldorf
, Frank obtains the box by performing "small favors" and returns with it to his deceased grandmother's home in England
. Frank prepares a shrine consisting of bonbon
s, flowers, severed dove
s heads, and a massive jug of his own urine, offerings for the box's inhabitants: The Cenobites
, members of a religious order dedicated to extreme sensual experiences.
Opening the box, Frank is confused and horrified when the Cenobites, rather than beautiful women, turn out to be horribly scarified
creatures whose bodies have been modified
to the point that they are apparently sexless. Nonetheless, when they offer Frank experiences like he has never known before, Frank readily agrees, despite the Cenobites' repeated warnings that it may not be what he expects and that he cannot renege on an agreement to return to their realm with them. With Frank as their newest "experiment," the Cenobites subject Frank to a total sensory overload, at which point he realizes that the Cenobites are so extreme in their devotion to sadomasochism that they no longer differentiate between extreme pain and extreme pleasure. Frank is sucked into the Cenobite realm, where he realizes that he will be subjected to an eternity of torture.
Sometime later, Frank's brother, Rory, and his wife, Julia, move into the home. Unknown to Rory, Julia had an affair with Frank a week before their wedding; she has spent the entirety of her marriage obsessing over and lusting after Frank, and has only stayed married to Rory for financial support.
While moving in, Rory accidentally cuts his hand and bleeds on the spot where Frank was taken by the Cenobites. This serves to open another dimensional schism, through which Frank is able to escape, his body now reduced to a dessicated corpse by the Cenobites' experiments. Julia finds him and promises to restore his body so that they can renew their affair.
While Rory is at work, Julia begins seducing men at bars and bringing them back to the attic, where she murders them and feeds their bodies to Frank, whose own body begins to slowly regenerate. Kirsty
, a friend of Rory's who is secretly in love with him, suspects that Julia is having an affair and attempts to catch her in the act; instead she encounters Frank, who attempts to kill her; Kirsty steals the puzzle box and flees the house, collapsing from exhaustion on the street. She is taken to a hospital, where she solves the puzzle box and inadvertently summons the Cenobites. The Cenobites initially attempt to take Kirsty back with them, until she tells them about Frank; skeptical that one of their experiments could have escaped, the Cenobites agree to leave Kirsty alone in exchange for Frank's return.
Kirsty leads the Cenobites to Frank, now wearing recently slain Rory's skin. Another altercation ensues, during which an unrepentant Frank inadvertently kills Julia. Assured of Frank's identity, the Cenobites appear and ensnare Frank with a multitude of hooks and return with him to their realm. Leaving the house, Kirsty encounters the heretofore unseen leader of the Cenobites, the Engineer, who entrusts her to watch over the box until another degenerate seeks it out. Looking at the lacquered surface, Kirsty imagines that she sees Julia and Frank's faces reflected in the lacquered surface, but not Rory's. She wonders if there are other puzzles, that might find a way to where Rory resides by unlocking the doors to paradise.
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
by Clive Barker
Clive Barker
Clive Barker is an English author, film director and visual artist best known for his work in both fantasy and horror fiction. Barker came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories which established him as a leading young horror writer...
, first published in November 1986
1986 in literature
The year 1986 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Michael Grade. Controller of BBC One, axes plans to televise Ian Curteis's The Falklands Play.-New books:*Kingsley Amis - The Old Devils...
by Dark Harvest in the third volume of their Night Visions anthology series, and notable for becoming the basis for the 1987 movie Hellraiser
Hellraiser
Hellraiser is a 1987 British and American horror film based upon the novella The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker, who also wrote the screenplay and directed the film. Hellraiser explores themes of sadomasochism and morality under duress and fear. The film spawned a series of sequels...
and its franchise
Hellraiser (film series)
Hellraiser is a British horror franchise that consists of nine films, a series of comic books, and merchandise based on the series. The franchise is based on the novella The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker, who would go on to write and direct the adaptation of his story, titled Hellraiser...
. It was re-released as a stand-alone title by HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
in 1988, after the success of the movie, along with an audiobook recorded by Clive Barker and published by Simon & Schuster Audioworks
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
. It retains the gory, visceral style that Barker introduced in his series of collected short stories The Books of Blood. The story focuses on a mystical puzzle box and the horror it wreaks on a family which is unfortunate enough to come across it.
Synopsis
Frank is a hedonistHedonism
Hedonism is a school of thought which argues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good. In very simple terms, a hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure .-Etymology:The name derives from the Greek word for "delight" ....
who has spent his life in a selfish, single-minded pursuit of the ultimate sensual
Sensation
Sensation is the fiction-writing mode for portraying a character's perception of the senses. According to Ron Rozelle, “. . .the success of your story or novel will depend on many things, but the most crucial is your ability to bring your reader into it. And that reader will be most completely...
experience. Having lived a life of world travel, engaging in countless crimes and every sexual experience known to mankind, Frank is now a nihilist
Nihilist
Nihilist may refer to:* a person who believes human existence has no objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value, see nihilism* Nihilist movement, a Russian political and cultural movement* Nihilist , a Swedish death metal band...
, his pursuits having left him feeling unfulfilled and still wanting more extreme experiences. Jaded to the point that conventional sexual activity now leaves him completely unstimulated, Frank hears rumors of Lament Configuration
Lemarchand's box
Lemarchand's box is a fictional lock puzzle or puzzle box appearing in horror stories by Clive Barker, or in works based on his original stories. The best known of these boxes is the Lament Configuration, which features prominently throughout the Hellraiser movie series. This was designed and made...
, an artifact he learned about on his travels, a puzzle box that is said to act as a portal to an extradimensional realm of unfathomable carnal pleasure. Locating the owner in Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, Frank obtains the box by performing "small favors" and returns with it to his deceased grandmother's home in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Frank prepares a shrine consisting of bonbon
Bonbon
The name bonbon refers to any of several types of sweets, especially small candies enrobed in chocolate.The first reports of bonbons come from the 17th century, when they were made at the French royal court. Their name arose from infantile reduplication of the word bon, meaning 'good'...
s, flowers, severed dove
Dove
Pigeons and doves constitute the bird family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes, which include some 300 species of near passerines. In general terms "dove" and "pigeon" are used somewhat interchangeably...
s heads, and a massive jug of his own urine, offerings for the box's inhabitants: The Cenobites
Cenobite (Hellraiser)
The Cenobites are extradimensional beings who appear in the works of Clive Barker, including the novella The Hellbound Heart and the nine Hellraiser films...
, members of a religious order dedicated to extreme sensual experiences.
Opening the box, Frank is confused and horrified when the Cenobites, rather than beautiful women, turn out to be horribly scarified
Scarification
Scarifying involves scratching, etching, burning, or superficially cutting designs, pictures, or words into the skin as a permanent body modification.In the process of body scarification, scars are formed by cutting or branding the skin...
creatures whose bodies have been modified
Body modification
Body modification is the deliberate altering of the human body for any non-medical reason, such as aesthetics, sexual enhancement, a rite of passage, religious reasons, to display group membership or affiliation, to create body art, shock value, or self expression...
to the point that they are apparently sexless. Nonetheless, when they offer Frank experiences like he has never known before, Frank readily agrees, despite the Cenobites' repeated warnings that it may not be what he expects and that he cannot renege on an agreement to return to their realm with them. With Frank as their newest "experiment," the Cenobites subject Frank to a total sensory overload, at which point he realizes that the Cenobites are so extreme in their devotion to sadomasochism that they no longer differentiate between extreme pain and extreme pleasure. Frank is sucked into the Cenobite realm, where he realizes that he will be subjected to an eternity of torture.
Sometime later, Frank's brother, Rory, and his wife, Julia, move into the home. Unknown to Rory, Julia had an affair with Frank a week before their wedding; she has spent the entirety of her marriage obsessing over and lusting after Frank, and has only stayed married to Rory for financial support.
While moving in, Rory accidentally cuts his hand and bleeds on the spot where Frank was taken by the Cenobites. This serves to open another dimensional schism, through which Frank is able to escape, his body now reduced to a dessicated corpse by the Cenobites' experiments. Julia finds him and promises to restore his body so that they can renew their affair.
While Rory is at work, Julia begins seducing men at bars and bringing them back to the attic, where she murders them and feeds their bodies to Frank, whose own body begins to slowly regenerate. Kirsty
Kirsty Cotton
For the EastEnders character, see Dotty CottonKirsty Cotton is a fictional character from the Hellraiser series of films. Created by writer Clive Barker, the character first appears in the 1987 film Hellraiser and is based upon the character of the same name from the novel The Hellbound Heart...
, a friend of Rory's who is secretly in love with him, suspects that Julia is having an affair and attempts to catch her in the act; instead she encounters Frank, who attempts to kill her; Kirsty steals the puzzle box and flees the house, collapsing from exhaustion on the street. She is taken to a hospital, where she solves the puzzle box and inadvertently summons the Cenobites. The Cenobites initially attempt to take Kirsty back with them, until she tells them about Frank; skeptical that one of their experiments could have escaped, the Cenobites agree to leave Kirsty alone in exchange for Frank's return.
Kirsty leads the Cenobites to Frank, now wearing recently slain Rory's skin. Another altercation ensues, during which an unrepentant Frank inadvertently kills Julia. Assured of Frank's identity, the Cenobites appear and ensnare Frank with a multitude of hooks and return with him to their realm. Leaving the house, Kirsty encounters the heretofore unseen leader of the Cenobites, the Engineer, who entrusts her to watch over the box until another degenerate seeks it out. Looking at the lacquered surface, Kirsty imagines that she sees Julia and Frank's faces reflected in the lacquered surface, but not Rory's. She wonders if there are other puzzles, that might find a way to where Rory resides by unlocking the doors to paradise.