PINHEAD VERSUS MICHAEL MYERS?
A Bloody-Disgusting/Creature-Corner Exclusive: It became quite obvious that after the fantastic weekend of Freddy vs Jason, that more movies like it would be spawned from the ashes. One of the first rumors to surface involves the Dimension franchises of Halloween and Hellraiser, read on for the details…
I received the following email from someone who I am going to keep anonymous until he gives me the thumbs up to use his name. He’s worked on such films as House of the Dead and the Showtime Documentary with Mike Mendez (The Convent) called Masters of Horror. He seemed like he really wanted me to post his full letter, so here it is, ‘I hope you can run this story, I didn’t come up with this out of the blue, and I’ve talked about this idea a longtime ago. Many people – including Clive Barker – have seen the trailer that I put together…
First, the idea of doing a Michael Myers vs Pinhead movie hit me years ago. I had pitched, Freddy vs Jason to a guy named Ross Hammer at Sean Cunningham’s company around 94 or early 95. After that happen for me, I started think about what other franchises were at other studios. It was a no brainer to see that Dimension had both the Halloween and Hellraiser franchises, so I put together a trailer- using footage from the Halloween movies, including Halloween 6 which was just getting ready to come out, and the Hellraiser movies 1-4. I did new narration and I called the idea HELLOWEEN – I know not the most ground breaking idea and will probably induce many groans.
I finished it and asked Mike Mendez(THE CONVENT) if he could help get me in to Dimension, since he is represented by an agent at ICM, so I could pitch the idea. Mike got the trailer to Dimension and it made enough of an impression for them to meet with me. At the time I met with Jeff Kurtz, then one of the
heads of development. He explained that he liked the trailer but that they were not ready to go into that direction with either series. Instead they asked me to come up with some ideas for a Hellraiser 5, which ultimately ended in a very long developing process for them as everyone knows.
My whole feeling at the time was that New Line was in development hell with Freddy vs. Jason so why not beat them to the punch. The idea I had then, and still have I feel works well because it blends the two properties together without dismissing what’s been laid out storywise from either series – but that’s my opinion and those are like assholes, everyone has them.
Back to the long story – so Dimension declined, years pass and we get the various sequels to both films – the good, the bad and the ugly. Jeff Kurtz leaves Dimension, others come in – I actually work with Scott Spiegle on a From Dusk Till Dawn 2 trailer, where at that time I show the Helloween trailer to Kevin Kascha – then head of the home video production – I’m not sure if he’s still there. Speigle was in the room as well as Bob Murawski- now editor of Spiderman 2.
CUT TO THIS PAST MONDAY
Freddy vs Jason pulls in 36.4 million dollars opening weekend. I believe, as do several others, that every studio will be looking to mine the same idea. My friend Darin Scott, a writer/director and producer of such films as Tales from the Hood, Caught Up, and Menace to Society, offers – through his agent –
to contact Dimension on my behalf to see if we might be able to dust off the old Helloween idea and pitch it to them. The agent gets through to the head of production at Dimension right away and he lays out the idea. The head of production says …
‘Pinhead is too much a minor cult figure and we are not interested in putting him together with the Halloween series. We are currently trying to decide where we want to take the Halloween series, please check back with us after Labor Day’.
So there’s my answer, I figured, hey at least I tried, now I know that this idea isn’t going to happen. I’m a little bummed because I think it could be a fun movie, actually I know it could be a very ****ing cool movie – really I do. It stayed true to the best elements of Halloween and returned Hellraiser back to the mythology that Clive Barker and Pete Atkins established and that Dimension has so flippantly thrown away. To me, as bogus as it might sound, I love these two series and I really did/do want to make something good – how come I and so many other people can see where they dropped the ball on these series and yet they don’t? But ya know it’s over, done, not my problem…but it is.
TUESDAY
Darin Scott finds out from his agent that Dimension has changed their minds, and that they are scrambling now to put these two guys together. This is, from what I understand, fast tracking. The problem is that they don’t want to meet with us, because they have other writers they want to talk about the project with.
Okay – look I don’t have any ill will towards any other writer. I’m positive there are other writers that have toiled with Dimension for a long time and they want and probably have earned their shot. My problem is that I do honestly feel that this was an idea that I came up with and took seriously before
anyone else did. It was something I went to them years ago with, the timing wasn’t right, but now they’ve decided it is, and I feel that I should at the very least get a chance to meet with them.
I went the extra mile putting this trailer together, spending money to finish it, and I hope that they can at least meet with me and take me as seriously as any other writer that they would meet with.
It is a messy thing honestly, because I don’t want to be labeled a ‘trouble maker,’ and bottom-line is that I don’t and can’t own the rights to this idea, because I don’t have any ownership with either series.
Some people will say ‘Quit your whining man!’ and I’m aware of that. Ultimately Dimension has the control and will do whatever they want to – it’s their right. But I do hope they will at least give me a shot at something I saw the potential of over five years ago. If it doesn’t happen, I’ll live and work on other movies, but I just wouldn’t feel right if I just sat here, didn’t do anything, and watched someone else get to do it.’
Courtesy of Bloody Disgusting
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