The Hellbound Heart: Classic Horror?
In The Hellbound Heart,
Clive Barker introduces the world that would become his Hellraiser series. A
search through the book’s online legacy reveals how groundbreaking horror fans
consider it.
A first time reader (and non-horror fan) can expect a
gruesome story, stereotypes, and cringe-worthy writing.
The main character Frank pursues hedonistic satisfaction through
Lemarchand’s box, a puzzle that summons the Cenobites, pleasure giving
creatures from another dimension. The Cenobites trap Frank in their world, but
he comes up with a plan to escape. Using his sister-in-law Julie, Frank makes
her fall in love with him from beyond, and makes her bring him human sacrifices
so that he may drink their blood and grow strong. Eventually Frank turns on his
brother, Julie, and anyone whose blood he can drink. I get it: Barker is
showing us how we can become overcome by our own desires.
Imagine a very bro-y bro writing a book about a beast who
takes what he wants, rapes when he wants, and destroys what he wants. The bro-y bro writes the way you might expect a very bro-y bro to, probably while high or
between rounds of a video game. That’s how the writing feels in The Hellbound Heart—clunky at best.
Barker could just write someone “can’t move” instead he writes “unable to advance another millimeter.” It’s that kind of writing, written with such pomposity, I could
practically see Barker congratulating himself as a genius for re-envisioning
how to write, “can’t move.” Ugh.
Julia, Frank’s brother Rory, and the heroine Kirsty, all
play important parts, but we never get to know them beyond how they fulfill a
role in Frank’s journey. By the time Frank calls Kirsty “whore,” “bitch,” and “cheating
fucking bitch,” I was expecting the embodiment of negative masculine juju to
call her (or Julia) a whore. What else would a very bro-y bro have his main
character yell at the women around him when they aren’t doing what he wants?
Yuck.
Thanks for my Oberlin buddy Rossana Rossi for suggesting The Hellbound Heart.
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