Well I was sent an advance review copy and completely devoured it. An ultimate act of fan service in every way, The Scarlet Gospels is something I first remember hearing about in the late 90s or early 00’s and have never stopped wanting to see the final product. I bring all of this up because the book I am reviewing today, The Scarlet Gospels is something Clive Barker has been trying to write for a decade and a half. Laugh at anyone who thinks that by the way. I feel a little dirty recommending the movie over one of Barker’s novels but he DID write the screenplay for Lord of Illusions so it’s not like I’m saying something horrifying like Hellraiser: Hellworld is better than The Hellbound Heart. It was this film that I think best showcases Barker’s love for Harry D’Amour and what the character is all about. Of course, one can’t deny the incredible job done by the recently departed Daniel Von Bargen as Nyx either. To be honest, I always well D’Amour was like John Constantine-lite as a kid and it wasn’t until Barker’s own cinematic adaption of The Last Illusion into Lord of IllusionsQuantum Leap fans) and Kevin O’Connor and Famke Janssen were fantastic too. I enjoyed The Last Illusion from Books of Blood and his cameo in The Great and Secret Show but his was Barker’s novel Everville where the character really took center stage as Barker’s main protagonist. While not as good as the Epic run, the BOOM! Comics were a lot of fun and gave us an entirely new continuity separate from the Epic line and saw both Kirsty Cotton and Harry D’Amour play major roles at enemies and even unwilling allies of Pinhead and his master, Leviathan. This series would be followed up by three successive BOOM! Comics series. Mike Mignolia, the Warchoskis and even Clive Barker himself contributed to the series, creating characters, terminology and a mythology that outgrew even the movies and is still referenced to this day. Neil Gaimain and Dave McKean’s Wordsworth for example, taught me the word Coprophilia and that human flesh tasted like pork. Not only did Barker give these comics his blessing, but some of the best authors and artists in the industry teamed up to give their take on the Cenobites and the work of Phillip LeMarchand. When I was in High School I discovered the Hellraiser put out by Epic, an imprint from Marvel Comics. The novella the franchise was based on, The Hellbound Heart was an excellent read, but notably different from the movie in many ways. I loved the first two movies and even some of the bad ones have shining moments – generally due to the incredible portrayal of the lead Cenobite, Pinhead by Doug Bradley. Chief amongst them all has been Hellraiser. I’ve always been a huge fan of Clive Barker’s writing, comics and movies.

The scarlet gospels review