Mondo Queero: Hellraiser (1987)

Clive Barker’s Hellraiser is queer horror royalty. Written and directed by one of Britain’s most important gay horror writers, it emerged from the world of 1980s slashers and video nasties, while carving out its own deeply strange territory.

Desire, transgression and the blurred boundary between pleasure and pain run through the film. Its leather-clad Cenobites bring BDSM aesthetics and glorious CAMP, while Julia, described by Barker as his “Lady Macbeth”, is a camp horror icon in her own right.

Its queer legacy continues. In the 2022 Hellraiser, Pinhead was played by actress Jamie Clayton, continuing the character’s long history of disrupting conventional ideas about gender and the body.

Nearly forty years later, Hellraiser remains filthy, excessive, erotic, disgusting and extremely stylish. We can't wait to watch this with a Mondo Queero audience on Halloween.