People Who Inspired Me To Be A Writer: Clive Barker

So it’s the summer of 1997 and yes I'm only four years old at the time. I’m over my dad’s house for the weekend and me and him are a couple of movie buffs, especially when it comes to horror and slasher. For me he rented the movie Terminator: Judgement Day like he was always did because it’s one of my all time favorites, but for himself he ended up renting this movie that took place in deep space with this pale skinned monster who had needles sticking out of his head. The movie was Hellraiser: Bloodline, the fourth entry in the Hellraiser film series. The series came from one of the greatest storytellers in horror history, Clive Barker. Today is his birthday and I wanted to pay tribute to him and tell you how he inspired me as a writer.

Clive Barker was born October 5th 1952 in Liverpool, England. Growing up in Liverpool he a deep passion for the world of performative arts and storytelling. He eventually ended up attending the University of Liverpool with his high school friend and future frequent collaborator Doug Bradley. Barker was heavily interested in being both a filmmaker and a novelist. While in college during the 80’s Barker ended up writing as well as directing nine stage play productions that proved very successful for him.

By the 1980’s Barker had taken a step back from theater so that he could venture into his journey as an author of horror, thriller and fantasy. This began with his famous collection of short stories known as Books of Blood originally published in 1984. The Books of Blood series was released to widespread acclaim with Stephen King himself praising Barker as “the future of horror.” Barker released his first full length novel The Damnation Game in 1985. Eventually many of Barker’s written works would be made into feature films by Barker himself who had branched into screenwriting, directing and producing with films like Rawhead Rex, Nightbreed, the largely successful Hellraiser, based off his novella The Hellbound Heart and the smash hit Candyman based off one of the stories from his Books of Blood titled “The Forbidden”

My personal introduction to Clive Barker came in my earliest years. I’ve been a big horror fan my whole life, especially when it came to watching movies with my dad. As a kid my dad would rent the Hellraiser Movies for us to watch and the legendary Pinhead became one of my favorite horror icons. I had never seen a slasher like Pinhead before who was so well spoken and sophisticated. I actually found him pretty scary, it was like wow I can’t imagined being killed by someone so smart.

My attraction to Barker’s work only grew when I would eventually watch Candyman for the first time ever with my god brothers. All I need to say here is this was single-handedly one of the scariest movies I had ever watched and I was so traumatized after watching it that I almost regretted it shortly after. I swear I couldn’t be by myself in broad daylight for month after first being introduced to Candyman. Interestingly enough this also made me wanna see it even more after I learned it had a whole series. I also loved the inner city backdrop and commentary of Candyman and would later learn that urban fantasy was always Clive Barker’s mainstay.

When I realized that I had a deep love for storytelling and that I would one day be a writer Clive Barker served as a big inspiration with his works in horror. It wasn’t just fandom for movies for me, I even started reading his books like The Hellbound Heart. I really loved intelligence and complexity of his story and characters. The wisdom, knowledge and understanding that characters like Pinhead and Candyman had for me were perfect examples of how to make a complex character. I also loved how Barker’s stories were big morality tales as well and how he let it be known that the bible played a big role in his storytelling. I love how this was show in many of the parables explored in the Hellraiser films specifically.

Clive Barker even inspired me on a personal level in regards to how his work would be viewed by others. He said he was going to make work that he knew people would love, but that it would also be works that people would hate but that he also didn’t care because they were his to be proud of and I’ve learned to embrace that same fearlessness and self acceptance as a rising author. I know everyone won’t enjoy what I write, but I understand that as long as I have the utmost appreciation for my work then that’s more than enough and I have Clive Barker to thank for embracing that outlook.

~~Happy 74th birthday to one of my favorite storytellers, Clive Barker