DID YOU KNOW
1. Director Guillermo del Toro was offered to direct the film, but declined.
2. The original poster for the film does not have any credits. This was because original director Kevin Yagher had his name removed and replaced with the Directors' Guild of America pseudonym 'Alan Smithee'. Fearing this would negatively reflect on the quality of the film, Miramax opted for a credit-free 1-sheet.
3. Kevin Yagher disowned the version with cuts made behind his back due to conflicting artistry ideas. Yagher's version contained much more graphic imagery, plot, and explained everything that happened in the film. The producers disagreed and demanded Pinhead should appear sooner despite every version of the script up until then having him appear around the 40-minute mark. When Yagher was unable to satisfy their wishes, he disowned it and never finished filming the final scenes. Joe Chappelle was brought on to finish the film, filming new scenes sourced from re-writes, including the narrative framing device. As a result of the changes, some scenes of the original script were never even shot.
4. Though promotional photos of Aristocratic Cenobites wearing white powdered wigs were released in various sci-fi magazines to promote this film, those Cenobites were cut from the finished film, along with Demon Clowns and an entire ballroom fancy dress party as the studio wanted to get to Pinhead's story sooner.
5. Walt Disney Pictures came under fire in the media when they purchased the then-controversial Miramax Films. The initial slate of films that Miramax would be releasing under the Disney deal included 'Hellraiser: Bloodline', 'Scream', 'The Prophecy', 'Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers' and 'Mother's Boys'. The outcry was due to the fact that the House of Mouse would be directly involved in the marketing and release of horror movies.
6. Editor Randolph K. Bricker was brought in by Joe Chappelle (who was Miramax's replacement for original director Kevin Yagher) to assemble a completely new cut of the film. This version was the one that was ultimately released in theaters in 1996.
7. Stuart Gordon ('Re-Animator') was once attached to direct the film, but left shortly before filming began.
8. Adam Scott was grateful for getting cast, citing the film as being a huge deal for booking a real movie, which he took very seriously. He remarked that on his first day to the set, he was shown his chair that was mistakenly labeled as Adam Craig. Scott said it was a nice welcome to Hollywood. Despite the film's troubled production and box office failure, Scott didn't care as long as he was working. Later, in need of work, Scott even auditioned for the next film with the hope that the casting directors wouldn't remember him from the last film and no one said anything at the audition. However, Scott suspects someone remembered him as he wasn't hired for the next film.
9. Due to the film's critical and financial failure, this would be the last 'Hellraiser' film to get a wide theatrical release. Later sequels were screened at film festivals and in various other limited screenings before they went straight-to-video.
10. Writer Rand Ravich was hired to do re-writes on the script to tighten the dialogue and correct some pacing in the film.
11. This movie was originally intended to be the final installment of the 'Hellraiser' franchise, ending with Pinhead destroyed once and for all. However, when Miramax saw that the direct-to-video market could be profitable, they created 5 more sequels.
12. The character Rimmer is a nod to the character Arnold Judas Rimmer from the long running British sci-fi sitcom 'Red Dwarf'.
13. Director and effects guru Kevin Yagher disowned the version he worked on because of the number of cuts that the studio made behind his back. Yagher's version contained much more graphic imagery, plot, and explained everything that happened in the film. The producers disagreed and demanded Pinhead should appear sooner despite every version of the script up until then having him appear around the 40-minute mark. When Yagher was unable to satisfy their demands, he disowned it and never finished filming. Joe Chappelle was brought on to complete the film, with new scenes from re-writes done by the studio, including the narrative framing device. Some scenes of the original script were thus never shot.
14. Joe Chappelle, who came on board to do clean-up and finish this film, also did the same for 'Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers', changing almost the entire last third of writer Daniel Farrands' original script.
15. Because of budgetary problems with this film, Miramax slashed the budget of another film, 'Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers', which was filming at the same time, by $1 million.
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