They do this by writing them down on his skin, turning him into a literal book of blood. The story focuses on a young con man who tricks people into believing he sees ghosts but is then turned into a highway for the dead to tell their stories. This one is based on the wraparound story from The Books of Blood, which naturally means it suffers a bit in adaptation. But here are ten films that avoided all this to become worthy of truly being touted as ‘from the mind of Clive Barker.’ Sometimes he’s not allowed this (see the later Hellraiser sequels) and sometimes the project is doomed from the start (say, for example, Rawhead Rex). Whether it be as screenwriter, director or producer, he always tries to have a hand in whatever work of his is being brought to the screen. One of the distinctions between Clive Barker’s filmography and most other horror authors is that Barker always tries to be involved.

Still, this never stopped his work from being adapted. This is a bit ironic, as he has written over thirty novels but has only directed three films. He is an accomplished horror author with great works like The Books of Blood and The Hellbound Heart, as well as a great fantasy author, with the Abarat series and books like Imajica and The Great and Secret Show. Yet he is also a fantastic painter and a successful movie producer who has produced films like the Academy Award winning Gods and Monsters. He has even worked in comics ( Hellraiser, Next Testament) and video games ( Undying, Jericho) yet it will probably always be the Hellraiser series for which he is most widely known. Clive Barker is a powerhouse of imagination.

The forbidden book clive barker