holy bejebus, this was miserable!

Alright, the thing I love about messages like this is there's really no taking context into account... I'll continue.

"WHY WOULD YOU DO SUCH A THING?!?! We're all Barker fans. We do so love his work. And me personally, I love crossovers and mix-ups and versus matches of all kinds. For example, Jihad (Hellraiser vs. Nightbreed); FANTASTIC! Originality on both sides of the battle lines and a real amazing piece of work. "

I did this because I enjoy the series and the mythology and wanted to tell a story. Done. I wasn't hurting anybody, I offered it online for free, nobody was forced to watch, we didn't hurt anyone by doing this for fun, and the original films haven't been changed in any way.

"But yes, your film did have actors who seemed to be reading off of cue cards. Especially Angelique. She had issues. Satan..well, maybe there was hope for him."

Once again, we weren't trained filmmakers, WE WERE BIOLOGY STUDENTS. We were doing this for fun. I agree, a professional film crew and actors would have done a Hell of a lot better, but you know what? They weren't around to do this, we did. I'm just a fan, with an idea, a credit card, and a few friends that tried to turn an idea into something solid, and those who DIDN'T enjoy the film act as though I was actively trying to bring down the original films, or some such nonsense, when, in truth, 1) Leviathan was still referred to being in the Labyrinth, 2) I referenced Cenobites that are all established, 3) we did attempt to work in the obsession factor into the character's ability to solve the puzzle. So, don't be so fast to dismiss the crossover as a "jumble" of the elements, when some care was taken to cross over the stories while maintaining the continuities of each.

"...jumble it up with a pedestrian, pseudo-Biblical piece of crap-fiction like Prophecy is truly sad... I can't stand that you used Prophecy as the medium by which to accomplish it. "

...in which case, why did you waste your time watching this? If you already CLEARLY resented the Prophecy storyline, then you must have known you would likely not enjoy this. I'm never more astounded than when people spend their time watching a film that they KNOW they're going to dislike in ALL likelihood, and then chastise the writer/director for wasting their time. You could have just passed on this, you know.

"Incomplete, ill-conceived, malformed, and banal; this film left so much to be desired."

Again, I'm sorry that our first attempt at making a film with no training or budget and nothing but enthusiasm and love for the series could not be held up the standard of a studio film enacted by professionals, and funded by studio executives for the sole purpose of making money. How dare we.

"Take the advice that Clive gave you and seek originality and then seek out people who may have directed and could help you find acting talent."

Yes, believe it or not, our current Hellraiser fan film project did involve casting calls, auditions and the securing of a gaffer and a trained director of photography and some filming at an independent film studio. Mainly on one person's funding.

HRP was a starting point. It was my first time, and it was for fun. That doesn't mean that I'm not learning or trying to improve. But it's disappointing how some people take HRP and say, "That's the best you can do? Then never do another one." It was the best we could do AT THE TIME, under the circumstances, with the funding and training we had available. And I'm glad that I did the best I could rather than doing nothing at all.

It's a project that absoLUTEly left much to desired. I've never said that it wasn't. But you do us a disservice by 1) acting as if this was some sort of an affront to the previous films, especially as it's distributed for free, and you weren't forced to pay to watch it, like the studio films, 2) trashing a group of fans (who did this on their own dime) for not living up to professional talent (including the excellent creative teams behind HR/NB: Jihad) and 3) dismissing the film as irredeemable given that you were against the very idea at the outset.

As to originality, I agree, a completely original HR story would be fantastic. I haven't thought of one yet; my ideas are all derivative, I freely admit that. I enjoy stories that play off of existing components, and that's where my imagination goes.

But again, if you wanted an original HR fan film, watch THE HELLRAISER CHRONICLES: A QUESTION OF FAITH, HELLBENT: A HELLRAISER CHRONICLE, SKANKOBITE, or HELLRAISER: APOCALYPSE on YouTube. The best one out there, by far, is NO MORE SOULS by Gary Tunnicliffe, which can be found on the DEADER DVD. That's (so far) the only Hellraiser fan film that had the resources and production values of a film studio (though his story deviates from established rules of the mythology. Will you criticize him for that as well, or just the fans that don't have their own makeup studios and access to professional filmmakers and resources?)

If you or anybody else writes original HR fiction, I encourage you to go out and make it into a fan film. Please! I absolutely agree that we need more HR fiction! But unless you're going to go forward to see how much effort goes into making a fan film, or at the very least go forward and put forth your own original Hellraiser fiction, it's very easy to stay in the cheap seats and complain about how shoddy a fan's work is when at least another fan worked to create something to put out there, something that you were/are under no obligation to watch.