There are very few films that can truly go wrong when the concept of the Devil is introduced. For my part, I’m always enticed when something that is intended to represent absolute evil comes about. Even moreso when I hear a story that will be about the concept of the devil, God, and our mere mortality, in what is inevitably a horror film. So often horror films can either just go for all-out thrills and scares (as they sometimes do) or they can try to preach us a message about morality. Sometimes they do both, rarely seamlessly. This upcoming film that I’ve read about on TotalFilm seems to have all the ingredients for a superb tale of man at his best and worst, or at least that is what I’ve seen. Now, when you add to a potentially outstanding concept the fact that it is in fact inspired by the one and only Clive Barker, then you have my attention. The story, “Down, Satan” is one which comes from Clive Barker’s Books of Blood, from which the now infamous “Midnight Meat Train” comes from. Down, Satan, on the other hand, is a far shorter story, originally only 4 pages, and as such would need to be fleshed out considerably. That is the task of IGN’s Chris Monfette. The full article gives a few more details that I thought I would summarise for you. (click ‘full article’ if you just want to read their words, not mine)

First things first, Clive Barker  has officially commented on the script, in this article, citing that he thinks they are doing a very good job with it. The short story, as he point out, is a very short affair, and so it has probably been quite a big task to flesh it out. However, for those not familiar with the story, let me try and highlight it for you so that you can understand just what sort of greatness we may expect. From the article: “The parable-style tale tells the story of a wealthy businessman named Gregorious who wakes one day to find God absent from his life. Driven to madness by depression and loss, Gregorious tempts the Lord by constructing a Hell on Earth – or, New Hell – in service to the Devil, hoping that the Lord would intervene. But as the torture chambers fill and the Devil refuses to show himself, Greogrious must confront his idea of faith.” First off, I’m always keen on ideas that confront man at its core, and this story clearly has all the right markings of that particular aspect. And Clive Barker being involved, never a bad sign.

There is, however, one minor troublesome area. Many of Clive Barker’s biggest fans, and indeed horror fans in general, will doubtless remember a classic film called Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth. Without too much extrapolation, I’m sure many of us can see where someone trying to make a hell on earth has been seen in a way before. On your left, you’ll remember Pinhead trying to bring Hell to our fair cities already once. Luckily, according to Clive Barker, the writer is already aware of this and has made it patently clear that this is not going to be Hellraiser III pt 2 or any such idea, it is going to be very original. To me, so far, it certainly sounds like the right people are doing the right kind of things. And with Clive Barker talking about it in a favourable light, we can only hope it becomes something quite spectacular.

As it stands, we’ve at least got news of something cool that may be coming our way. We’ll try to keep you informed as this story progresses.