Rating: 
Summary: part mythological fiction, part psychological commentary
Review: The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker is a wonderful introduction into the world of hellraiser and the mythology that is the cenobites. The story revolves around a family and their encounter with the Lament cube and the effect it plays on their lives. In the end, it brings nothing but death and torture. The character development is sparse, focusing mainly on the effects of lust, desire, and their inevitable bringing about of nothing but pain and suffering. It is part mythological fiction, part psychological commentary, with each of the three main characters playing a freudian part. Id, Ego, and Superego. I'll leave those who read this wonderful little book to figure out which is which.
Rating:
Summary: creative and thought provoking
Review: The Hellbound Heart is a frightening tale of the human heart.Once you start reading, your are lock inside a disturbing fun house of orgasmic pleasures and searing, black and crimson pain.Don't be fooled by the ones who say otherwise, just read the book, plainly and simply.
Rating: 
Summary: "pearls in offal."
Review: This book leaves little doubt that Clive Barker has an incredible imagination linked and obviously influenced by H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft often wrote of alternate dimensions, realms, in which foul denizens wait, hatching diabolical intentions and torturous ideas about harming Mankind. "The Hellbound Heart" is a book with such a scenario at its center. Demons, known here as Cenobites, who are summoned through the opening of a unique artifact called Lemarchand's box. In fact, the entire first chapter reads more like Lovecraft than at any other point in this novella. This book is very short, a little over 160 pages in length, and the margins are narrow with fairly large print. This is a quick read, the modernized style of writing leaving no room for catching your breath. It is entertaining, albeit very naive. I have little doubt that Clive Barker looks back on this book and thinks about how little he knew about characterization and their driving motivations. His writing is clearly ambitious, but the characters are so thinly drawn, their reasons for their actions so tenuously wrought, that I just waited around for another paragraph of straight creative description. I longed for the return of the malevolent Cenobites on many occasions. Kirsty is never fully explained. Is she somebody's daughter, as it is shown in the film version, "Hellraiser"? Is she Julia's daughter? Frank's? It is never directly stated. As for Julia, it seems unlikely that a fleeting love/lust affair would drive her to commit murders. Perhaps it was the affect of the demons lurking upstairs, but that is never suggested. Just all of a sudden she goes out and brings home her first victim/sacrifice. The most interesting character is Frank who aches for new and intense experiences beyond human understanding. So much so that he opens Lemarchand's box and is generously given his requests, to horrifying effect. The first chapter is worth reading again and again, but the film version of this story has much better dialogue and the actors give such splendid performances that it is unlikely I will ever want to read this book cover to cover again. This book shows a very young Clive Barker creatively conjuring the spirit of H.P. Lovecraft, oftentimes matching that master's ideas, but the characterization needs fleshing out(pun intended). The dialogue is rarely passionate or loaded with emotional depth, leaving the reader with a hollow feeling of what could have been. There are many fine ideas here, many inspired moments, but the end result, the overall effect, is one of ambitious youth and ignorant technique.
Rating:
Summary: Tastefully done
Review: This book was very well done, and is short and sweet for a novella. I recommend it to anyone who wants to start reading Barker.
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Summary: Explore the depravity of the human heart
Review: This fast-paced, action-packed novella served as the basis for Clive Barker's extreme horror movie masterpiece Hellraiser, but it is well worth reading on its own merits. The human heart and its vulnerability to perverse pleasures of a sensuous nature is a compelling theme at the heart of Barker's writing. Those familiar with the movie will find that this original story matches up fairly closely with what they have seen, but there are some important differences. For one, a little more information about the infamous puzzle box is revealed. The characters are fleshed out a little better, yet Julia remains a cold person whose motives are not completely understandable. The Cenobites are actually featured much less here than in the movie, and the physical descriptions of them are far less developed--Pinhead himself reportedly speaks with a girlish voice in the novella. The blood and gore are certainly here, but their full magnitude is determined by the imagination of the reader. Interestingly, Kirsty's relationship with Rory (who was called Larry in the movie) is ambiguous at best. While one assumes Rory is her father, Kirsty always refers to him by name, and her relationship with him, if he is her father, is not a normal one for she seems to relate to him as some sort of potential lover. The depth of Barker's vision is much better developed in print than on the movie screen, and that is what makes this novella a must-read for fans of extreme horror. The dark side of the human soul is a source tapped deeply by Barker's imagination, and he is unafraid of revealing the depravity of any given individual. As such, his writing betrays a complexity and ingenious subtlety which critics of horror will never identify or understand. Surprisingly, there is really not a great deal of perverse sexuality in this particular work, so readers who tend to shy away from his Books of Blood may actually find The Hellhound Heart to be the optimal doorway by which to enter the haunted, terrifyingly alive world of this modern master of horror.
Rating:
Summary: On the way to hell
Review: This is a pleasingly short book on which the horror classic Hellraiser is based. For once I really would rather watch the film than read the book, the story is sluggish to say the least. Based around the Lemarchand box and its ability to conjure up the cenobites who will lead you to pleasures untold is a good premise but one that hasn't been given that classic Clive Barker touch, maybe the problem is it is all set in "the real world" and not in one of his fantastical places - something which he does far, far better. Whilst it will fill a rainy afternoon quite enjoyably it is not one that you will want to pick up time and time again.
Rating:
Summary: On the way to hell
Review: This is a pleasingly short book on which the horror classic Hellraiser is based. For once I really would rather watch the film than read the book, the story is sluggish to say the least. Based around the Lemarchand box and its ability to conjure up the cenobites who will lead you to pleasures untold is a good premise but one that hasn't been given that classic Clive Barker touch, maybe the problem is it is all set in "the real world" and not in one of his fantastical places - something which he does far, far better. Whilst it will fill a rainy afternoon quite enjoyably it is not one that you will want to pick up time and time again.
Rating:
Summary: whew, that was INTENSE!
Review: This is one of those quick-read books that has a longer shelf life in your mind than in reality. The Hellbound Heart's 164 pages start out fast, enrapures you and leaves you wanting for more. More than anyone alive today, Clive Barker has the supreme gift for writing horror fiction.
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Summary: This book rules
Review: This is the best book eve
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant! Mastermind!and Welcome To Hell.
Review: This is the second book, I have read from this author. When I read it, it's pleased me. Stephen King was right. He is a future of horror! I also saw this movie "Hellraiser".The Cenobites were cool. But, prayed it doesn't happened to you. If you touch the Lemanchand box and puzzled it. You'll be sorry. Ha! Ha! ha!ha!
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