We Have Such Stories to Show You…
A summer sleepover, a new VHS copy of Hellraiser, and one surprise twist: Mom decided to watch it with us! What started as a typical 80s Friday night of slasher rentals turned into an evening of gore and awkwardness...
It was summer… or maybe not. In my mind, it was 1988, but a quick Google search tells me it was probably early ’89. I would’ve been 11 or 12. Funny how memory works…blurry on the date, but crystal clear on the feeling.
It was a Friday night, and my friend Ryan was sleeping over. Our ritual was sacred: head to our local mom & pop video store and grab a couple of horror movies. Child’s Play had just hit VHS, and after seeing those terrifying TV spots with audience reactions, we knew it was going to be the scariest movie of all time. We bolted out of the car before it even stopped, desperate to snag a copy before someone else did.
We got it — success. But we needed a second movie. Enter: Hellraiser. I hadn’t read much about it in Fangoria yet, but from what I had seen it looked pretty cool. We were in.
By that point, I’d seen my fair share of horror. All the Friday the 13ths, Elm Streets, plus a ton of obscure slashers. I wasn’t new to the game. Growing up in the ’80s as the youngest of four, my parents let me watch almost everything I wanted. But that night was different… My mom decided to watch a movie with us, curious about what drew me to these types of movies.
We figured we’d save Child’s Play for last since it was “the scary one.” So we started with Hellraiser.
So there we were: two pre-teens… and my mom… watching Hellraiser.
Whoops.
There are moments that mark the shift from boyhood to something… else. And while other big milestones came later, Hellraiser was definitely a gateway. The mood. The sensuality. The gore. It was everything my teenage brain wanted — just not with my mom in the room.
Halfway through, she bailed. I remember her muttering, “I don’t understand what you see in these things.” To her credit, she didn’t stop us from finishing it. And finish it we did — eyes wide, popcorn refilled, still buzzing from what we’d just witnessed… but also bracing for the horrors Child’s Play might unleash.
We loved it, and it was definitely a fun movie which I have enjoyed with its sequels since. But watching them in that order? Big mistake. Hellraiser just hits different. It’s not the warm-up; it’s the main event. Unless you’re queuing up Part 2, there’s really no topping it.
Now, all these years later, we get to work directly with the folks behind Hellraiser, creating officially licensed merch. It’s almost as surreal as the film itself — and an absolute honor.
So check out our collection below, and trust me… we have such sights to show you.