Hellter Interviews Barbie Wilde (Female Cenobite in Hellbound: Hellraiser 2)
Hello Grue-Lings,
Very happy to bring to you today our interview with the Female Cenobite from Hellbound: Hellraiser 2, Barbie Wilde. Barbie has performed in cabaret in Bangkok; traveled to Bombay to appear in the Bollywood blockbuster, ‘Janbazz’. She also danced professionally at the top nightclubs of New York City, London and Amsterdam with the dance/mime group, Shock. Loved her as the vicious mugger in ‘Death Wish III’ and of course the Female Cenobite in Hellbound. She was the casting director of London’s MTV The Real World. She also she has appeared in ‘The American Hot 100’ (Skytrax TV); ‘The Morning Show’ and ‘Supersonic’ (Music Box TV).
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Barbie had an amazing short story called ‘Sister Cilice’, to the Hellbound Hearts Anthology (Pocket Books), edited by Paul Kane and Marie O’Regan. The stories in Hellbound Hearts were based on Clive Barker’s mythology from his novella The Hellbound Heart, which is based on the Hellraiser series. Barbie also did seven more short stories to different horror anthologies: ‘U for Uranophobia’ for Phobophobia; ‘American Mutant: Hands of Dominion’ for Mutation Nation; ‘Polyp’ for The Mammoth Book of Body Horror (reprinted in The Unspoken in 2013); ‘A is for Alpdrücke’ for The Demonologia Biblica; ‘Zulu Zombies’ for Bestiarum Vocabulum (reprinted in Gorezone #29); ‘The Cilicium Pandoric’ for Gorezone #30; and ‘Botophobia’ for Phobophobias (Summer, 2014). She also wrote a novel called The Venus Complex, a fictionalized diary of a serial killer, was published by Comet Press. She is multi talented. Please welcome Barbie Wilde.
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HELLTER: What was it like being on set for Grizzly 2 with a lot of great actors?
BARBIE: To be honest, I never met George Clooney, Laura Dern or Charlie Sheen. They all got slaughtered by the bear in the forest, while the band was at the concert venue site. Grizzly II was filmed in a big nature reserve/park outside of Budapest, Hungary. My boyfriend at the time — record producer and drummer Richard James Burgess (Landscape, Spandau Ballet, Five Star, Shock) — had been producing tracks for Predator, the movie band, and was going to appear as the drummer, but then he got the gig producing Adam Ant in Sweden. He suggested me for the part as the drummer and amazingly I got the job. The band was performing a concert in the park at the same time the giant bear was munching on various victims like George, Laura, etc. Richard gave me a few drumming lessons and off I went to Budapest. (Luckily, I was only required to mime the drumming, not do the real thing!).
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It was a very bizarre experience. From the beginning, there were massive technical problems with the large mechanical bear they were using and I think that was one of the reasons production shut down, along with various financial problems.
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HELLTER: Wow, sounds like a interesting time on set. How was it like being in a Bollywood film Janbazz?
BARBIE: India was a fantastic experience. We were directed by the “Warren Beatty of India”, Feroz Khan and Anil Kapoor (of Slumdog Millionaire fame) was the (then) young star of the film. For 10 days, we shot scenes in a sleazy nightclub where I played a robotic cabaret dancer, the first to feature in a Bollywood movie.
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HELLTER: Bollywood is very popular. How did you get into your character as a female villain in Death Wish 3?
BARBIE: Sometimes I like to work from the outside in and my costumes were important to me, like armor to a knight. Everything I wore in the film was my own, from the leather jacket on down. The gang in the movie created a certain “thug dynamic” of their own. We hung around together on set and didn’t really mix with the actors playing the victims. And of course, Gavin O’Herlihy as our leader was the boss man who kept us all in line.
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HELLTER: Death Wish 3 was such a great action film. You were amazing in it. How did you get involved with Hellbound: Hellraiser II as the Female Cenobite?
BARBIE: I just went to the audition. All of the Cenobites from the first Hellraiser movie had personal connections with Clive. For example, some had worked with him previously and Doug went to school with Clive. However, for the second film, they had to cast the net further because Grace Kirby (Clive’s cousin) didn’t want to reprise her role as the Female Cenobite. I think I may have gotten the part because of my training in classical mime, which was a fascination for Clive.
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HELLTER: I’m glad you got the role. What was your experience like being the Female Cenobite in Hellbound?
BARBIE: Well, it was the first time that I played a part that required me to be lathered in prosthetic makeup. The first time I played a monster. The first horror movie I ever appeared in. It was a first on so many levels. The makeup process was tiring: early calls, then four hours in the chair and 30 minutes to get into the costume, then the inevitable waiting around to get in front of the camera, however, that’s all part and parcel of the movie biz. The first time I saw myself in the mirror in complete makeup as the Female Cenobite was strange: for a minute, I almost felt like crying. Where was ME? AKA, the big-haired, 80s TV presenter. Then I saw the power of that face — the face of an “explorer in the further regions of experience.” How cool is that?
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HELLTER: That actually is very cool. How did you prepare for the role?
BARBIE: Of course, I’d seen the first film, which was such a departure from any horror film that I’d ever watched before. I also read Clive’s brilliant novella on which Hellraiser was based, The Hellbound Heart. (Interestingly, the Lead Cenobite in book was female!). Doug Bradley had said the film has stood the test of time after all these years and is still popular or even more popular now then ever.
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HELLTER: Why do you think it lasted this long and is still very popular today?
BARBIE: I think that the one of the things that sets Hellraiser apart from most other horror films is the strong female characters. There’s Julia, that fabulous diva of S&M horror and desire, brilliantly played by Clare Higgins and Kirsty, played by Ashley Laurence, is so powerful and poignant as her nemesis. Also, Clive invented a new kind of monster: uniquely sinister monsters that talk to their victims and discuss their fate and choices. Not chainsaw-wielding maniacs chasing girls in boob tubes and high heels through the forest, but leather-clad, scarred and pierced voyagers through the realms of extreme sensual experience.
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HELLTER: I agree with you on that. What was your experiences like working with Doug Bradley and your thoughts on the whole character of Pinhead?
BARBIE: I loved working with Doug. All the actors playing the Cenobites had wonderful senses of humor. (You need it when you’re in the makeup chair for hours!) And I’m thrilled to be working with Doug again on our audio book project. (More about that later.). Pinhead is such an original character: so articulate, frightening and relentless, yet at the same time sexually evocative.
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HELLTER: Doug is Pinhead. Nobody will ever be able to replace him. Why do you think the Cenobites fit so well with the 80’s culture?
BARBIE: The outfits? The shoulder pads? The scars? The piercings? Who knows? Seriously, the 80s did seem like a time when horror swerved in a very interesting direction: darker, more sexual, more visceral, more body horror orientated and more stylish, especially with directors like Ridley Scott, John Carpenter, David Cronenberg and Clive Barker around.
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HELLTER: The 80’s is the best era for horror, hand down. How was it like working with the brilliant mind that is Clive Barker?
BARBIE: It’s been a honor to have been part of a Clive Barker project. I feel that he truly is a Renaissance Man: writer, director, artist. It’s an overused word these days, but I do think that he is a genius. Not only for the way that he approaches horror and fantasy, but also for the way that he always injects a deliciously macabre sense of humor into his work and how he’s not afraid of exploring extreme sexual themes. He’s an inspiration to me for my writing, that’s for sure.
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HELLTER: Love Clive Barker. You wrote an Origin story of the Female Cenobite. I believe its called Sister Cilice. Where did you get the idea for her? Was it something that you picked up from working with Clive Barker?
BARBIE: I was approached by Paul Kane and Marie O’Regan to write a story for their Hellbound Hearts anthology. All the stories had to be based on Clive’s original mythology that he had created in the novella (and not the movie, for legal reasons.) Paul mentioned that they’d love a female perspective on the mythology and since (as mentioned above) the Lead Cenobite in the novella was female, that was my inspiration. I got the idea that she had been a nun in a previous life from Gary Tunnecliffe and then I took it from there. It was my first short horror story and it only took a week to write. I’ve never produced a story since that took so little time! It virtually wrote itself. And it’s actually one of the most perverse and erotically explicit stories that I’ve ever written.
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HELLTER: People have many nicknames for the Female Cenobite including Deep Throat. Do you have a special name for her? And what was Clive’s name for her?
BARBIE: Someone on Facebook called her Tracheotomy Girl, which I thought was hilarious. And Gash is Clive’s name for her, which is my personal favorite.
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HELLTER: (Laughs). That’s funny. Can you tell us about your books The Venus Complex and Voices of the Damned?
BARBIE: The Venus Complex was born out of my fascination for serial killers and their motives. Also a friend of mine who was a rather notorious dominatrix in New York once confessed to me that her greatest sexual fantasy was to sleep with a serial killer. This was a shocking concept to me, but it did start a train of thought that ended up as The Venus Complex. I wanted to explore the motives and sexual fantasies of a serial killer, so I had to write from the first person—male viewpoint. It was a strangely liberating experience. My illustrated collection of short horror stories, Voices of the Damned, was published by SST Publications in 2015, and it was called “sensual in its brutality” and “a delight for the darker senses” in a starred review from Publishers Weekly. Each story is accompanied by an illustration or artwork by top artists in the horror genre, including Clive Barker, Nick Percival, Vincent Sammy, Ben Baldwin, Tara Bush, Steve McGinnis, Daniele Serra and Eric Gross. It was a dream project, as I always wanted to put together a collection of stories and art. There are three Female Cenobite stories in the collection and I’m writing a fourth story to complete the quartet.
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HELLTER: What inspired you to start writing?
BARBIE: Well, when acting “left me behind” as thespians say, I needed a creative outlet. I’ve always written scripts and stories, ever since I was a kid, so writing seemed a natural next step. I also was compelled to explore some themes that have haunted me through my life… always dark and twisted ones, it has to be said!
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HELLTER: Can you tell us about your time in the group Shock, how you got started, shows you played and any fun stories?
BARBIE: My “partner in mime” Tim Dry (Star Wars, Xtro) and I joined Shock in the late 70s. At the time, it was a disco dancing trio, which we expanded to five. Then the New Romantics hit town and within a year, we had grown to six performers: dancers, singers and mime artists. We started to do shows at the Blitz Club, Wedgies and The Embassy Club, venues that attracted all the stars of the time. Our show was so outrageous and original that we were soon supporting bands and artists like Ultravox, Adam & the Ants and Gary Numan at Wembley Arena. We toured the UK, Belgium and did a residency at the Ritz Club in New York City. We had even got a center page spread in the Sun newspaper (the UK’s most popular paper) and a record contract with RCA. We had a brilliant time, but in the end, after four years, lack of any significant financial success broke the group up.
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HELLTER: Sounds like you had a good band there. If you saw the Female Cenobite coming towards you, what would you do to survive?
BARBIE: I’d throw down some chocolate bars and run like hell. (Not even Female Cenobites can resist chocolate.)
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HELLTER: (Laughs). That’s smart. Do you feel Hellraiser helped elevate your career and your thoughts on how the horror fans still love the Female Cenobite to this day?
BARBIE: Well, being in Hellraiser II certainly changed my career, that’s for sure. As mentioned previously, I had moved from acting into TV presenting, which I felt more comfortable doing. After Hellraiser, I went back to presenting, then I became a Casting Director for a few years, then a writer. When I attended my first horror convention in the States years later, I discovered that my performance had resonated with a hell of a lot of people. I had no idea how popular the Hellraiser franchise had become, mostly through repeated showings on the Horror Channel. It’s an odd experience having people come up to you and tell you that you scared them to death when they were kids. (Especially if you’re a short blonde person!) I usually respond with: “What were your parents thinking of!?” However, I can see why people are fascinated by the Cenobites. They are so mysterious, so dangerous and at the same time, so seductive. It’s quite a combo!
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HELLTER: Cenobites rock!! What are the negatives and positives of being an actress?
BARBIE: Playing wonderful characters written and directed by talented creators in the business. Traveling and meeting new people and visiting amazing locations. (If you’re lucky, that is.) However, as we’ve seen from the #MeToo movement, there are some demoralizing and degrading downsides to being an actress. I’ve been lucky enough to to avoid that kind of thing, with the exception of one incident when a director asked me to do a scene topless just before the cameras rolled, which is really unprofessional. I just demanded more money for doing the scene, which took him by surprise. He ordered me off the set and got someone else in to do the scene. But she didn’t have to take her top off. All he wanted was a free peak. The nerve of the guy!
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HELLTER: Wow, sadly that happens alot in Hollywood. Have you ever got hurt as a actress and done something that was unexpected?
BARBIE: If I’ve ever been asked to do a bit of business that I felt was unsafe, I just refused to do it. No job is worth your life, or your safety or your peace of mind. Unexpected? No, I don’t think so… To me, the script is my “bible” so veering “off piste” isn’t my thing.
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HELLTER: Are there any films and books you have coming out soon or that have came out in 2018 that you want to discuss?
BARBIE: In 2017, I returned to acting in the horror short Dark Ditties Presents The Offer, which also featured Hellraiser alumni Simon Bamford (Butterball Cenobite Hellraiser 1&2), Kenneth Cranham (Dr Channard H2), Oliver Smith (Skinless Frank H1&2) and Nicholas Vince (Chatterer H1&H2). This year, I’m producing and writing my first feature length horror film, Blue Eyes (starring Nivek Ogre), with director, producer and co-writer, Chris Alexander (Blood for Irina, Queen of Blood, Female Werewolf, Blood Dynasty, Space Vampire). Also, in 2018: I’m delighted to announce that fellow Hellraiser Cenobite Doug Bradley is narrating the Audiobook of my debut diary-of-a-serial-killer novel, The Venus Complex, published by Comet Press. The Venus Complex was first published as a paperback and Kindle in 2012 by Comet Press and it prompted Fangoria to call me “one of the finest purveyors of erotically charged horror fiction around”. Doug Bradley’s Spinechillers audio book collection was hailed by Audible as “the world’s biggest and best classic horror collection” and by Guillermo del Toro as “remarkable”, so I’m very excited about this collaboration.
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HELLTER: Thank you for joining us today.
BARBIE: Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. Appreciate it.
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