This was a time in his career, even if he is still so immediately well known as a horror maestro, where Disney coming to his doorstep not only made sense, but felt kind of natural. By the time 2000 rolled around, Barker had become one of the world’s most prominent fantasy authors and had already penned a successful children’s book, which is incredibly important to note. He also tried his hand at writing young adult fiction with incredible success in The Thief of Always. Weaveworld was followed by other massive, incredible works of fantasy like The Great and Secret Show, Everville, Galilee and Imajica. That really marked the kind of ambitious world-building that-as an author, at least-would define Barker’s career. This gradual switch had begun in the late ‘80s with the publication of the dark fantasy novel Weaveworld. In fact, around the same time Barker began to become less involved with the Hellraiser franchise, he began to for the most part transition out of the horror genre in general. Barker was involved as a producer on both that and to a lesser degree the subsequent sequel, Bloodline, but after the experience on that entry and the move toward direct-to-video for the series, his involvement stopped. At this point in time, that studio was owned by Disney, and Miramax had owned the Hellraiser franchise since 1992, beginning with American distribution for Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth. Barker had already had a working relationship with Disney, however loosely, through Miramax. When you say “Clive Barker almost had his own park at Disneyland,” there’s that one small part of the most seasoned Barker fan that might say, “Okay, I can see it,” while the rest are simultaneously saying, “I’m sorry, what?”īut let’s back up to how Barker even got to that point in the first place, because it is without a doubt jarring to hear that one of the highly regarded, so-called “Masters of Horror” would have a deal with Disney, let alone one so massive that it almost led to an actual park. That’s what I love about the subject of this article. When looking at his career as a whole, it seems like there’s almost nothing he hasn’t done. With each of these things, he always managed to tell stories that were distinctly his own, with his own specific voice and style, while also always managing to cater to the specific strengths of these often incredibly diverse mediums. He seamlessly transitioned from horror fiction to horror film incredibly early in his career, had made a living in macabre theatre before that, and has since tackled video games, comics and even action figures as well.

If there is any one thing that has made Clive Barker truly stand apart as a creator, it has been his incredible ability to tell stories within a variety of mediums.

Abarat book 2