Hellraiser: Revelations never stood a chance.
Pushed into production by the Weinsteins merely to keep their hold on the franchise rights, this would be Garcia’s third feature film after 2007’s Return to House On Haunted Hill and the 2009 sequel to Mirrors. If a frantic production plan wasn’t enough, Revelations would be the first chapter that series icon Doug Bradley chose to side step. With fans already foaming at the mouth, primed to tear the film a new asshole even before release, the final straw came in the form of some damning words from series creator Clive Barker himself, exclaiming on Twitter that “..if they claim it’s from the mind of Clive Barker it’s a lie. It’s not even from my butt-hole.” Ouch. Jesus wept,indeed.
So, what exactly went wrong and what is Garcia’s take on it all? Shock catches a few minutes with the man himself to find out.
Could you tell us a little about your background? I understand you’ve worked with Brian Yuzna and Guillermo del Toro to name but a few.
Victor Garcia: I began my career as a SFX technician working on Brian Yuznas Faust. That would be the first out of a few movies I worked on such as Romasanta, Hellboy or Talk to Her, to name a few. In 2003 I directed my first short film (El Ciclo/The Cycle) that got a really positive feedback in over 100 film festivals all over the world. Back in October 2004 El Ciclo won Best Horror Short at Screamfest in LA and that caught the attention of managers and agents I signed with shortly after.
So, what is next for you? Anything special in the pipeline?
Garcia: Got a couple of things Im working on now, and Im happy to say none of them are a sequel or a remake.
What has been your favorite working experience so far?
Garcia: Going to set and getting the chance to work with a team of creative people makes your life a little special every single day, which makes hard to choose one favorite experience. Ive got a few memorable moments like the first night I met Jeffrey Combs for dinner back In Sofia where we shot Return to House on Haunted Hill or getting to show the first cut of the movie to Joel Silver in an amazing screening room he has at his place.
Garcia: When you are working on a project only for a pay check, you may not care that much about what youre doing but when youre working on that project just because you love the thought of being part of a legacy that means something for you, while knowing you wont make any money out of it, its always sad to see people basically insulting you. Its incredibly easy to go ahead and type all your hate when youre alone in front of your computer to prove the world youre a true fan but it takes more than that to actually go ahead and try to make a movie with basically no resources. Ive read some positive feedback and a lot of negative feedback regarding Revelations but its always like this: You do something and that something is going to be out there so people can judge it and say whatever they feel like. Nobody is going to be more critical than myself about my own work, so nobody has said anything about it that I didnt know beforehand.
How did you land the gig? Were you warned of the limiting time constraints at all? Was it made clear to you that it existed purely to extend brand ownership?
Garcia: I got a call from my agent and manager at that time telling me that some producers wanted to offer me a Hellraiser movie. When you love that saga and the world Clive Barker created, its hard to say no to such an opportunity. I knew about the time constraints, but after reading the script I thought we could make it happen. The rights issues and some other problems we had during production did just get me off guard.
What was your reaction to the first script reading? Did you have any ideas for change?
Garcia: I got a few notes but I really liked the tone of Garys script. I found it to be the first true sequel written specifically to be part of the Hellraiser world since Hellraiser 3 (I always think of Bloodline more like an anthology than a sequel).
How much of the film would you now change having given the chance?
Clive Barker made great efforts to publicly disown the film via Twitter. Have you ever talked with him since?
Garcia: I tried to reach Clive during prep as I wanted to have him somehow involved in the creation of the movie. Its public domain that he wasnt happy with how the franchise had been handled so I wanted him to be part of the process. Unfortunately, he wasnt able to meet with me during prep. During post I asked if I could meet with him and show him our first cut, but that didnt happen either. I havent talked to him at all and I dont know if hes seen the movie, but his tweets made people hate the movie even more. I got a lot of respect for his work, and I heard he really liked El Ciclo, so I want to think theres mutual respect from both sides. Unfortunately, people seem to have problems understanding where those comments are coming from and whats the real reason behind them.
