Review – Leviathan: Extras (Disc 3)

Hello Friends:

By now, you’ve read the review of both disc one and two, here. Leviathan is a tremendous effort that spanned a few years of work and a successful Kickstarter and it accomplished nothing short of extraordinary. This is so far the definitive Hellraiser/Hellbound documentary that fans could ever hope to get, and the Extras disc of the 3 disc edition goes above and beyond what we’ve seen in the previous 2 discs, including a mini documentary about Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth. This is the list of extras:

• Clive Barker: Writer, Director and Imaginer (27:13)
• Channard: The Mind is a Labyrinth (7:37)
• The Toymaker: Inside the Lament Configuration with Simon Sayce (13:14)
• Hooks, Chains and Cenobites: The Story of Image Animation (59:21)
• Cenobites: In Conversation with Butterball and Chatterer (16:52)
• The Hellraiser Films and their Legacy with Paul Kane (34:16)
• Hellraiser: The Unreleased Themes of Coil with Stephen Thrower (15:42)
• The Hellraiser Legacy with Gary J. Tunnicliffe (17:28)
• Hell on Earth: The Story of Hellraiser III (31:57)

All these featurettes add to the experience of listening to people who have analysed these movies deeply, like Paul Kane, or worked in the FX team, or even wrote them in the case of the very loved Pete Atkins (who I consider to be Hellraiser’s nurturing mother, if Clive Barker was the father). It all reflects the same care and love that went into the documentaries, and I particularly recommend the talk with Simon Bamford and Nicholas Vince as one of the most delightful and entertaining segments of this disc. The only thing missing from the segment about Clive Barker would have been Clive himself, but I’m sure it would have been a bit embarrassing and not very modest to have him in a segment where so many people and loved ones lavishly expound on how his work has touched them and so many millions around the world. Sometimes, the creator is better off left to his devices.

Simon Sayce’s segment is also of extraordinary importance to anyone who wants to know the secrets behind the Lament Configuration, as he was the man behind its construction, the real Toymaker if you will.

In all, a perfect closing disc to this set that will round up and entertain you for a few days.
Great work to everyone involved.

For more Leviathan talk, see our upcoming Episode 99, plus previous episodes 66 and 93 with Gary Smart.