Homecoming Time: Welcoming Back Clive

As a fan of Clive Barker, I’m overjoyed to see him slowly introducing himself back into fan circles. It’s been far too long. I think this year’s “Texas Frightmare Weekend”really showed him that the fans do miss him. Not only that, but as a horror community in general, we love him too. I also think Jose’s smile represents all the fan’s happiness at the convention to have him back. When Ryan, Jose, and I got to meet him for our photo op he was very quiet, but seemed over joyed to meet us all at once. I can’t speak for either Ryan and Jose, but being in his presence created a calming effect through me. I thought I’d be nervous, but I wasn’t at all. I think it shows in the photo below.

Soon after that it was announced that he’d be attending “Days of the Dead: Chicago.” Fans that attended the show said he was in great spirits and the photos below seem to prove that.

I was also very impressed with the design work that he did for the shirts for these events. If you look closely on the Texas Frightmare Weekend’s design the monster’s face and head it seems Clive has cleverly added in subtle scarring that creates another face entirely on top of the main one.

Texas Frightmare Weekend design:

Chicago Days of the Dead design:

And now he’ll be attending “Days of the Dead” again, but this time in Atlanta, Ga. I think the last time Clive was in Georgia was back in 1996 when he came to “Dragon Con” which I went to but sadly only got see him from a distance when he and Doug Bradley screened Hellraiser.

To order your tickets for the event follow the link below:

https://daysofthedead.com/atlanta/tickets

It’s also been reported that Clive will be doing a brand new interview for a book called It’s Alive so that’s good to hear as well. Recently he did new on camera interview for Arrow Video’s new Candyman special edition that was both inspiring and emotional. I’ve shared a couple clips from it below:

Clive talks about how Tony Toddy embodies the character of The Candyman:

Clive discusses his relationship with his father and mother:

He really let’s the viewer into some very intimate details from his life when he talks about his late father. I was brought to tears more than once. But through his pain he seems to have found peace. At least that’s the way he comes across in the interview. I also found myself relating to him too when he discusses about being an outsider. I think a lot of the horror community will find themselves relating to it as well.

I have a good feeling about the future for the Clive Barker universe. We have a new Candyman movie coming out that’s being produced by Jordan Peele that’s being released in 2020. There’s more plays scripts to look forward to from The Clive Barker Archive. I’m sure they’ll be adding more material to the Archive over the next year as well. Don’t forget Phil and Sarah Stokes are still hard at work on finishing the Imaginer Series. I also hope he continues to do the convention circuit, especially for the overseas markets. I know a lot of fans would love to see him in the U.K. one more time. That one’s for you Danny Stewart. And I’m sure there’s going to be some new books that will be announced as well.

To end this article, I’d like to leave you with Clive’s final comment from the Arrow Video interview. It’s the perfect ending with Clive summarizing the world we live today and how we need to take a bigger path that will lead us to a much more magical life:

The world around us is getting stale and predictable. That doesn’t mean we need to do harm to ourselves or others in order to violate that staleness. It simply means we have a duty to life to be alive. And to be alive is to be changing, and developing, and evolving, and mutating, and becoming monstrous. And becoming beautiful in the moment of monstrousness. – Clive Barker

Thanks to Texas Frightmare Weekend, Days of the Dead,  Arrow Video and fan Raul for sharing his pictures of Clive from Days of the Dead: Chicago