Barbie Wilde is best known to British horror audiences as the female Cenobite in Hellbound: Hellraiser 2. WILLIAM BOVE talks to the US-based actress about the famous role and her other forays into horror
They say, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”. I say fury has never known a woman like Barbie Wilde. From movies, to television, to her works as a published author, Barbie’s fury is not one of anger, but a wild and creative force filled with a creative expression that is undeniable.
From our first interview, “Whispers of Leviathan,” in Blood Moon Chronicles magazine, I got to know an actress with a relentless talent and love for performing. An amazing author whose shadowy tastes border on the hellish, and a great soul with a quick wit who makes sure to have fun and loves to laugh.
Now we turn our attention once more to the irresistible lure of the Leviathan. Whispering to us from hell with spooky verse that fills our hearts with all we wait for in frightened anticipation of the night, horror, the supernatural, and the macabre.
So light the candle, wait for all to be silent, and open the puzzle box one more time. The veil between the worlds is now thin, and I give you… Barbie Wilde.
WILLIAM BOVE: I’m happy to be interviewing you again, Barbie. How are you doing?
BARBIE WILDE: I’m fine! I’ve recently been to Birmingham, England, Aberdeen, Scotland, and Atlanta, USA. I was in Birmingham for the Cine-Excess International Film Festival. The 2023 theme was “Raising Hell: Demons, Darkness, and the Abject”. They celebrated and screened Hellraiser and Hellbound. Cine-Excess also gave Clive Barker, Doug Bradley, Simon Bamford, Nicholas Vince, and moi their Innovator of Horror Award, which was a great honour.
In Aberdeen, I guested at HorrorCon Scotland, which was held in a magnificent Art Deco ballroom near the sea. Unfortunately, the weather was pretty bad because of Storm Babet, but it was still great to be there!
And in Atlanta, I attended the Days of the Dead Convention with my fellow Cenobites and some marvellous actors from various Hellraiser movies.
Congratulations, Barbie, on the Innovator of Horror Award. That’s fantastic. Speaking of “raising hell”, I’d like to talk with you about Hellbound: Hellraiser 2. How did you get into the role of the Female Cenobite for the movie?
After the first Hellraiser film, Grace Kirby, Clive’s cousin, wasn’t interested in reprising her role, so the casting call went out for a new Female Cenobite. I think that the Casting Director called me in because of my classical mime training. The received wisdom at the time was that mime artists were more patient with the makeup process and were more practised at portraying the sinister stillness that the Cenobites possessed.
I nearly didn’t go to the audition because the first Hellraiser film disturbed me so much, but my friend Geoff said, “Oh, go on, Barbie. Twenty years from now they’ll be calling you: Barbie Wilde — Queen of the B Movies.” (At that time, all my movies had numbers after the titles: Death Wish 3, Grizzly 2, etc.)
So I went to the audition with Tony Randall, the director. We had a nice chat, but then he mentioned that he thought that Clive had made up the word “Cenobite”. I said, “No, it means a member of an order, usually a religious one”. He said, “I’m sure that Clive made it up.” I said, “No, it’s in the dictionary. Look it up.” His assistant looked it up and said, “Barbie’s right!” And I got the part. Although it was probably because I fit into Grace’s costume, which was being reused for the movie, I believe. (Pro Tip: It’s best practice to NOT contradict the director at an audition!)
[Ah, I just realised that I answered a different question than the one you asked. Feel free to use the above answer to the question: “How did you get the role of the Female Cenobite?”]
To prepare for playing the role of the Female Cenobite, I read The Hellbound Heart, Clive Barker’s novella, which became the basis for the Hellraiser film franchise. Obviously, I read the script as well. But the thing that really informed my performance was the brilliant Female Cenobite makeup design. The first time I looked in the mirror with full makeup was very transformative. At first I thought, “Where’s me? Where’s that big-haired, 80s TV presenter?” But then I saw the power in that face, and it really informed my character.
In the movie, you portray the only female Cenobite among the group. What can you tell me about her?
Well, I think Pinhead put it best: “Explorers, in the further regions of experience. Demons to some, angels to others.”
The Female Cenobite is Pinhead’s right-hand gal, ready to give him a hand when things get tough. She’s ruthless and dedicated to her job. She also has a penchant for cool leather outfits and lethal implements.
Of course, I’ve written four stories that give a background to the life of a Female Cenobite called Sister Cilice. A collection will be released soon.
What did you like the most and what did you like the least about playing your Cenobite character?
It’s a very powerful character to play, and it’s great to be in a horror movie with so many outstanding female characters. Clive Barker is such a genius. He created a new kind of monster, and I got to play one of them, which is pretty wonderful.
The downside was the gruelling makeup process: four hours in the makeup chair and 30 minutes putting on the costume. Then at the end of the day, another hour taking the prosthetic makeup off.
Why do the other Cenobites have nicknames, but not the Female Cenobite?
In the first Hellraiser film, the Cenobites were called Lead Cenobite, Chattering Cenobite, Fat Cenobite, and Female Cenobite. By the time the second film came around, the characters were called by the nicknames that the makeup crew had given them: Pinhead, Chatterer, Butterball, and… Female Cenobite. The reason I didn’t get a nickname in the credits is that the American producers deemed my makeup crew nickname too rude to use. It was Deep Throat, which was the title of a rather notorious porno film from the 70s.
What do you think of Julia as one of the major villains in the movie?
I think that Julia is fabulous. She is truly a diva of horror. From mousy housewife to a woman who goes and picks up strange businessmen in bars, takes them back to her home, and then crushes the backs of their skulls with a hammer so she can get her S&M lover’s skin back. Ya gotta admire that kind of dedication!
Do you have any favourite scenes in general from Hellbound: Hellraiser 2?
My personal fav is when Julia rips out Frank’s heart and says, “Nothing personal, babe.” (It’s especially poignant because that’s the line Frank says to Julia as he kills her in the first Hellraiser.)
Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 looks like it would be a hell of a lot of fun to be a part of. Can you tell me about some of your favourite moments in filming the movie?
The most memorable scene in the filming of Hellbound for me was the first scene that we appear in. I’d been on the way back from the States on Saturday and the plane was delayed for 24 hours. I had to take a taxi from Heathrow Airport direct to Pinewood Studios. I was late, and everyone was a bit annoyed at me. Then after the makeup and costume process, as is inevitable in making movies, we had to hang around for six hours before we all got in front of the camera. So to say that I was in a bit of an altered state would be an understatement.
Then the fog machine started up, and we made our extraordinary entrance to find Tiffany opening the box. It was quite magnificent to be part of that scene.
Do you think Julia is a much stronger villain in Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 than in Hellraiser?
Hard to say. I like the narrative arc of her character in Hellraiser I, but she’s such a badass in Hellraiser II. “Take your best shot, Snow White!” Clare Higgins is a superb actor and truly a force of nature.
There were some moments in Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 that were humorous and filled with dark humour. For example, the scene where Tiffany is sitting on the floor and summons the Cenobites. Pinhead comes down the hall exclaiming “No” twice. With a look of disappointed innocence, your character calmly repeats “no.” Was the humour intentional?
Actually, my response to Pinhead’s first “no” was a question: “no?” Pinhead then repeats “No” to me and says the immortal line: “It is not hands that summon us. It is desire.” Frankly, I don’t consider that exchange particularly humorous. Also, there ain’t nothing innocent about that Lady Cenobite!
However, yes, there is a vein of very deadpan humour throughout. I think it’s down to the fact that the English always have to have some sense of fun, even in horror movies.
Did you find it very difficult to get into character for your role?
All I really had to do was look in the mirror!
Humanity plays an important part in Hellbound: Hellraiser 2. Kirsty asks the Cenobites to remember who they were. Beginning with Pinhead, they all remember and for a moment rediscover themselves. How important do you think humanity is to the movie?
It’s interesting because, in my opinion, the real monsters were the humans: Frank and Julia. And of course, Dr Channard. These characters lose their humanity, while the Cenobites, just before or during their deaths, find their humanity again. And therefore, I suppose, a kind of redemption.
Do you have a favourite cringe-worthy scene in the movie? If so, can you tell me about it?
Not really.
Do you have any future plans to work or appear with Simon Bamford, Nicholas Vince, and Doug Bradley that you can talk about?
No. Although I’d love to. It was great working with Doug Bradley when he was narrating the audiobook of my diary-of-a-serial-killer novel, The Venus Complex. We had a ball!
I also had fun working with Simon Bamford, Nick Vince, and Oliver Smith (Hellraiser’s Skinless Frank) in the Amazon Prime TV horror series Dark Ditties Presents: The Offer back in 2017. (Ken Cranham also appeared in the episode, but I didn’t have any scenes with him.)
If not “Hellbound: Hellraiser 2,” what is your favourite Hellraiser movie and why?
My favourite of the Hellraiser films that I’ve seen (the first one, Hellbound, and the Hulu reboot) was definitely the first Hellraiser. It’s a perfect horror movie, as far as I’m concerned: wonderfully filmed with a great script. And all the performances are brilliant.
Your stories are such terrifying fun, and your covers drip with fear. Do you have any new horrors lurking for your readers?
I’ve got a few projects on the boil, but unfortunately, I can’t really talk about them at the moment. However, there will be a dedicated collection of my Sister Cilice Female Cenobite stories coming out in Spring 2024. And my diary-of-a-serial-killer novel, The Venus Complex, is still available on Amazon as a paperback, Kindle, and audiobook (as mentioned previously, narrated by the king of pain himself, Hellraiser’s Doug Bradley) until the end of June, when I will be changing publishers.
Who is Barbie Wilde?
Barbie Wilde is best known for playing the Female Cenobite in Clive Barker’s classic British cult horror movie, Hellbound: Hellraiser II. Before moving to the UK, Wilde attended Syracuse University in the United States, majoring in Drama and Anthropology.
She continued her education in London, studying Drama, Classical Mime, and Art History, before joining Britain’s largest classical mime troupe, SILENTS.
Wilde also was a vicious thug in Michael Winner’s Death Wish 3; robotically danced in the Bollywood blockbuster, Janbaaz; and played a drummer in an electronica band in Grizzly II: The Concert (finally completed after 37 years and released in 2020 as Grizzly 2: Revenge), which starred then-unknowns George Clooney, Laura Dern, and Charlie Sheen.
She featured in 16 different TV shows in the 1980s and 1990s, such as The Morecambe and Wise Show, Rebellious Jukebox, Pulaski: The TV Detective, and Hale and Pace.
In the early 1980s, Wilde sang and danced professionally at the top nightclubs and rock venues of New York, London, Bangkok, and Amsterdam with her music and dance group, SHOCK. SHOCK released 2 singles on RCA Records and supported Gary Numan, Ultravox, Depeche Mode, and Adam & the Ants.
Wilde also featured in 14 pop videos for various artists such as Ultravox and Simple Minds. Wilde wrote and presented 7 music and film review TV programs in the 1980s and 1990s, interviewing such artists as Iggy Pop, The Sisters of Mercy, Black, Wet Wet Wet, The B-52s, Johnny Rotten, and Cliff Richard, as well as actors Nicolas Cage and Hugh Grant.
In 2009-2021, Wilde contributed short stories to 16 different horror or crime anthologies and publications. Her 2009 Hellraiser-inspired short story, “Sister Cilice,” made it to the top of the list of Dread Central’s 8 Most Gruesome Hellraiser Stories Told Outside the Movies: “This is a messy, viscera-soaked, disturbing story that’s also lurid and steamy in a way that would make Barker proud.”
In 2012, Comet Press published Wilde’s debut diary-of-a-serial-killer novel, The Venus Complex, prompting America’s best-selling horror magazine Fangoria to call her “one of the finest purveyors of erotically charged horror fiction around.” The Venus Complex was released as an audiobook in autumn 2018, narrated by the “King of Pain” himself, Hellraiser’s Doug Bradley.
Wilde’s illustrated collection of short horror stories, Voices of the Damned, published by SST Publications in 2015, was called “sensual in its brutality” and “a delight for the darker senses” in a starred review from Publishers Weekly. Each of the 11 stories is introduced by a full colour artwork and/or illustration created by some of the most imaginative artists in the genre: Clive Barker, Nick Percival, Steve McGinnis, Daniele Serra, Eric Gross, Tara Bush, Vincent Sammy, and Ben Baldwin.
Voices of the Damned was nominated for the Best Horror Story Collection Award by This is Horror, 2015. Wilde’s most recent short story is “Liaison” (theme: Lust), which features in the horror anthology, Circles of Hell, inspired by Dante’s Inferno.
Wilde has been collaborating as co-producer and co-screenplay writer with ex-Fangoria Editor-in-Chief and director Chris Alexander (Blood for Irina, Queen of Blood, Female Werewolf, Blood Dynasty, Necropolis: Legion, Space Vampire, It Knows You’re Alone, Girl with the Straight Razor) on the feature-length horror movie, Blue Eyes, based on her short story of the same name.
Wilde returned to acting in the Amazon Prime horror series Dark Ditties Presents… in the episodes “The Offer” (2017) and “Dad” (2022), as well as playing a high society cannibal queen in Body Horror: Eating Disorders (2024). A collection of Wilde’s Female Cenobite stories will be published in Spring 2024. Barbie Wilde is the proud recipient of the 2018 Texas Frightmare Weekend Lifetime of Torment Award and the Cine-Excess Innovator of Horror Award 2023.
WILLIAM BOVE is a Gothic Horror author. And a born Gothic Romantic of old. Starting at the age of six. By reading the ‘Masque of The Red Death’ by Edgar Allan Poe. William sat back in spellbound wonderment at Poe’s style of symbolism, allegory, and illustration. Reading the story over and over. Woke up everything in his soul to who he was. And what he was meant to do with his life. A voice came from within saying. This is for you and who you are. Not knowing how. The voice said to William. Let me show you. He has followed it ever since. You can follow him on Facebook and Tiktok.
