Behind the Mask of the Horror Actor [Paperback]

Doug Bradley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2004

Actor Doug Bradley, who portrays Pinhead in Clive Barker's Hellraiser films, gives his own unique and personal guide to cinema monsters and the men who portray them, including legends Lon Chaney and Boris Karloff, and unforgettable creatures like The Wolf Man, Frankenstein's Monster, The Phantom of the Opera and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He also examines the many roles the mask has played throughout time, and the physical rigours that actors who play monsters must endure. Coming up to date, he meets the actors behind modern-day monsters Leatherface (Texas Chain Saw Massacre), Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on Elm Street), and Jason (Friday the 13th). Plus, of course, Bradley recounts the making of the Hellraiser movies in detail, revealing just what it's like to actually be the man behind the mask.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"..a thoroughly researched and well-written amble through the history and highlights of horror." -- SFX Magazine, November 2004, review by Rob Power

About the Author

Doug Bradley first appeared as Pinhead in the 1987 horror masterpiece Hellraiser, and has continued to play the role in a series of successful movies (the latest instalments, Deader and Hellworld, are due for release in 2004). Other film and TV appearances include starring in Barker's Nightbreed and alongside Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street's Freddy) in The Killer Tongue, and a role in the recent BBC2 dramatisation The Private Life of Samuel Pepys, alongside Steve Coogan.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Titan Books (July 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1840238070
• ISBN-13: 978-1840238075
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 7.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #798,831 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read it anyway, September 10, 2009

By 

D. Thoren (Snellville, GA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Behind the Mask of the Horror Actor (Paperback)

It's a shame that this book is probably destined to have a very limited cult audience. It's written by Pinhead, and if you don't like the "Hellraiser" series you'd probably tend to just skip it. I wouldn't blame you, but you shouldn't.

If I have one complaint it's that the "history of the mask" portion at the beginning seems sort of tacked on as if Mr. Bradley felt he needed scientific or psychological justification for writing a book. If that is the case, he needn't have worried. This thing is chock full of hilarious behind-the-scenes anecdotes about great horror actors old and new, including Mr. Bradley, written with dry self-deprecating British wit. It's like spending the day with Doug Bradley, and I laughed my way through the entire thing.

I would recommend it to anyone that is curious about how film sets work and how actors cope with prosthetics, or to anyone that just loves movies. Don't worry, there's no torture or hell-raising, and it won't give you nightmares.

And I'm ready for a sequel please, Mr. Bradley. I'm sure there's more where this came from...

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great horror fan read, May 1, 2010

By 

Brian Shaw - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Behind the Mask of the Horror Actor (Paperback)

I checked this out of the local library a few months ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Not only does Mr. Bradley fill this enjoyable book with enjoyable anecdotes about his career as Pinhead, he gives a history of make-up in Hollywood during the golden age with innovaters such as Jack Pierce and Lon Chaney. This is a great book for not just fans of the Hellraiser movies, but of the horror genre as a whole and anyone fascinated with the history of make-up and prosthetics in movie. A very interesting and quick read!