Harmon, Gunn, Hellraiser: Weekly Round Up

20th April 2020

Most of you probably know Dan Harmon for his work on the incredibly successful and popular animated sci-fi comedy show Rick & Morty, or possibly from his podcast Harmontown, but some of you may know him as the man who brought us Community (well, brought us five of its six seasons at least). For those of you who don’t know what Community is, the entire show has recently been added to Netflix, ready for your consumption. It’s an irreverent comedy about a group of students at Greendale Community College. And it’s hilarious.

Even if you don’t know of Community, you’ll know doubt know many of the names both in front of and behind the camera, who worked on the show during its run. Along with Harmon, a lot of the cast and crew have gone on to bigger things since the show’s final season, including Donald Glover, otherwise known as Childish Gambino, Alison Brie, Joel McHale, and Ken Jong. Several of the shows earlier episodes were also directed by the Russo Brothers, who we all know these days as the guys behind Marvel’s Civil War, Infinity War, and Endgame!

Known for its meta humor and clever pop-culture references, Community ended after it’s sixth season, which aired on the short-lived Yahoo! Streaming Service. One of the many things the show left behind was the promise of six season and a movie (and it promoted the hashtag #sixseasonsandamovie more than once during its run). This was no doubt nothing more than a funny gag when written, but since them fans of Community have been crying out for the movie.

Well, it seems this week that the movie is more likely that we realized. Of course, there are no definitive announcements at this point, but earlier this week star Joel McHale (who presented the recent Tiger King special for Netflix) was asked what the situation with the movie was, and said “ There’s way more rumblings than there used to be. Alison [Brie] tweeted that she got a phone call from Sony… I would say there’s a better chance than there’s ever been”.

If you, look me, are a fan of the show, then this is like music to your ears. Even though there still isn’t anything concrete, the prospect of seeing these characters together again one last time, on the big screen, is too good to miss. Here’s hoping we can get something out of this, even if it does wind up straight to Netflix! Maybe the currently situation regarding COVID-19 can give these guys a chance to plan something for the fans?

Speaking of COVID-19, we’ve had a lot of news recently about productions halted and release dates pushed back, but James Gunn, writer and director behind Marvel’s incredibly successful and beloved Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, suggested this week that both his upcoming projects, The Suicide Squad for DC and Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 for Marvel, have not been delayed.

Quite what this means we don’t know, especially considering Guardians vol. 3 doesn’t even actually have an official release date, but The Suicide Squad is scheduled for a June 2021 release and, at the moment at least, seems to be holding on to that date.

Before Marvel came along to shoot him into super-stardom, James Gunn was best known as the writer of Zack Snyder’s 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead. That film came out around the same time as a great many other horror reboots, including The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Alexandre Aja’s The Hills Have Eyes. But, despite the incredible number of horror franchises to be given the reboot treatment, one series has always managed to evade it. Until now…

Clive Barker’s original Hellraiser, released in 1987, introduced the world to the now iconic Pinhead. And while there have been many sequels to the original (of varying quality) fans have thus far been denied a remake. Many may consider this a good thing, but Hollywood obviously have other ideas.

The reboot is being developed by Spyglass Media, and the company have hired director David Bruckner to take the helm of the project. Bruckner recently debuted his film The Night House at Sundance, where it was met with relatively positive reviews, and while we don’t know anything about the direction he’ll be taking the franchise in, his approach has been described as “loyal, yet evolved”.

I, personally, am quite excited by the prospect of a Hellraiser reboot, so long as it maintains the darkness and the violence of the original film. Barker was never one to shy away from taboo topics, and any Hellraiser film, sequel or reboot, should honor that if it is going to work. I’m also curious what they plan to do with regards to the series’ iconic villain, Pinhead, who is famously played by actor Doug Bradley. Bradley didn’t appear as the character in the most recent movie in the franchise, which prompted backlash from fans.

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