Hellraiser’s Doug Bradley pays tribute to Lemmy Kilmister

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

The horror and metal fan communities have a large overlap, so I'm sure that many Arrow in the Head readers were upset by the news that Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister passed away earlier this week.

I can't profess to have a deep knowledge of Motörhead myself, most of my exposure to their songs just came from movie soundtracks, but I have enjoyed what I've heard of them. One of the films the band contributed a song to was 1992's HELLRAISER III: HELL ON EARTH. The song was, fittingly, "Hellraiser", which Lemmy had written with Ozzy Osbourne and Zakk Wylde the previous year. HELLRAISER creator Clive Barker directed the "Hellraiser" video, mixing clips from HELL ON EARTH with footage of Doug Bradley interacting with Lemmy while in full Pinhead regalia.

Bradley is one of the many people who has taken to social media to express his sorrow at the loss of Lemmy, saying

Sad to hear of Lemmy's passing.

"Icon" is a word perhaps thrown around too easily-Lemmy fits it like a glove. I said that as someone who was not much of a fan of Motörhead, though I stepped aboard his Silver Machine with great pleasure 40 years and more ago. 

Then, of course, came the day I spent shooting the "Hellraiser" video with him in an abandoned theatre in downtown LA. It was a memorable day in many ways, not least for the time spent sitting across a card table from him, waiting to shoot the scene. I sipped water while he drank whiskey at an alarming rate, we swapped memories of The Goons and Spike Milligan and laughed a lot together. In spite of the liquor and the god-knows-what-else, a gentle, charming, funny man.

Peace and Pain
Doug

Lemmy and Pinhead can be seen raising hell together in the video below.