The Hellbound Heart is a horror novella by Clive Barker, first published in November 1986 by Dark Harvest in the third volume of its Night Visions anthology series.

The original novella was re-released as a standalone title by HarperPaperbacks in 1991, after the success of the first film, along with an audiobook recorded by Clive Barker and published by Simon & Schuster Audioworks in 1988.

[2][3] The story retains the gory, visceral style Barker introduced in his anthology series The Books of Blood.

Solving the box, he is confused and horrified when the Cenobites – horribly scarified creatures whose bodies have been modified to the point that they appear sexless and in constant pain – arrive.

It explains the box is called the LeMarchand Configuration and realises Kirsty summoned it by accident, but then remarks this does not matter.

The leader of the Cenobites, a being called the Engineer, then appears and seems to take away Julia as well before briefly bumping into Kirsty.

Barker worked as a hustler in the '70s, and his experiences made him want to tell a story about "good and evil in which sexuality was the connective tissue".

[5] He came up with the idea about LeMarchand's box because he did not want to resort to "drawing a circle on the floor with magical symbols around it" to get access to Hell, as it seemed like an old cliché.

[6] A film adaptation was released in 1987, written and directed by Barker, which subsequently spawned nine sequels, a remake, and a multimedia franchise.

It starred Alice Lowe as Kirsty, Neve McIntosh as Julia, and Tom Meeten as both Frank and Rory.

Other roles are played by Evie Dawnay, Chris Pavlo, Nicholas Vince, Scott Brooksbank, and Lisa Bowerman (famous for her portrayal of Bernice Summerfield and her work with Big Finish Productions).

The Scarlet Gospels cements that the Cenobites live in the same reality as Clive Barker's occult detective Harry D'Amour.