News
‘Waxwork’ and ‘Hellraiser III’ Director Anthony Hickox Has Passed Away
Bloody Disgusting has learned the sad news this week that Waxwork (1988) director Anthony Hickox, who was prolific in the ’80s and ’90s, has passed away at the age of 64 years old.
Deadline reports, “Hickox had spent his recent years in Romania, where police found him dead last week at his house in Bucharest after friends had reported not seeing him for some time, according to close friend and InterTalent Rights Group CEO Jonathan Shalit.”
In addition to Waxwork, a favorite among the staff here at Bloody Disgusting, Anthony Hickox also directed the film’s only sequel, Waxwork II: Lost in Time (1992).
Hickox also directed a slew of other horror movies around the same time, including the Bruce Campbell-starring Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1989), Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992), and Warlock: The Armageddon (1993), as well as the 1990s films Full Eclipse (1993), Payback (1995), Invasion of Privacy (1996), and Storm Catcher (1999).
Anthony Hickox remained active as a filmmaker in more recent years, directing Last Run (2001), Consequence (2003), Submerged (2005), Knife Edge (2009), and Infamous Six (2020).
Hickox also wrote the scripts for Waxwork, Waxwork II and Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat.
Hellraiser III writer Peter Atkins writes on Facebook this week, “I’m deeply sorry to hear of the death of my friend and colleague of over thirty years, Anthony Hickox. We met in 1991 on Hellraiser III, which I wrote and he directed, and we wrote several scripts together over the next decade and a half. Tony came from movie royalty — his dad was Douglas Hickox, director of Theatre of Blood, and his mum was the legendary Anne V. Coates, Oscar-winning editor of Lawrence of Arabia — and Tony himself will be remembered by his fans for his high-style and adrenaline-fueled approach to horror in movies like Waxwork and Warlock: The Armageddon, and remembered by his friends for his energy, his humor, and his refusal to ever let the party stop. My heartfelt sympathies to his siblings Jim and Emma, and to his family and loved ones. RIP, mate. Hopefully, Lemmy’s already poured you a drink and dealt you a hand.”
Anthony Hickox is survived by son Sasha, wife Madeline Anea, and siblings Jim and Emma.
In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war, but it was a cheerful illustrator from England who helped to define the terrifying war-torn imagery that inspired what we now know as Grimdark (a hybrid genre combining horror with sci-fi/fantasy).
Unfortunately for fans of Warhammer 40,000, Trench Crusade and countless other sources of Grimdark thrills, veteran artist John Blanche passed away this week after struggling with health issues for the past few years.
While the artist retired back in 2023, he leaves us with an enormous legacy of iconic artwork that continues to inspire gamers and storytellers around the world to this very day.
The news is especially gloomy as it was only last year that Daniel Lowman and Napoleon Dynamite himself Jon Heder released The Grim & the Dark: The Search for John Blanche, a documentary following Heder’s exploration of the Grimdark genre culminating in a heartwarming encounter with Blanche in his own home.
Below is one of my favorite pieces by Blanche, his highly influential depiction of Warhammer 40k’s God-Emperor of Mankind on his Golden Throne.
We send our deepest condolences to John Blanche’s family, friends, and fans.
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