Damaged people, ultraviolence, murder and explicit sex - what's not to love about her work?"
-Chris Alexander, Editor-in-Chief, Fangoria, Issue #321
BIOGRAPHY:
Actress and author Barbie Wilde is best known as the Female Cenobite in Clive Barker's classic cult horror movie Hellbound: Hellraiser II. She has performed in cabaret in Bangkok, Thailand, robotically danced in the Bollywood blockbuster, Janbazz, played a vicious mugger in the vigilante thriller Death Wish III, and was a drummer for an electronica band in the so-called "Holy Grail of unfinished and unreleased 80's horror", Grizzly II: The Concert (finally completed after 37 years and released in 2020 as Grizzly 2: Revenge), which starred then unknowns George Clooney, Laura Dern and Charlie Sheen. Wilde was a founder member of the mime/dance/music group, SHOCK, which supported such artists as Gary Numan, Ultravox, Depeche Mode and Adam & the Ants in the 1980s. In the 80s and 90s, Wilde also presented and wrote eight different music and film review TV programs in the UK.
In 2009-2021, Wilde contributed short stories to 16 different horror or crime anthologies and publications. Her 2009 Hellraiser-inspired short story, “Sister Cilice”, made it to the top of the list of Dread Central’s 8 Most Gruesome Hellraiser Stories Told Outside the Movies: “This is a messy, viscera-soaked, disturbing story that’s also lurid and steamy in a way that would make Barker proud.”
Wilde's dark crime novel, 'The Venus Complex', was published by Comet Press in November, 2012. Fangoria has called Wilde "...one of the finest purveyors of erotically charged horror fiction around."
In 2015, SST Publications published a full color, illustrated short horror story collection called 'Voices of the Damned', which contained 9 of Wilde's stories to date, plus two previously unpublished ones. All the stories in the collection were accompanied by top artists of the horror genre, such as Clive Barker, Nick Percival, Daniele Serra, Vincent Sammy, Ben Baldwin, Tara Bush, Steve McGinnis and Eric Gross. Publishers Weekly gave the book a starred review, calling it "sensual in its brutality" and "...a delight for the darker senses, this is a satisfying triumph in a befitting, unforgiving, style. "
In November 2018, 'The Venus Complex' was released as an audio book, narrated by 'Hellraiser' star, Doug Bradley.
In March 2024, Demain Publishing released 'The Cilicium Quadra', a collection of four short horror stories featuring the Female Cenobite, Sister Cilice.
Barbie Wilde is the proud recipient of the Texas Frightmare Weekend Lifetime of Torment Award and the Cine-Excess Innovator of Horror Award 2023.
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Reviews:
"...her work is so uncanny and fearless, it is a must have for any horror aficionado."
--writers and directors The Soska Sisters
Publishers Weekly 'Starred Review' for Voices of the Damned: "In this impressive collection of short stories, actor Wilde (who played the Female Cenobite in the film classic Hellbound: Hellraiser II) reveals a world of beautiful fear. The most delightfully terrifying entries form the Cilicium Trilogy, which reveals the complex origin and destiny of Sister Cilice. This character-focused exploration is sensual in its brutality. In "Writer's Block," Wilde combines the psychological torture of an unknown artist with the erotic egotism of fandom to create a fascinating sexual horror. She creates a dreadful family legacy in "Botophobia," in which there are not merely skeletons in the closet but unworldly powers hidden in the basement. Wilde's mastery of shocking violence is given full rein in subjects ranging from reclusive self-imprisonment to the exploration of European nightmares. As much a chilling collection of frightful fiction as a delight for the darker senses, this is a satisfying triumph in a befitting, unforgiving, style."
Reviews for The Venus Complex:
"A novel by a female Cenobite that gives the world a smart, artistic, cynical, cultured serial killer who could give Hannibal Lecter a run for his money. On top of that, this is a poignant, funny, sexually-charged, hardcore critique of popular culture and a deconstruction of relationships, academia, and art."
-Gabino Iglesias, HorrorTalk's Top Books of 2012 list (Number 3)
"The Venus Complex, as the title suggests, is an erotically charged novel, and there are some passages that give the likes of Anais Nin and Alina Reyes a run for their money." "...Hitchcockian in its portrayal of murderous obsession."
-Jon Towlson, Starburst Magazine
"The book has been garnering great reviews, firmly confirming the literary course that is now defining Wilde's life. Damaged people, ultraviolence, murder and explicit sex - what's not to love about her work?"
-Chris Alexander, Editor-in-Chief, Fangoria, Issue #321
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