Hellraiser III

Despite appreciating horror very much (with a lot of classic ones out there, such as 'Halloween', 'Nightmare on Elm Street', 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre', 'Night of the Living Dead' and 'The Exorcist', plus the best of Hammer House of Horror), even if not my favourite genre, it took me a while to get round to watching the 'Hellraiser' franchise. Due to having so much to watch and review, and the list keeps getting longer and longer.

The film that started the franchise off is not only for me by far the best of the 'Hellraiser' films it also for me, and quite a few others it seems, is one of the stronger horror films of the 80s, though not quite of all time. What is meant by being by far the best of the 'Hellraiser' films is that it is the only one to be above very good, the nine sequels were very variable (leaning towards the disappointing) and the latter films particularly are suggestive of the franchise having run its course.

From personal opinion, while a bit of a disappointment 'Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth' is still watchable and one of the better sequels in the series. Would say actually it is second best after 'Hellbound: Hellraiser II'.

Quite a fair few good things here in 'Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth'. The production were fine, do prefer the nightmarishly Gothic look of the first two films but the film looks very stylish and atmosphere with visual effects that aren't overused or abused and actually a little more polished than 'Hellbound: Hellraiser II'. The theme song is quite memorable, while there are some imaginative and disturbing kills and Pinhead's scene in the church is one of the best in the series, hair-raising and wickedly funny.

Did like the effort to give development to Pinhead and his story is interesting, regardless of whether it fitted within the rest of the film or not. Doug Bradley is genuinely intimidating and Terry Farrell does a decent job.

It is hard however to ignore the drawbacks. 'Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth' lacks the creepiness and ambition of the previous two films, there is a lot of silliness and camp humour and it does undermine any creepiness or suspense and it just feels completely different tonally compared to its predecessors. The dialogue is toe-curling this time and didn't really see any need for some of the gore, which didn't unnerve that much and came over as cheap and gratuitous instead.

Also thought the story, while slightly more coherent than parts of 'Hellbound: Hellraiser II', made little sense and was muddled. The rest of the acting is laughable and the Cebonites are nowhere near as creepy or mysterious. Worst of all is the ridiculously over-the-top and far-fetched ending, that was even more of an incomprehensible parody as the one in the previous film.

Overall, watched and one of the better 'Hellraiser' sequels but could have been better. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Look, we've already seen what Pinhead can do with his hooks and chains, but how is he back into action?

It makes no sense to go into the details of how Pinhead came back after being destroyed in part two. Through some improbable and convoluted way involving a copper statue, the box, and a pompous night club owner, Pinhead was brought back to life in New York. Now he's in the real world and he is seeking to stay.

A struggling reporter named Joanne "Joey" Summerskill (Terry Farrell) has the box and the ability to send Pinhead back to hell. The way to send him back to hell is very vague and uninformative, but at least Joey understands... I think.

This entire episode was a mess. No one is going to accuse horror movies of being intelligent, but some are dumber than others. Pinhead still desires pleasures and flesh, but the victims this time around are just set pieces, they have no personalities and no true characteristics besides vapidity. "Hell on Earth" went for maximum carnage as though that was an adequate replacement for substance. So many horror movie franchises do that once they get into their third, fourth, and fifth episodes. Their idea wells run dry so they just reach for the body count button as though that will mask the pitiful plot when all it does is make the movie bloodier and dumber.

I have yet to see Bloodline or Inferno, but Hell on Earth is the worst of the first three Hellraiser movies. It lacks both the wit and the sheer terror of the first two films. What's more, it breaks the rules established in the previous Hellraiser films (that is, Cenobites cannot harm the truly innocent, the Cenobites can be summoned or banished by the box, and so on). And while Pinhead actually spoke very little in the first two films, in Hell on Earth he is downright talky. Unfortunately, only a few of his lines are very memorable. It is unfortunate that Clive Barker did not have more to do with this movie (he wrote and directed the first and wrote the story for the second), as it might have turned out much better.

Here's part three of the Hellraiser Saga... Once again this continues from where the last film ended, though it's a looser connection. The battle between Pinhead (Bradley) and his original human self, Captain Elliott Spencer, allowed him to break free of hells shackles. Entrapped in a monolith, he is awoken by Sandy (Leigh), when an accidental cut splashes blood on his stone features. Revealing himself to JP Monroe (Bernhardt), an unscrupulous womanising club owner, Pinhead makes a deal to free himself from his confines and to help JP to achieve his dreams...

This leads to lots of twists and turns in the storyline as you know you can't trust a daemon. The only thing which stands in his way is an aspiring investigative reporter, Joanne "Joey" Summerskill (Farrell), who's investigating the gory and violent murders which are appearing in the city.

The first thing that becomes evident is the amount of budget available for this film. Instead of being kept within the confines of a house or a hospital, now we're out in New York City. Penthouses, apartments, clubs, restaurants, ally's and streets. The locations are so much bigger. This is good, as it gives scope for a larger story with more hellish violence and gore... and it nearly delivers. Nearly, because the scene where the Cenobites finally take to the streets is actually underwhelming. What was required were a few more Cenobites and quite a few more victims, both pedestrians and police. It's nice to have explosions... I just wanted more.

The acting is okay, Bradley still stands out and is excellent as Pinhead. Farrell does a good job as the reporter. However, it's Bernhardt and Marshall, who plays Terri, who have their bouts of woodenness. The direction too is quite different from the first two, gone are the artistic and atmospheric lighting for a more natural feel. This is okay, but the film does lose a little of its mood and spirit, which added strength to the first two movies. I can understand the need for doing this. If you expand the daemons universe to include a lot more of reality then it stands to reason to get that feeling across would be to lose the more imaginative aspects of the filmmaking. That said there are still quite a few iconic shots, such as the entrance of Pinhead at the club and later in the church, and nicely thought out camera shots and angles.

Though I didn't find it as good as the first films it's still as enjoyable, though for different reasons... and as Pinhead would attain, variety is the spice of life.

Another good thing is that this film actually works as a stand-alone, you only need a vague idea about the previous stories; whereas, Hellbound actually made you feel as though you should have watched the first film before viewing. So for that reason, I would recommend this to all horror fans and newbies alike. This is a well written, structured, and acted film... which has its fair share of tension, fear, and suspense.

Cheap looking sequel reduces the complicated Hellraiser and Pinhead legends into your standard Freddy and Jason cliches complete with teenagers running around in distress and discussing their so called problems in between.

This time around Pinhead (Doug Bradley) and a TV news reporter (Terry Farrell) battle it out for possession over a box that can open the gates of hell and end the world as we know it. Not even Bradley's commanding presence can breath life into this.

Unrated; Sexual Situations, Nudity, Extreme Graphic Violence, and Profanity.