Hellraiser III - Inferno sulla città

Where Hellraiser 1 and 2 were both very dark and very British, Hellraiser 3: Hell On Earth is very Hollywood.

J. P. Monroe is the scumbag, soulless owner of The Boiler Room, a somewhat gothy dance club decorated with morbid art. In his search for more profane objects to add to his collection, J. P. comes across, and subsequently purchases, an odd pillar in an art gallery, which fans of the first two films will have no trouble recognizing. Enter Joey Summerskill, a frustrated reporter who comes across a bizarre death in a hospital emergency room. As she watches, a young man is torn to pieces by hooks and chains that appear out of midair. Eager to discover the story behind the gruesome, supernatural death, and with only one clue to follow, Joey arrives at the Boiler Room and befriends the insecure and abused Terri, J. P.'s ex girlfriend. Together, they discover the history of the Lament Configuration, the bizarre happenings at the Channard Institute and the story of Kirsty Cotton. But it doesn't end there. Joey begins having dreams about a man named Elliot Spencer, a World War One soldier who warns her that evil has been unleashed in the form of his own evil alter ego, the Cenobite Pinhead. Indeed, Pinhead soon breaks free and turns The Boiler Room into a slaughterhouse. Now he wants Joey. But can Elliot Spencer stop Pinhead before Joey is taken to Hell?

This isn't a terrible sequel, really. It's not great, but it's nowhere near as bad as some of the others that followed. There's some nice bloody gore and naked girls, and Pinhead, as always, seems to be enjoying himself immensely, seducing his victims with a smile and making his offer of an eternity of pain seem quite irresistible. His scene with a priest is particularly nasty and blasphemous...and wickedly funny. The storyline doesn't always make sense, there's a lot of unintentionally laughable moments and some of the acting borders on the ridiculous, but all in all, Hellraiser 3 is pretty good cinematic junk food. If nothing else, Doug Bradley alone always makes these films watchable with his flawless portrayal of Pinhead.

6 out of 10.

Watching this film as part of a four movie Hellraiserthon, I was full of expectation after the brilliance of the first two films. This third venture was a total disappointment, replacing the plot and tension of the earlier films with pretty girls and lots of mindless violence. The only saving grace was the excellent performance by Doug Bradley as a very confident and menacing Pinhead. Personally, I'd watch the first two films many times again, but skip this vacation from quality.

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.

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

first of all, Hellraiser III isn't a BAD film. In fact, it's quite good if it would stand on its own. And it certainly is one of the more decent efforts in the overall disappointing decade of the 90's. Compared to the first two Hellraisers, however, it's a bit of a failure. Hellraiser ('87) and Hellbound ('88) were horrorfilms in the purest possible form and my two all-time favorites. There were 4 indicators in those movies that brought them close to being the definition of horror.

1. Creating a unique and utterly morbid atmosphere (through settings, music etc...)

2. Building up an unbearable tension ( the occasional twists etc..)

3. Showing nasty and very bloody sequences in a beautiful way

4. The presence of a true horror icon !! ( in this case...PINHEAD )

Hellraiser III fails to at least 3 of these points...The dark and macabre settings from Hell and the mental institution are replaced by a bar which plays horrible rock music, there's almost no tension to detect and it's a very predictable story. The gore however is still present, but the quality of it doesn't come near the originals. The Boiler Room massacre puts Clive Barker to shame, I think. The whole story know turns around the character of Pinhead. He's more than ever the star of this movie and that almost goes wrong. He talks too much and he even starts to become funny. That certainly isn't good for a horror icon. ( Look at what a joke Fred Krueger became ). Director Anthony Hickox obviously is a big fan of Pinhead and he wanted the movie to be especially about him. Every now and then Hickox tries to link this film to the original story but it clearly isn't his biggest concern. The tapes about Kirsty in the Chanard institute and the dream-sequences where Joey meets Elliot Spencer are too fake and forced. The movie does explain where Pinhead comes from but it certainly isn't stressed enough...

Hellraiser III goes very much over the top near the end and I almost lost my love towards Pinhead after the church scene ! I'm trying to forget that particular part. It really is a shame that this movie is part of the series. If this would have been a new film ( with a new demon ) it would have been an enjoyable, well-made change. But as part of a great series it fails to deliver and you're left behind with a disappointment. This movie was followed by episode 4: Bloodline and a few others after that. The fourth is a surprisingly good attempt to bring back the spirit of the original ones and should be watched directly after the first two. Everything that came after part 4 should be skipped unless you're a die-hard Pinhead fan.