Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth starts in a New York art galley where night club owning playboy J.P. Monroe (Kevin Bernhardt) buys an interesting & unique piece of art, a sculpture that contains the remains of Pinhead (Doug Bradley) the sadistic Cenobite from the original Hellriaser (1987) & Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988). Joey Summerskill (Terry Farrell) is a journalist on assignment reporting for a news program from an emergency ward in a Hospital where she is witness to a strange incident. A guy is rushed in with hooks attached to chains piercing his flesh, Joey looks on as the guy's head explodes. The guy was brought in with a girl named Terri (Paula Marshall) whom Joey locates & questions about the incident. Terri says that the guy stole a strange puzzle box from Monroe's sculpture & that's where the hooks came from, the sculpture is in Monroe's night club The Boiler Room. Joey is determined to find out the secret of the puzzle box & land herself a big story. Meanwhile Pinhead has convinced Monroe to bring him victims so that he may resurrect himself & raise hell on earth...
Directed by Anthony Hickox this is the point where it's generally agreed the Hellraiser series became crap, while Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth isn't really that bad it's nowhere near as good as it's illustrious predecessors. The script by Peter Atkins, who also makes an appearance as one of the new Cenobites, turns the series into the crappy horror franchise that it has become & tries as hard as it can to appeal to the American teenage market, ugh. For a start it makes a central character out of Pinhead, the previous films were never just about him, they were about an overall feel, creepiness & atmosphere & not revolving around a invulnerable horror character spouting lots of one-liners. The other Cenobites also disappoint, instead of the twisted grotesque design from the previous films Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth turns them into a gimmick, from a bartender (writer Peter Atkins in a cameo) who uses his fire breath to ignite alcohol, a DJ (Brent Bolthouse) who has CD's implanted in his face & he uses them to throw at people (they must have razor edges or something) & Doc (Ken Carpenter) as the cameraman who has a camera stuck through his head, right. They come across as tacky & crowd pleasing. In the previous films the Cenobites were kept in the background, all mysterious & menacing while this time around they dominate & have little purpose. The films starts off a bit slow but things pick up at the end & it's not a bad watch but just comes a such a disappointment after the two originals which were two of the best horrors to come along in decades.
Director Hickox has to take responsibility for ruining the series. The films set in New York, again to appeal to American audiences, he gives Pinhead's alter ego Elliot Spencer a large role & it all becomes supernatural & muddled. In the end Pinhead fights himself & it's just mundane. The other Cenobites are wasted, they use their 'special power' to kill someone & that's it. The puzzle box is almost completely forgotten & is no longer needed to summon the Cenobites. The dark atmosphere & tension present in the previous films is severely lacking & replaces them with explosions & silly novelty deaths. There are a few decent gore scenes, hooks embedded in flesh, exploding heads, severed limbs, skinless people, a hole on someones head, a melted hand & death by lethal CD's!
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth had studio backing which is why it ended up so commercialised so it probably had a decent budget. The film looks nice throughout & has good production values. The acting didn't impress me.
This is a disappointing film yet at the same time not a particularly bad one in it's own right. If you liked the first two for their originality, darkness & gore then I'm pretty sure that you will be very disappointed with Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth like I was. Having said that I still think it's OK & worth a watch.
Directed by Anthony Hickox this is the point where it's generally agreed the Hellraiser series became crap, while Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth isn't really that bad it's nowhere near as good as it's illustrious predecessors. The script by Peter Atkins, who also makes an appearance as one of the new Cenobites, turns the series into the crappy horror franchise that it has become & tries as hard as it can to appeal to the American teenage market, ugh. For a start it makes a central character out of Pinhead, the previous films were never just about him, they were about an overall feel, creepiness & atmosphere & not revolving around a invulnerable horror character spouting lots of one-liners. The other Cenobites also disappoint, instead of the twisted grotesque design from the previous films Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth turns them into a gimmick, from a bartender (writer Peter Atkins in a cameo) who uses his fire breath to ignite alcohol, a DJ (Brent Bolthouse) who has CD's implanted in his face & he uses them to throw at people (they must have razor edges or something) & Doc (Ken Carpenter) as the cameraman who has a camera stuck through his head, right. They come across as tacky & crowd pleasing. In the previous films the Cenobites were kept in the background, all mysterious & menacing while this time around they dominate & have little purpose. The films starts off a bit slow but things pick up at the end & it's not a bad watch but just comes a such a disappointment after the two originals which were two of the best horrors to come along in decades.
Director Hickox has to take responsibility for ruining the series. The films set in New York, again to appeal to American audiences, he gives Pinhead's alter ego Elliot Spencer a large role & it all becomes supernatural & muddled. In the end Pinhead fights himself & it's just mundane. The other Cenobites are wasted, they use their 'special power' to kill someone & that's it. The puzzle box is almost completely forgotten & is no longer needed to summon the Cenobites. The dark atmosphere & tension present in the previous films is severely lacking & replaces them with explosions & silly novelty deaths. There are a few decent gore scenes, hooks embedded in flesh, exploding heads, severed limbs, skinless people, a hole on someones head, a melted hand & death by lethal CD's!
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth had studio backing which is why it ended up so commercialised so it probably had a decent budget. The film looks nice throughout & has good production values. The acting didn't impress me.
This is a disappointing film yet at the same time not a particularly bad one in it's own right. If you liked the first two for their originality, darkness & gore then I'm pretty sure that you will be very disappointed with Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth like I was. Having said that I still think it's OK & worth a watch.