Cover Art

Credits

Director: Anthony Hickox Starring: Terry Farrell, Paula Marshall, Kevin Bernhardt, Peter Boynton and Doug Bradley Screenplay: Peter Atkins Music: Randy Miller Tagline: 'What began in hell, will end on earth' Country: USA AKA: Hell on Earth: Hellraiser III

Hellbound – Hellraiser 2 picked up directly from where Hellraiser left off, with characters from the first film venturing into hell and the world of the cenobites is more fully explored. The revelation of who Pinhead was before opening the Box is also given with Pinhead resuming his human form at the culmination of the film. Again, this film has a very dark and subversive tone and is a suitable follow-up to the first entry in the series.

Then we come to the instalment under review here, Hellraiser III – Hell on Earth. Directed by horror veteran Anthony Hickox, Hellraiser III does not directly follow on from what went before, except for the linking of the pillared carving, which resembles the pillar seen at the end of Hellraiser 2. This carved pillar, which contains an image of Pinhead, is bought by nightclub owner J.P.Monroe (Kevin Bernhardt) from a mysterious art gallery. Monroe takes the pillared statue back to his room above the nightclub and gets more than he bargained for. When blood gets splashed on the sculpted face of Pinhead, he reawakens and demands more sacrifices of flesh and blood in order to be free of his constraints.

Meanwhile, up-and-coming reporter Joey Summerskill (Terry Farrell) is looking for a big story that will give her career the necessary boost in order to climb up the ranks of the company she works for. Whilst covering a story of little worth at the local hospital she encounters a patient being rushed in with hooks whirling and flapping about. With her curiosity piqued at this strange and unsettling event, she begins to investigate and comes into contact with Monroe's girlfriend, the troubled and insecure Terri (Paula Marshall).

Back at Monroe's nightclub, things take an ugly turn when Pinhead finally gets his required dose of blood and fleshly remains and breaks free of his prison and begins a reign of terror within the city. Hell on earth indeed…

Director Hickox takes the Hellraiser story in a different direction to the previous instalments and whilst some elements work, others don't. Gone is the subversive and dark tone of the previous films and instead Hickox delivers something more akin to an action-orientated horror movie (though to be fair, this is probably equally down to Atkins' script as it is to Hickox's directorial delivery). While this works on a certain level, it also abandons a lot of what made the first two films so unique. This time around Pinhead is an unwelcome visitor in the land of the living as opposed to the summoned being of the films that went before – and this is kind of at odds with the whole Hellraiser mythos. On the other hand, as an action-packed horror movie that moves at breakneck pace, it works brilliantly. However, Pinhead's metaphysical ramblings are a little strained in this instalment and the film as a whole lacks the necessary depth for his monologues to have the chilling effect that they previously had.

Saying all that, Hellraiser III is not without merit and there is plenty here to enjoy. The nightclub massacre is a particular highlight, as is Pinhead's encounter with the priest, and there's enough grue and gore to keep any horror fan happy. The effects are certainly taken up a notch in this entry and look very impressive, and Hickox definitely cannot be accused of not knowing how to handle his subject matter effectively. However, it does seem a bit of shame that the darker elements of the earlier films are not in evidence here and that there isn't more expansion and exploration of the world that the cenobites inhabit. And, to be really pedantic, no explanation is given as to how Pinhead has returned after being messily dispatched in Hellraiser 2, but it's a minor point and not one I'm going quibble over – but it's something of a continuity error nonetheless.