Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992)

Directed by: Anthony Hickox | 93 minutes | horror | Actors: Kevin Bernhardt, Lawrence Mortorff, Terry Farrell, Ken Carpenter, Sharon Ceccatti, Paula Marshall, Robert C. Treveiler, Chris Frederick, Lawrence Kuppin, Sharon Percival, Philip Hyland, David Young, Brent Bolthouse, Peter Atkins, Paul Vincent Coleman, Peter G. Boynton, Anthony Hickox, George Lee, Aimée Leigh, Doug Bradley, Ron Norris, Ashley Laurence, Steve Painter, Shanna Lynn, Bob Bragg, Bob Stephens, Clayton Hill

The story of ‘Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth’ more or less picks up where it ended in the second part, ‘Hellbound: Hellraiser II’. The humane part of Pinhead, Captain Elliot Spencer, has been separated from his evil alter ego and now finds himself between two worlds. When Pinhead is accidentally resurrected on Earth, Captain Elliot Spencer teams up with journalist Joanne Summerskill to battle his devilish personality to be reunited in Hell.

In the third film in the ‘Hellraiser’ series, the mysterious dark horror has given way to a more slasher-tinged horror. The suggestive character of the torture and murder has been replaced by cheap gore and blood that is more visible to the viewer. The change of course was prompted by the film company in order to appeal to a wider and especially younger film audience. Another striking change from the previous parts is that the character of Pinhead is now more central. The Lament Configuration puzzle cube itself, summoning the Cenobites and undergoing the torture and enjoyment of this has been pushed into the background.

By giving more substance to Pinhead’s character, more dialogues and one-liners, he gets a real face, as it were, full of human emotions that don’t really fit with the familiar sinister and cold martyr. It is doubtful whether these changes are a step in the right direction. In this way, the creation of Clive Barker is transformed into a franchise that should yield rock-hard dollars. And what is often the case in situations like this is that this is at the expense of originality.

However, ‘Hellraiser: Hell on Earth’ is not a bad horror film in itself. Fans of the genre will have a great time and certainly won’t experience watching it as torture. For the die-hard fan of the first hour, the film will perhaps offer less pleasure, because the line of the two first films is not fully continued.