Review of Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992) by Anatoliy S — 06 Nov 2008

This was the Hellraiser that made a bid for the big-time. It was well produced, polished, shot on a much grander scale, was well promoted (for those of you who remember when the movie came out Doug Bradley was in his Pinhead get-up for MTV interviews), and they brought in popular rock acts.

Featured in the movie was the band Armored Saint and their hit at the time "Hanging Judge", and Motorhead for the end credits did a cover of Ozzy Osbourne's "Hellraiser" and had a minor hit with it on MTV (again featuring Pinhead).

Also, this movie landmarks the first time that the lead Cenobite would be called Pinhead on film. Contrary to a lot of the reviews I have read in here, I felt this was one of the better Hellraiser movies and that the acting was a notch higher than the first two.

Especially by the part of Paula Marshall who plays Terri, (the goth girlfriend of a sleazy nightclub owner) who is trying desperately to break away from her non-existant life and be somebody. Terry Farrell plays the part of preppy and high-class reporter, Joey Summerskill.

..and the two characters of Joey and Terri offset each other perfectly in the film. The rules are out the window here, and the new cenobites are not nearly as sinister as the first crew were, but I still could not help but love this movie.

The rotating wooden statue alone is worth watching this movie for. This is horror fantasy at it's best right up there with the Elm Street movies. If you thought this one was bad, wait until you see Part IV.

..that was just plain awful.