Review #1,017: 'Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth' (1992)

In 1987, Clive Barker brought to the cinema screen a vision of horror and degradation that was tightly wound around a fascinating mythology of sadomasochistic demons from another world who questioned our own desire for the ultimate pleasure. It is no understatement to say Hellraiser changed horror, and its inspiration is still clear to see in modern horror, although none I've seen possess the ability to truly get under your skin (but thankfully not rip it apart) as Barker's film does. A franchise always beckoned and its first sequel, Hellbound, tried to develop its universe further but ended up a good-looking mess.

Hell on Earth signalled the series' rapid decline in quality and imagination. Ambitious young reporter Joey Summerskill (Terry Farrell) is searching for that one big story to help project her career forward. While she wraps up a dull story at a hospital, a man covered in blood with metal chains protruding from his body held up by an unseen entity is rushed in, and is brutally ripped apart just as he is placed on the operating table. Knowing this could be her big break, she tracks down the woman who fled the hospital, Terri (Paula Marshall), and discovers her at a club ran by a slimeball named J.P. Monroe (Kevin Bernhardt), who has recently purchased a stone pillar possessing the trapped soul of Cenobite Pinhead (Doug Bradley).

Hellbound, for all its flaws, at least attempted to further establish the mythology, giving us glimpses of Pinhead before he opened the lament configuration. Although Pinhead appears in his human form, dressed in World War I attire, we learn little about his history, and combined with the horror icon's inexplicable new found love of quips and shouting, Hell on Earth feels completely disconnected from the films that came before. It's also cheap-looking, in particular a scene which sees Joey fleeing from Pinhead and his fresh-out-the-oven new Cenobite recruits is badly edited, consisting of feeble explosions while the unconvincing Farrell screams repeatedly. Surely an embarrassment for Barker, Hell on Earth contorted the idea of a visionary into money-grubbing franchise.


Directed by: Anthony Hickox
Starring: Terry Farrell, Kevin Bernhardt, Paula Marshall, Doug Bradley
Country: USA/Canada

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie