Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992)

An investigative reporter must send the newly unbound Pinhead and his legions back to Hell.

Director:

Anthony Hickox

Writers:

Clive Barker (characters), Peter Atkins (story),

Stars:

Kevin Bernhardt, Lawrence Mortorff, Terry Farrell

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kevin Bernhardt	...	J.P. Monroe
Lawrence Mortorff	...	Bum
Terry Farrell	...	Joanne 'Joey' Summerskill
Ken Carpenter	...	Daniel 'Doc' Fisher / Camerahead Cenobite
Sharon Ceccatti	...	Blond Nurse (as Sharon Hill)
Paula Marshall	...	Terri
Robert C. Treveiler	...	Paramedic 1 (as Rob Treveiler)
Christopher Frederick	...	Paramedic 2
Lawrence Kuppin	...	Derelict
Sharon Percival	...	Brittany Virtue
Philip Hyland	...	Brad
David Young	...	Bill the Bouncer
Brent Bolthouse	...	CD the DJ
Peter Atkins	...	Rick the Barman / Barbie Cenobite
Paul Vincent Coleman	...	Soldier 1

Storyline

Pinhead is stuck in a block after the Big Confrontation in "Hellbound," The block containing Pinhead and the puzzle cube is bought by a young playboy as sculpture. Pinhead busies himself escaping by getting the playboy to lure victims to his presence so he can use their blood. Once free, he seeks to destroy the puzzle cube so he need never return to Hell, but a female reporter is investigating the grisly murders and stands in his way.

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Plot Keywords:

pinhead | hell | reporter | blood | chain | 

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Taglines:

He'll offer you the heights of ecstasy, but you'll spend eternity in the depths of hell.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Drama | Horror | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and sexuality, and for language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 September 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hellraiser III

Filming Locations:

High Point, North Carolina, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$12,534,961 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fifth Avenue Entertainment, Trans Atlantic Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min 91 min (cut)

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The initial 1-sheet artwork featured a side shot of Pinhead's screaming face. The MPAA said the artwork was too intense and asked that Pinhead be removed from the poster campaign. Miramax instead decided to use a composite photo of Pinhead from the original Hellraiser 1-sheet and successfully argued that it was suitable as it had already been used in the past. The MPAA relented and allowed this new poster art to be used.

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Goofs

Pinhead is able to return to earth in the form of a statue. This is supposed to be the same statue as the one that rose up out of the mattress at the very end of the second Hellraiser, but that statue was made of wood, and was covered with living images of hell, while the statue in this film is about four feet taller, and now made of marble.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Bum: [referring to the Pillar of Souls] You want it?
J.P. Monroe: [laughs] Is it yours?
Bum: No. Not mine. Yours.
J.P. Monroe: How much you want for it?
Bum: Whatever you think it's worth.
[receives money]
Bum: Exactly the figure I had in mind. Take pleasure in it.

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Connections

Referenced in Halloween: 25 Years of Terror (2006)

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Soundtracks

"Down, Down, Down"
Performed by House of Lords
Music and Lyrics by James Christian, Mark Baker, Greg Giuffria (as Gregg Giuffria) & Bob Marlett
Produced by Dave Thoener & House of Lords
Courtesy of Victory Music

User Reviews

Average sequel with some flair left

This is an ok and entertaining movie. Still I would have preferred another Kirsty adventure to explore the various concepts and ideas of Hellraiser 2 in more detail. The original two Hellraiser movies had more creative input from Clive Barker and also had a more British gothic feel. This americanised approach to sequelitis gives us the usual yawn inducing jokes, lots of explosions and special effects overdrive that made the horror sequel (and most of the originals) so archaic and at times plain embarrasing in the late eighties and early nineties. However Hellraiser 3 still has a lot more to offer viewers looking for something darker or more thought provoking tan the average stalk 'n' slash sequel. The nightclub owner, JP Monroe (character name) is a selfish hedonistic male slut who has sex with women and then doesn't want to know them. But he is shocked initially, when he sees the fate of his latest conquest at the hands of Pinhead (still in statue form from the end of Hellraiser 2). This

makes his agreeing to procure more victims for Pinhead even more evil and it's good to see some sort of layering of evil at work. Deep Space Nine's Terry Farrel is hardly in the Heather Langenkamp or Ashley Laurence school of intelligent and resourceful heroines but she is more than a few steps up from the Denise Richards school of bimbos. Character Terri (Paula Marshall) is pretty pathetic at times, but as she's probably been under the influence of creeps like JP Monroe her whole life, it is possible to sympathise to an extent and there is a nice twist to her victim role, when it's her time to feed Pinhead. Once Pinhead is freed from the statue there is some fun to be had with the nightclub massacre, the creation of new cenobites and the pursuit of Joey (Terry Farrel) who has what Pinhead needs but can't just take. The original Hellraiser score is as effective as ever and helps inject some mood into the early parts of the film and it also subtly foretells Terri's expected demise. Ultimately however, Pinhead has been reduced to camp bogeyman and to some extent it is your usual Hollywood gore sequel, but there is enough of a sombre tone carried over from the earlier Hellraiser movies to raise it above some of the garbage that horror fans were being fed at the time. And at least it does develop (if not totally satisfactorily) the human origin of Pinhead from the previous sequel. I'd say 3 out of 5.