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:

Peter Atkins (original story by), Tony Randel (original story by)

Stars:

Terry Farrell, Doug Bradley, Kevin Bernhardt

1 win & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kevin Bernhardt	...	J.P. Monroe
Lawrence Mortorff	...	Bum
Terry Farrell	...	Joey Summerskill
Ken Carpenter	...	Doc / Camerahead
Sharon Hill	...	Blond Nurse
Paula Marshall	...	Terri
Robert C. Treveiler	...	Paramedic 1 (as Rob Treveiler)
Christopher Frederick	...	Paramedic 2 (as Chris Frederick)
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
Paul Coleman	...	Soldier 1 (as Paul Vincent Coleman)

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:

nightclub | sequel | statue | church | reporter | 

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Taglines:

What began in Hell, will end on Earth.

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Genres:

Horror

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and sexuality, and for language

Did You Know?

Trivia

The biggest issue was the Black Mass scene, which caused controversy in socially conservative North Carolina, Anthony Hickox had been refused permission to shoot in a real church, so he used a matte painting as a background to the altar. When the crew complained of sacrilege, Hickox told them it was no different than the countless Hammer horror films in which Christopher Lee as Dracula rampaged in churches.

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Goofs

(at around 36 mins) When Joey is playing through the video from the asylum, the video suddenly cuts to a man who tells her that the woman subject in the video is telling the truth. She rewinds the tape, but the screen is now blank. However, the reflection of her glasses clearly show that there is still a man on the screen.

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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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Alternate Versions

The out of print Paramount DVD despite the R rating on the package is really a completely different version and features the uncut sex scene and uncut gore scenes from the unrated version and runs 93 minutes. It also contains two music alterations, most obviously the end credits which have a 'stinger' sound effect and then it jumps right into the song "Hellraiser' blaring over the soundtrack. The original end credits fade out with the classic Hellraiser score building over the soundtrack and playing over the credits for a moment before the "Hellraiser' heavy metal song begins.The sound quality of this DVD is awful and heavily compressed at only 98 kbps. It appears this print matches the Lionsgate Canadian dvd that had been available for years. The Paramount DVD is anamorphic widescreen while the Lionsgate release is not.

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Connections

Referenced in Chattering with Nicholas Vince (2016)

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Soundtracks

Hellraiser
Performed by Motörhead
Produced by Billy Sherwood & Phil Carson
Music and Lyrics by Ozzy Osbourne & Lemmy (as Lemmy Kilmister)
Published by Virgin Music
Motorhead appears courtesy of WTG/Epic Records

User Reviews

Needed More... Though, Not A Bad Film...

Here's part three of the Hellraiser Saga... Once again this continues from where the last film ended, though it's a looser connection. The battle between Pinhead (Bradley) and his original human self, Captain Elliott Spencer, allowed him to break free of hells shackles. Entrapped in a monolith, he is awoken by Sandy (Leigh), when an accidental cut splashes blood on his stone features. Revealing himself to JP Monroe (Bernhardt), an unscrupulous womanising club owner, Pinhead makes a deal to free himself from his confines and to help JP to achieve his dreams...

This leads to lots of twists and turns in the storyline as you know you can't trust a daemon. The only thing which stands in his way is an aspiring investigative reporter, Joanne "Joey" Summerskill (Farrell), who's investigating the gory and violent murders which are appearing in the city.

The first thing that becomes evident is the amount of budget available for this film. Instead of being kept within the confines of a house or a hospital, now we're out in New York City. Penthouses, apartments, clubs, restaurants, ally's and streets. The locations are so much bigger. This is good, as it gives scope for a larger story with more hellish violence and gore... and it nearly delivers. Nearly, because the scene where the Cenobites finally take to the streets is actually underwhelming. What was required were a few more Cenobites and quite a few more victims, both pedestrians and police. It's nice to have explosions... I just wanted more.

The acting is okay, Bradley still stands out and is excellent as Pinhead. Farrell does a good job as the reporter. However, it's Bernhardt and Marshall, who plays Terri, who have their bouts of woodenness. The direction too is quite different from the first two, gone are the artistic and atmospheric lighting for a more natural feel. This is okay, but the film does lose a little of its mood and spirit, which added strength to the first two movies. I can understand the need for doing this. If you expand the daemons universe to include a lot more of reality then it stands to reason to get that feeling across would be to lose the more imaginative aspects of the filmmaking. That said there are still quite a few iconic shots, such as the entrance of Pinhead at the club and later in the church, and nicely thought out camera shots and angles.

Though I didn't find it as good as the first films it's still as enjoyable, though for different reasons... and as Pinhead would attain, variety is the spice of life.

Another good thing is that this film actually works as a stand-alone, you only need a vague idea about the previous stories; whereas, Hellbound actually made you feel as though you should have watched the first film before viewing. So for that reason, I would recommend this to all horror fans and newbies alike. This is a well written, structured, and acted film... which has its fair share of tension, fear, and suspense.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 September 1992 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth

Filming Locations:

Greensboro, North Carolina, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$5,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$3,208,009, 13 September 1992

Gross USA:

$12,534,961

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$12,534,961

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fifth Avenue Entertainment, Trans Atlantic Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min 97 min (extended) 93 min (theatrical)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1