Pinhead is Jesus, Cenobites use CD's as weapons

HELLRAISER III: HELL ON EARTH (1992)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

The initial concept of the original "Hellraiser" was the dilemna of its antihero, who had to feed off the living and live in a world with the love of his life. "Hellraiser" was reminsicent of a latter-day vampire film, and all was well until the Cenobites rediscovered the antihero and forced him to deal with pleasure and pain as equal, not separate, principles. "Hellbound: Hellraiser II" basically had its lead heroine running through endless passageways and making peace with Mr. Pinhead. Now with this sequel, there is more running around, lots of gory killings with chains and little imagination.

The last film had the Cenobites encased in a wooden box forever, or so it would seem. The lovely Ashley Laurence from the last two films has conspicuously disappeared, and has a cameo as a mental patient in some video explaining who the Cenobites are. This time, we are in New York City where a female TV reporter, Joey Summerskill (Terry Farrell), has a hot news story. She witnesses some young kid brought in from a nightclub to the emergency room where he is literally ripped apart by chains. Joey wants answers and is led to the nightclub itself called "The Boiler Room" (a possible nod to Fred Krueger's domicile?) by the kid's girlfriend (Paula Marshall). This girl decides to help Joey as long as she is allowed to stay in her apartment and make breakfast! Needless to say, the club's owner owns the sculpture where Pinhead is trapped in, and decides to help Pinhead lure female victims for flesh and oh, so much more. Somehow, Pinhead is the incarnation of Captain Elliott Spencer (Doug Bradley, playing both roles) and the soul was separated (some of this exposition was already mentioned in the last film in a nifty prologue). Instead of the menacing and clever villain of the original who lured his victims with his voice of torment, we have Pinhead becoming a slasher villain who is quick with the batty one-liners and wants to kill everyone and make them into Cenobites. My favorite one-liner is his response to a priest who damns him to hell: "Oh, such a lack of imagination," utters Pinhead. He may as well be describing the movie.

"Hellraiser III" is a cut above "Hellbound" Hellraiser II" but nowhere near the imagination and sheer horror of the original. Too many scenes of Pinhead scaring his victims with his witticisms - less is always more. Terry Farrell basically reacts to all the gory happenings without a shred of charisma - she looks like she belongs on a television sitcom, not a horror film. The film is pointless and purposeless. The gore is high on the meter, as are some twisted new Cenobites - one with a camera lens that fires missiles and the other uses CD's. Are the filmmakers joking? Did creator Clive Barker really approve all this? The best scene in the film is Pinhead mimicking Jesus Christ's crucifixion with the use of pins driven through his hands. Yes, sacrilegious and blasphemous indeed. Otherwise, you may as well raise bloody hell over this interminable series.