Customer Reviews

Hellraiser 3:Hell on Earth

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(35)
3 star:		(31)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

First, the DVD, it's not the greatest in the world, No Dolby 5.1 Surround, not letterboxed, but nice to complete the series on DVD at last. This is technically the unrated version of the film, 2 added minutes, which is mostly extended gore...Great stuff! There are NO extras either, oh well. It's available, I guess that's what counts and as originally a Paramount Pictures release I wouldn't look for a Collector's Edition any time soon. As for the movie itself, I loved it. With the introduction of new Cenobites, CD head the coolest of them all, gave us a fresh perspective of Pinhead's abilities to replace his former troup. Unfortunately they didn't give his new cohorts a lot time to explore. Pinhead does get more screen time (unlike Hellraiser Inferno) and finally Doug Bradley (not Doug Stewart as mentioned in another review) gets screen time without makeup, gives us a broader view of his backstory and how he became this monstrosity. ("Bloodline" gives us the Lament Configuration Box history). All in all a pretty good film except for some cheesy effects, the melding of Pinhead and Elliott at the end is a good example. Here's hoping for Hellraiser six, although when I met Doug Bradley he told me not to hold my breath for number 5, but I think he needs to redeem himself after "Inferno". To me Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth was Heaven on Earth.

NO extended or deleted scenes. The film IS anamorphic widescreen, but it fails to mention it on the dvd case--it simply says it's "letterboxed". It's Dolby 2.0 sound with some rear speaker ambience. There's a "Clive Barker The Art of Horror" featurette that runs a half-hour and is an old, dated documentary.The picture looks better than on any of the previous bogus releases, but it hasn't been through any kind of restoration, so the print itself has plenty of wear and tear. Oh well. At least we can rejoice that it's an official widescreen release to include with the rest of the series on our shelves.

Anyone looking to get this movie should know that a real RE-release of it is planned for August OF 2006, by Paramount Pictures. The re-relese will include a new Anamorphic widescreen transfer and Dolby 5.1 sound, along with a few extras.

This is a decent entry in the Hellraiser saga, and the frist time that this particular chapter is getting a real release. I would suggest anyone wanting this move to wait untill August and by it from Amazon then.

"I have seen the future of horror and its name is Clive Barker" - Stephen King

Well maybe at the time, Stephen. Hellraiser creator/writer Clive Barker was the J.K. Rowling of Horror in the 80's and 90's. So like King his novels caught the eye of anxious filmakers, wanting to see if it would successfully translate to screen. It seemed like a good idea at the time, due to the huge success of Horror with the likes of Friday The 13th, Halloween, A Nightmare On Elm Street, and the like. But after two medicore attempts (Transmutations & Rawhead Rex), it was time for Barker himself to take the reins, and direct what most consider to be his greatest work: The Hellbound Heart, what would eventually be known to filmgoers as simply Hellraiser.

Hellraiser was a landmark film for it's time. Back in 1987, American 80's horror fans hadn't seen a film so graphically surreal, so deep in plot, so....well British. It was a monster hit, giving tired franchises like Friday & Nightmare a run for it's money. He quickly followed it up with Hellbound:Hellraiser II going even deeper and plot-heavy to basically the same success. So once the filmbug bit him real deep, he decided to adapt another best-selling novel of his "Cabal" into a film known as to 1990 audiences Nightbreed. But at the time it didn't work. And just like that Clive Barker went back to the writing board of novels, only returning to the chair five years later with the equally poorly received "Lord Of Illusions". So maybe he wasn't the next Stephen King of films (not that King's film track record was all that great to begin with), but that addition of the two Hellraiser films will forever mark him as one of Horror's greatest pop-icon creators.

So, now acting as only an executive producer, he gave mininal input of various films to follow. The first as such was the long-awaited third installment of the Hellraiser series:Hell On Earth. This time featuring only Doug Bradley's Pinhead and Ashley Laurence in a short cameo as it's only returning characters, Hellraiser III is a somewhat strange entry of the then existing series. Gone were the numerous surreal tones set by the first two, replaced with more action and could-it-be, gore in the process. Truth be told, it seemed that ole Pinhead followed the trail that Freddy had laid, get more American and speed it up a notch. Maybe even more than that....

Continuing from Hellbound, we find that Pinhead is cenobite-less, trapped in a monolithic statue known as the Pillar Of Souls. A young night-club owner J.P. finds the pillar in a specially shop, buys it, and displays it proudly in his bedroom/office there. His on/off girlfriend notices a clubgoer covered in chains holding the famous box, of which he stolen off the statue. Following a tip of the incident, a reporter, played by Terry Farrell (best known as Dax on Star Trek:Deep Space Nine in her first big-screen lead role), meets the young girl to investigate what had actually happened. Meanwhile back at the club, J.P. notices the statue seems alive and has a craving for blood, to which it's hunger is truly found out by a helpless female victim (probably one of the most memorable effects in the film) standing just too close to it. Pinhead escapes, and on a mission: to create a new cenobite army (some of the most over-the-top cenobites ever), take over the world, and destroy the Box once and for all, never to return to Hell in the process.

I guess the only problem with Hell On Earth is that it was made just too late. Released in 1992, Horror's 80's heyday had run it's course (for then at least). And five years in this genre is just too long to wait between sequels, especially for one that only had two installments at the time. Another factor was it's tone. It was just too playing-up to American audiences, the same audiences that found the first two films just so different now had a sequel that could have starred Freddy Krueger just as easily. It wasn't a huge success. Probably didn't help to have a Heavy Metal soundtrack (like others in it's path) when Grunge was king at the time. And pretty much the franchise was left to rot away in direct-to-video fare starting three years later with the fourth installment Bloodline.

But after all this time and a total of eight films in all, where does Hell On Earth stand? Pretty damn good actually. Even though it's tone was different, it is truly an exciting chapter. The story rarely drags and when it comes to Pinhead himself, he probaly has more screen time here than in any sequel. The effects are not only impressive and original, but extremely graphic. Gorehounds will love the film, with it's attack on The Boiler Room club scene being a neverending violent highlight. Even the subplot of Pinhead's human spirit Elliot telling Joey how & why he came to be and how to stop it are informative and add to the overall legacy of the series. In other words, this is one sequel you don't want to miss, or as known by many "the last truly great Hellraiser film". To me personally I agree with that statement, even going as far as it being my favorite after the first one. Maybe if only '92 audiences saw the version I saw, it's own legacy would be different.

Whatta I mean? Well, Hellraiser III has three different cuts out there! Back in '92, the MPAA gave it an NC-17 rating, and had to cut the film's sex and violence by upwards to three minutes, taming the movie badly. But shown in Canada, it got two of those minutes back, while years later a Directors Cut came to be that included all the scenes plus four other minutes in addition to. So, there's a 91, a 93, and a 97 minute! However, this title is owned by Paramount Pictures, where their policy for their catalog titles are "No rating, no release" (till only recently, and that's just a handful of titles.). So when they finally released this title on DVD, they planned to press the 91 minute cut with it's offically rated "R" rating. But ooops, someone over there pulled the 93 min instead, pressed that, and illegally made that "R" on there to be incorrect. This is the version I'm writing about here now. Paramount looks very down upon Horror's past, never releasing catalog titles like Friday The 13th and My Bloody Valentine in their original unrated version. So, when the mistake was found, after only 15 months, Hellraiser III left the shelves again, quite possibly for a long time here in the States, making this version OOP and for a collector like me, I like it! Sure, it isn't the 97 minute version, but what does that 3 and a half minutes have that mine doesn't? Not much: one bare-breasted dancer scene towards the beginning, and extended scene of Elliot & Joey seeing him actually buying the box in an Indian bazaar, and Terri's sad return to J.P. office. That's it! No more gore, that was put back in to make the 93, so unless you want to go Region 2 for a fullframe presentation or buy the entire three films again in a limited addition pricey boxset, this is the best you can do, and believe me....it's enough.

So how is the presentation? Great and so-so. So-so due to the audio. With a 4.0 mix it does the job, but strangely it's at 96kbps instead of the usual 192 mininum. That's odd and a bit tinny at times, but so where did all the rest of the dual layer space go to? The video. Man, the video is excellent on this release with it's bit-rate going through the roof all throughout the flix. Colors dead-on and very sharp, blowing away the Canadian full-frame version to shame. As for extras, surprising there's two, the original trailer for the film and a pleasant surprise, a 30 minute documentary called Clive Barker:The Art Of Horror. Lemme tell you something, this Doc was NOT made for this release, it's professionally made from 1992 and it doesn't seem to be about Hellraiser as it's more about Barker himself reflecting on his work in books and the occasional movie. Where this thing came from I have no idea, but a great watch looking back at what potential he had before he stepped out of the spotlight. It even has trailers inside it of Hellraiser 1 and 2...maybe that's what got this pulled (?), I don't know....

Finally, this is a worthy addition to any Horror library. The film has stood the test of time and is a great sequel to the franchise. All the Hellraiser films have merit, but Part III is the only one that just puts the pedal to the metal. Highly, highly recommended..one of my Top 100 favorite films!
(RedSabbath Rating:9.0/10)

The only reason I bought this DVD is to complete my Hellraiser DVD collection. Not that I don't like the movie, it's just that the DVD is pretty lame. First of all, this DVD is a special order from Canada. The cover dones a huge SPECIAL EDITION lable on the left side of the cover. Sadly to say, there is NOTHING special about this DVD. The movie itself isn't even in it's original theatrical ration (widescreen), which is a real bummer, and the picture itself is very gainy and not any better than the VHS edition. The only other feature it contains is chapter selection. Woopy (. . )! Every DVD has chapter selections; is this the feature that makes this DVD so SPECIAL! Again ONLY buy this DVD to complete your Hellraiser DVD collection. A real bummer compared to the special features on the Hellraiser 1 & 2 DVD's, but at least it's cheap.

Warning: minor spoilers ! ! !

I've been Jones'n for this movie for such a long time it just isn't funny anymore ! I've always known that "Hell on Earth" was not for everyone, but for me, it was a surreal experience since the first time I saw it originally in the theatre.

The night club featured was so much like the old Underground Goth Clubs I had used to frequent like the Torture Garden or the Velvet Dungeon or the Rubber Ball. I saw a special truth that other horror film makers tended to overlook; the restless wanderings of the darker urban club culture. While showcasing their gravity towards their self-loathing empty nomadic existence, they get slaughtered and remade by the Black Pope of Hell.

Pinhead, dose this one amazing mockery towards Golgotha Hillock, and in a church no less ! Also forcing the resident priest to eat-of-his-flesh in further sacrilege to God's son (from Pinhead's own tortured and ruined flesh, symbolically of where the Lancea Longini would of defiled Christ's side - "side" was of course originally translated as of the body, torso, or breast and not literally one's side in the English).

Also, Terry Farrell portrays a disillusioned media conduit of skepticism who is transformed by her witnessing of the seedy supernatural tendrils of precisely manipulated agony from beyond. Everyone from the cartoony news room producer to the needy ex-girlfriend was in perfect tone for this movie.

Where else would you see a movie where scenes of old war carnage are mirror bookend with scenes of modern massacre within the same movie ! If you watch for the near subliminal implications within this movie, you will have a blast at picking out the references to religion/spirituality, social sexual domination, and restless social ennui.

So says Doug Bradley reprising his role as Pinhead; angel to some, demons to others. The lead cenobite as we thought was once dead isn't. When Kirsty shows Pinhead that he was once human in Hellraiser 2, a battle ensues. While I was disappointed to see Pinhead so easily defeated in Hellraiser 2, you would wonder how could Pinhead come back? But then again, how many Friday the 13th movies were there? How many times did Jason come back? What about Freddy? Michael Myers?

In the third installment of the Hellraiser series, Pinhead hides in a sculpture bought by a club owner named J.P. Apparently J.P. is not entirely an angel. Pinhead is good when he reasons with his impending subjects/victims. When blood splatters all over the sculpture, Pinhead gets released and always in the mood to bargain. Pinhead is looking for the infamous puzzle box, so he creates more cenobite soldiers to create hell on earth! One person stands in his way; Joey with the help of Captain Elliot Spencer who reveals to Joey how Pinhead came to be. Pinhead was Elliot.

Joey, a television reporter is at the hospital where a person is brought having extreme trauma. What Joey finds, is that the patient has these needle sharp hooks attached to chains enbedded in his flesh. When you think about it, only one word comes to mind- the Cenobites. Terri investigates further by intervewing the victims girlfriend, Terry, who leads her to J.P.

Terry visits J.P. not knowing that J.P. has accepted Pinheads plan and needed a sacrifice to unleash Pinhead. J.P unfortunately gets a raw deal and it's Terry that unleashes Pinhead who wants to create hell on earth. Pinhead also recruits new cenobites to replace his former troops (Chatterer was my favorite after Pinhead). As Joey gets closer to finding out what's going on, Pinhead catches up with her calling for the box so he can create hell on earth. In his way is Joey and Elliot. I will not go into detail about Elliots return but he does explain what happened and how Pinhead is back. With Elliot's help, can Joey finally defeat Pinhead? Will be be able to unleash hell on earth?

All in all this was a good Hellraiser. I realize that this is not the favorite of many reviewers. I found it to be slightly better than Hellraiser 2. You will notice that Pinhead begins a minor comedy routine and has much more screen exposure than the last two combined. You gotta love that evil look he gives when Joey meets Pinhead at a construction site and she is trying to "solve" the box. However, Pinhead's best facial expression is in Hellraiser: Deader at the end when the woman takes a knife and points it at him.

My favorite scene is in the church. As all the windows are exploding and he mocks what the church stands for. His great line was when the priest says," how dare you in a house of God" (not the exact line though), and Pinhead replies snidely," Do I look like I care what God thinks?"

If you are wondering my favorite Hellraisers are 1,2,3,4 (Bloodlines). Which ones do you favor?

When I first saw this novie when it came out, I thought it was the weakest one in the trilogy. After seeing all the ones that came after it, (execpt for "Deader"), and seeing this one again, I'd rate it 4 stars, but the DVD has no extras here except for the theatrical trailer, english subtitiles, and the featurette: "Clive Barker, The Art of Horror". No commentary, no deleted scenes, no bloopers, or other bells and whistles.
Athough this DVD isn't just a glorified VHS copied to DVD, it should still have more. I'd rather pay more for something, than have a cheap barebones disc. AND I'M TIRED OF BUYING A MOVIE AND THEN A FEW MONTHS LATER HAVING THE DELUXE EDITION COME OUT!!!! (No wonder there's so much pirating going on, when they rip us off 2-3 maybe even 4 times for the "EXTREME VERSION")

The mythology in this film is probably more developed than in the previous two films. This mythos, coupled together with the probable edict to develop the franchise side of things may explain the way it turned out.
Joey is an amazing character, and does some "faith" filled actions based on the character of the military man whose soul is at the heart of "Pinhead". The core of this film lays the basis for the other films, and in this mythology, the structure of the stories can be found; some later HELLRAISER films have stepped away from this side at their own cost, but if you see the Stories as different takes on a form of "Morality play" then it may make more sense.
Not to say that these films have to make sense, in fact the dry humour of PINHEAD works well when he is separate from his own soul , and this is why in the next film, Pinhead says "I am so exquisitely empty".
Anyways, the film is worth a watch as a bridge between the first two, and the following films. If the writers used this film as more of a jumping off point, then the while Hellraiser mythos has the ability to create many films, and expand a whole series of very interesting possibilities.
Ultimately, the orgy of violence at the nightclub is the center-piece, and so in that respect it is a little slash-gore, but there is enough additional mythos to have kept me very intrigued.

I bought a copy of this dvd which I have since returned. The company that released it is Lions Gate Films. The dvd is in stereo but has no extras/captioning, etc., despite the fact that the package says 'Special Edition'. I'm not sure what that means unless they are referring to price, I paid [dollar amount], which would be a steal if the video quality wasn't so poor, i.e: grainy. I don't know what was used to make the transfer but I am betting it was not an original print. Viewed on my dvd player through the component output, the video quality looked like a badly recorded VHS tape, that killed it for me, so I returned it. Is there a better version out there?