20140301: Horror Review--Hellraiser 3 1992

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American/Canadian live action feature length film, 1992, rated R, 93 minutes, horror.
2. IMDB: 5.4/10.0 from 15,577 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 17% on the meter; 37% liked it from 42,132 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.3/5.0 from 357,893 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Anthony Hickox, screenplay by Peter Atkins, story by Peter Atkins and Tony Randel, characters by Clive Barker.
6. Starring: Doug Bradley as Pinhead/Captain Elliot Spencer, Terry Farrell as Joanne (Joey) Summerhill, Ashley Laurence as Kirsty Cotton, Kevin Bernhardt as J. P. Monroe, Paula Marshall as Terri, Ken Carpenter as Daniel (Doc) Fisher/Camerahead Cenobite, Peter Atkins as Rick the Barman/Barbie the Cenobite.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Rich and entitled JP mistakes one of the pillars of souls (which includes a puzzle cube) as a work of art, and purchases it.  Clever lad.


2. Joey is a junior reporter who is discouraged that she is not getting good stories to cover.  Then she witnesses a man being destroyed by what looks like a cenobite attack.  So who would believe her?  Her only clue is Terri, who might be one of JP's girl friends.  Terri kept the cube that the dead man broke out of the pillar of souls that JP bought.


3. JP gets bit by a rat hiding in the hold in the pillar of souls.  His blood is absorbed by the Pinhead part of the sculpture.


4. Terri welcomes Joey's interest in the case, and helps her dig into the artworld and nightlife that JP inhabits.  They find a connection to the Channard institute from the second film.


5. While JP entertains a new girl he's picked up, Pinhead shows signs of waking up. The next morning, Pinhead absorbs the girlfriend into the pillar of souls, and Pinhead becomes able to talk to JP about their mutual interests.  JP is repelled and quite curious at the same time.  He tries to lure Terri back to get further along in the game with Pinhead.  She decides to return to the familiar, in spite of everything.  JP tries to feed her to Pinhead, but Terri turns the tables on him.


6. Pinhead's human side contacts Joey via television (hokey moment there) asking for help.


7. How does Terri do against the resurrected cenobite Pinhead?  Will Joey get any traction helping the human side of Pinhead?  Will the open doorway for the cenobites be closed again?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Failure in the writing; most of the thrill was gone.
2. Two stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 5/10 Netflix, oi.  Netflix streamed this film in 1.33 aspect, despite the fact that the film was shot in 1.85.  This means visual information was literally cut off.


2. Sound: 8/10 Music was composed for the film by Randy Miller, plus music from a number of rock acts was included.  Some of the club scene 'live' music was pretty good.


3. Acting: 4/10 I liked Terry Farrell as Jadzia Dax in Star Trek: DS9, but not so much here.  To make  it worse, the movie made a poor attempt to convert the actress into being a blonde.  Doug Bradley was fine as usual.  Paula Marshall I could have done without.  Kevin Bernhardt showed all the talent of a bad high school actor.


4. Screenplay: 2/10 The character Terri could knock out JP with one short jab?  Give me a break.  There's a whole lot less here in terms of story and motivation than in the first two. The feeling of suspense, menace, and what-happens-next was considerably less.  The carnage at the club was less affecting than the more personal horrors in the first and second films.


5. SFX: 3/10 Very little special here.  Explosions for the sake of explosions is just the opposite of convincing.  Some of the special FX were just stop action with very few stops.