- Actors: Terry Farrell, Doug Bradley, Kevin Bernhardt, Lawrence Mortorff, Ken Carpenter
- Directors: Anthony Hickox
- Writers: Clive Barker, Peter Atkins, Tony Randel
- Producers: Lawrence Mortorff, Christopher Figg, Clive Barker, Olive McQueen
- Format: PAL
- Region: Region 2 (This DVD may not be viewable outside Europe. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Number of discs: 1
- Classification: 18
- Studio: Cinema Club
- DVD Release Date: 10 Sep 2001
- Run Time: 93 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00005NWZJ
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 23,819 in Film & TV (See Top 100 in Film & TV)
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details |
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
So much flesh, so many different pleasures,
By Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (TOP 100 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Hellraiser III - Hell on Earth [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This movie could have been great. After all, not only has the glorious Pinhead come back but he has stepped into the real world to hold dominion over all mortals. There are some shining moments here, but overall the movie doesn’t hold together well and marks the beginning of the slippery slope which this once-great movie franchise tumbled down in later years. Several of the actors and actresses look like they are acting (never a good thing), but it is the plot that dooms this third incarnation of Hellraiser to something of a cinematic disappointment. Joey, a frustrated female journalist, witnesses the death of a chain-mauled man in the emergency room of the local hospital. The witness who came with the tortured shell of a man insists she wants no involvement in events, yet she tells Joey her name and where she can be rather easily found. When her lecherous boyfriend J.P., rich owner of the Boiler Room—half wild bar and half fancy restaurant—throws her out, she comes to stay with Joey, then acts surprised when the journalist wants to ask her questions. The important thing is that she has the puzzle box. Out of nowhere, we start seeing Joey’s dreams of watching her father die in Vietnam; in the shakiest plot point of all, we find it is these dreams that allow the man who became Pinhead, Captain Elliott Spencer, to contact her and ask her to destroy the monster he became. Naturally, after a lot of nasty deaths, we come to a conclusion in which the seemingly helpless Joey tries to gain victory over the forces of hell.It is a shame that a few of the best scenes in the series are buried in this lackluster production. Perhaps the most significant one involves Pinhead’s blasphemous reenactment of the crucifixion and death of Jesus. Standing in the pulpit of a church he has torn apart, Pinhead stabs a needle through both of his palms, pantomimes Christ’s position on the cross, and states that “I am the way.” He then pulls a hunk of bloody flesh out of his own body and feeds it to the priest, making a blasphemy of the Lord’s Supper. That’s classic stuff there. Pinhead also gets some pretty good lines in this movie. For example, when told he will burn in hell, he sighs and says “Burn, oh such a limited imagination.” Here’s the part that bothers me, though. Pinhead goes on and on about making people suffer, telling Joey that he will torment her for decades and enjoy making her enjoy the suffering. Yet when he makes his grand appearance in reality, he just throws chains around will-nilly, killing everyone in sight. It’s all just senseless murder—no suffering and thus no pleasure to be taken in it. The new Cenobites also deserve a mention. I didn’t like them at all. In place of superb beings like Chattermouth, we get an ex-dj with compact discs thrust all in his head, a TV cameraman with a video lens for an eye, and two more who do little more than look stupid. The new guys seem to have been designed as a means for inserting silly, hackneyed comments; when the video-head guy says “that’s a wrap” after taking out some bystanders, I almost cringed. We do get a reenactment of Pinhead’s original birth, and we also learn a little more about the man who became Pinhead. The manner in which that information is presented, though, is not that impressive. All told, this movie does hold a fairly important place in the Hellraiser saga, but it basically stands as a bridge between the excellent original two movies and the far from excellent sequels of later years.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
An Embarrassing Enjoyment,
By
This review is from: Hellraiser III - Hell on Earth [DVD] [1993] (DVD)
By the time the third film in the Hellraiser series had arrived in the 90's it had managed to draw a rather large cult following. Unfortunetly it was this film that seems to of started the series in many fanboys minds. Whilst this certainly isn't the worst film in the saga, it's definetly not the greatest. Its commercial slant, and constant marketing consious takes the series into a realm that it hasn't been to before or after. Giving the fans what they want - Pinhead is the lead character in the film, and it largely centers on his break from slavery, before causing 'hell on earth'. The effects are cheesy, but grander than before, and the story is fairly enjoyable in an embarressing sort of way. The undeniable rapture of the sheer breadth of screen time that Pinhead has in this chapter lifts the movie above its rather bare boned - straight to video sloppiness, and as such - ends up far more graphic novel like than before. Like super-heroes, fans fall in love with a character in horror films like this, and its the meer presence of a figure such as Pinhead, Jason, Michael, or Freddy that can help fans of the series enjoy the film despite its shoddy production. This is definetly the case here. If you liked the other Hellraiser flicks - i guarantee that you'll get some enjoyment out of this, and savour the sight of Pinhead in poster-boy format (for 10 years after he remained the number one selling poster franchise in Japan). The DVD, however, is a completely different matter. Devoid of a single extra, and without even the DVD normality of the graceful Widescreen it's truly a shameful excuse. Unfortunetly i haven't managed to track down any other version after relentless searching over the net. So it's either this, or a possibly looong wait until a proper edition finally surfaces. Personally i'd wait.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Hell hath no fury like a franchise scorned,
By A Customer
This review is from: Hellraiser III - Hell on Earth [VHS] (VHS Tape)
'Hellraiser III' branches off from the first two movies, the main change being that the location is now in America. A change for the better? Hard to say. Clive Barker fans and fans of the series in general tend to regard this as the weakest of the four (although some passionately despise Hellraiser: Bloodline), keeping in mind that the forthcoming part 5 is straight-to-video and already receiving scathing comments. I personally don't think this is bad at all. Being a huge Clive Barker fan I feel that the first (as with most franchises) was the best, as his role in that picture was considerably more prominent (writer and director as opposed to executive producer in this one). If you regard 'Hellraiser III' as a horror film on its own it's actually very enjoyable. There are moments of tackiness which are pretty much unavoidable ... but otherwise it is held together well. Some fans and followers of the Hellraiser mythology (which is mostly from the 'Hellraiser' comics released during the late eighties/early nineties) are disappointed that Pinhead is no longer a mysterious minor role as he was in the first two, but I like the idea of a new kind of demon, one not governed by the laws of hell or the sense of compassion his now-dead human side once gave him. But they should only have played that card once, and their mistake was to make him out to be the same ruthless butcher in part 4. Terry Farrell (better known now for her role in 'Deep Space Nine' I believe) does an excellent job as the heroine commisioned to save the day, and the cameo from Ashley Laurence (survivor of parts 1 & 2) is a nice touch.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
