I look at films such as “Hellraiser III” and “Phantasm III” as textbook examples of what happens when studio executives have more power over a property than the person who created it. The end result is always a completely soulless waste of time devoid of practically all entertainment value. Although Clive Barker retained an executive producer position during the creation of this film, and his name can be seen slathered all over the video box and movie poster, his influence is noticeably absent. As it stands, “Hellraiser III” is more interested in catering to the vacuous trends of the era rather than remaining true to the vision of the series.
Following his battle with the Channard Cenobite at the end of “Hellbound: Hellraiser II”, the Pinhead entity (Doug Bradley) has become bound to the Pillar of Souls, while the spirit of his former host, Captain Elliot Spencer (also Bradley) has been left adrift in limbo. Meanwhile, Manhattan news reporter Joey Summerskill (Terry Farrell) bumps into a punk rocker named Terri (Paula Marshall) who just happens to be in possession of the Lament Configuration. Elsewhere, Terri’s old flame, a jerkwad named J. P. (Kevin Burnhardt) who owns the Boiler Room club, manages to acquire the Pillar of Souls through a seedy art deal. He unwittingly releases Pinhead from the pillar, allowing the leader of the Cenobites to reign Hell on Earth, starting with the Boiler Room. Joey is convinced by the spirit of Captain Spencer to face down Pinhead and return him to Hell with the help of the Lament Configuration.
“Hellraiser III” is one of those movies that sounds more entertaining in summary format than the film really is, hardly approaching its own conceptual potential. Director Anthony Hickox doesn’t even attempt to emulate the atmosphere and feel of the previous films. Gone is the surreal, dreamlike quality of “Hellraiser” only to be replaced with a loud, screaming-in-your-face punk rock approach.
Making the film a serious chore to sit through would have to be our two leads, Farrell and Marshall, who could not act convincingly if they were drowning. Marshall is certainly the worst of the pair, with just about every word out of her mouth hitting you like a softball to the groin. Though however bad they are, neither can compare to the shear garbage performance of Ken Carpenter, Joey’s cameraman and later the Camerahead Cenobite. He delivers his dialogue with all the talent of a man reading cue-cards (and reading them poorly). Ashley Laurence appears for the third time in the series, but only as a brief cameo as the stars review video tape footage of one of her therapy sessions at the Channard Institute.
Doug Bradley is this film’s only saving grace, delivering an excellent performance as the sympathetic Elliot Spencer as well as a fun performance as the more maniacal Pinhead entity. Freed from Spencer’s control, the Pinhead entity has a very different personality here than in previous (and future) interpretations. Often referred to as “Pinhead Unbound”, he is very over-the-top and flamboyant; screaming, laughing and cracking one-liners like a poor man’s Freddy Krueger. But even with Pinhead going off the deep end, Bradley still makes him enjoyable to watch and proceeds to deliver some of the character’s better dialogue (particularly during the scene where he invades a church and confronts a priest).
With all of the Cenobites from the last two movies killed, Pinhead is left to recruit some new minions. These new Cenobites are as goofy as they are terrible (even Pinhead declares that they’re nothing more than “a shadow of his former troops”). Leading the way is CD (Brent Bolthouse), a former disk jockey with CDs crammed into his face who can throw razor-sharp discs at people. Next would be Barbie (Peter Atkins), a former bartender covered in barbed wire who likes to throw Molotov cocktails at innocent bystanders. We have the aforementioned Camerahead, a guy with (big surprise) a camera in his head who can project what he sees onto nearby TV sets and tear souls apart with his insidious acting. Two more Cenobites appear at the end, though I’ll keep their identities out of my review for the sake of anybody who hasn’t seen the flick yet. I’ll just say that one has a piston in his head and the other has a cigarette in her throat and both of them totally suck.
Sadly, if you’re planning on getting to the next film in the franchise, “Hellraiser: Bloodline”, you really can’t skip this installment as the ending sets up the sequel. “Hellraiser III” marks the downfall of the “theatrical era” of the franchise and a serious jump-the-shark moment if there ever was one. While some of the kills are cool and Doug Bradley’s performance is always a joy, this is in no way a good movie.
Grade: F (as in “For the love of God, somebody tell Hickox that Cenobites aren’t supervillains and don’t need superpowers!”)
0 comments:
Post a Comment