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Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth was the only one of the three movies in this boxset I hadn’t seen before. Well, that’s not counting the six further sequels that I still need to check out.
Star Trek: Deep Space 9‘s Dax (Terry Farrell) is intrepid reporter Joanne ‘Joey’ Summerskill, getting sidelined in crappy no-news stories, forever waiting for her big break, when into the hospital walks – or is rather wheeled – a young man with hooks stuck out of him, just like we’ve come to know and love. It follows a scene where the wealthy JP Monroe (Kevin Bernhardt) bought the spinning Cenobite post, known as the Pillar of Souls, and we know this is clearly the end game of such an encounter, and it ties in with The Boiler Room, the nightclub owned by JP where all the cool kids hang out, which also has the least cost-effective and least-health-and-safety-conscious indoor sign, since it pumps gas and flame through it constantly like it’s trying to burn off the entire North Sea oil reserves!
On the plus side, Pinhead shows up early, rather than turning up halfway through as in the first two films. He offers Terri (Paula Marshall) a life of unknown pleasures… He has such sights to show her, you see. And you know she’ll go with him because it’s a choice between either the banality of life, or the word of a man with pins sticking out of his head.
Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth is lesser in scale but the story is still a strong one. And there’s also a brief shot of director Anthony Hickox as Doc flicks through the TV channels.
This release also includes the Unrated Version as an option, which puts back in a few scenes, totalling an extra 3-4 minutes, which were taken from the sole surviving source – the NTSC laserdisc which was a pan-and-scan version, cropped from 1.85:1 to 4:3. Not ideal, obviously, but still great to see the scenes included. There’s nothing violent in these scenes, but they ‘flesh’ things out nicely (ho, ho, ho!)
The extensive extras on the Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth disc are as follows:
- Hell on Earth: The Story of Hellraiser III (32:01): A shorter making-of for a film that’s not quite as good. What’s weird, here, is that even though it’s been put together from interviews filmed for the main ‘Leviathan’ features in the extras on the first two discs, this is the only one which is NOT in HD. Why is this?
It’s interesting that some cast and crew don’t have a lot of nice things to say about No.3, and special make-up effects artist Bob Keen really has disdain for the continuation of the series beyond this one.
- Time with Terri – with Paula Marshall (14:55): Paula, still looking hot after all this time, tells how this was her first film, how much she enjoyed working with Terry Farrell and looking up to her, just as her character did, plus a surprise kudos from John Cusack. Thankfully, this interview IS in HD.
- Raising Hell on Earth: An interview with Anthony Hickox (13:59): The director talks about why he wanted to ‘conclude the trilogy’, plus accidental location scouting, and the problems with editing on video instead of film. This interview was shot in 2004, so it’s not in HD.
- Under The Skin: Doug Bradley on Hellraiser III (13:46): At the time of shooting this interview, in 2004, the man had made eight Pinhead films, with both 7 and 8 due to come out in 2005, but there was also Hellraiser: Revelations to come in 2011.
- Original EPK (5:12): In similar style to that on disc one. It says it’s the most terrifying Hellraiser yet. Of course it isn’t – it’s more like Carry On Hellraiser.
- FX Dailies (23:49): Work-in-progress SFX shots. Again, it’s amazing to see how they’re done without resorting to CGI as would be done nowadays.
- Theatrical Trailer (1:52): The aspect ratio was a little all over the place in this trailer, but it’s still worth a watch.
- Galleries: Firstly, there’s Hellraiser III Comic Adaptation which is around 50 pages and make sure you get up close to your TV for the dialogue within, but to get the entire comic book as an extra here is absolutely fucking awesome! After that, there’s Stills & Promo Material which is 25 images.
- Audio commentaries: Two on this disc. One with Peter Atkins (Theatrical version) and one with Anthony Hickox and Doug Bradley (Unrated version).
Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth
Director: Anthony Hickox
Producers: Christopher Figg and Lawrence Mortorff
Screenplay: Peter Atkins (ased on the story by Peter Atkins and Tony Randel)
Music: Randy Miller
Cast:
Joanne ‘Joey’ Summerskill: Terry Farrell
Pinhead/Captain Elliot Spencer: Doug Bradley
Terri/Skinless Sandy/Dreamer Cenobite: Paula Marshall
JP Monroe/Pistonhead Cenobite: Kevin Bernhardt
Bum: Lawrence Mortorff
Daniel ‘Doc’ Fisher/Camerahead Cenobite: Ken Carpenter
Blond Nurse: Sharon Hill: Sharon Ceccatti
Paramedic 1: Rob Treveiler
Paramedic 2: Christopher Frederick
Derelict: Lawrence Kuppin
Brittany Virtue: Sharon Percival
Brad: Philip Hyland
Bill the Bouncer: David Young
CD the DJ: Brent Bolthouse
Rick the Barman/Barbie Cenobite: Peter Atkins
Soldier 1: Paul Vincent Coleman
Joey’s Father: Peter Boynton
Soldier 2: Anthony Hickox
Bob: George Lee
Sandy: Aimée Leigh
Douglas the Bouncer: Ron Norris
Kirsty Cotton: Ashley Laurence
Young Guy: Steve Painter
Female Cop: Shanna Teare
Male Cop: Bobby Bragg
Second Male Cop: Bob Stephens
The Priest: Clayton Hill
Yuppie 1: Young Bobby Knoop
Yuppie 2: James DR Hickox
Go-Go Dancers: Tonya Saunders, Angela Thomas, Kim Ball, Cassandra Perry, Anna Marie Isaacs, Flame
Armored Saints: John Bush, Joey Vera, Phil Sandoval, Jeff Duncan, Gonzo
Boiler Room Patron Getting Stabbed with Pool Stick: Zach Galligan (uncredited)
Date: Rosemary Gore (uncredited)
Chatterer Cenobite: Robert Hammond (uncredited)
Go to page 4 for a look at the picture quality and the fourth disc’s extras, plus the book.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.