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 Consider this sequel to be one step forward but two steps back for the Hellraiser series. The step in the right direction is making Pinhead into a more bloodthristy villain slaughtering people left and right, and an impressive example of this is the club massacre scene (a nice demonstration of Pinhead's hellacious powers). What are the two steps in the wrong direction? The outstanding, gloomy atmosphere from "Hellbound: Hellraiser II" has been replaced with ordinary visuals (sometimes even less than ordinary in some parts), and the overall look has gone from grim to gimmicky. The other thing wrong with this picture is the characters in general. Most of them are uninteresting and irritating, and their whining or lack of scruples only welcome their deaths from Pinhead. Having new Cenobites is a good idea, but these minions of Pinhead have been misused. The original Cenobites were dark and mysterious, but the new ones are a little silly and merely serve as props for dark humor. While there is nothing wrong with dark humor, it is a shame that the original mystique of the Cenobites has been overshadowed with comical menace. Needless to say this movie is disappointing compared to the first two Hellraisers, but if treated as a stand-alone movie, "Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth" is not such a bad flick after all. Pinhead is still an interesting villain, and there is a healthy serving of gore (on top of this, the metal band Armored Saint makes an appearance). So, it certainly doesn't fail as a horror film. |
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QUARTER BY QUARTER ANALYSIS OF MOVIE
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OVERALL RATING
** NOTE: The more dots on the domino, the better the movie. 12 dots means it's the best of the best while zero dots means it's the worst of the worst. ** |
    
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The Worm-Hole Reviews are written by Matt Barnes.