By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Photos copyright of Entertainment Film Distributors
For any franchise to develop it must continue to expand its boundaries and
main characters. When the third movie in the Hellraiser series hit, that’s
exactly what they did.
Following the events of Hellbound, Pinhead in his battle against Leviathan
and Doctor Cenobite has been split in two; his Cenobite half and his human
half, soldier Elliot Spence. Trapped in the Pillar of Souls, Pinhead
manipulates debauched nightclub owner J.P. into feeding him souls so Pinhead
can walk the Earth. Standing in his way this time is reporter Joey Summerskill
played by Star Trek DS9’s Terry Farrell. Having witnessed a man being torn
apart by chains out of thin air in an emergency room, she is drawn to solve the mystery which involves the sale of a statue from a shop that has not been open in a long time. And it all leads to the Boiler Room nightclub owned by J.P.
Maybe because her father died as a soldier and she dreams of battle, this connection allows Elliot Spence to contact her in her dreams warning her of whom she is up against. She must stop Pinhead getting the puzzle cube, the Lament Configuration from falling into his hands. Together Joey and Spence must work to stop Hell literally coming to Earth.
Farrell does a solid job as Joey and the overall story is pretty tight. The more
intimate settings of the first two movies are gone as Pinhead slaughters a
nightclub full of people and creates some brand new Cenobites as he steps into our world. In a way Joey and Pinhead mirror each other’s arcs; Pinhead is battling his own human self, a part that he sees as weak and disposable while Joey is battling the trauma of her father’s death in Vietnam. She never knew him and is tormented by dreams of his death while Pinhead is tormented by the ghost of his own past. They are in perfect symmetry but their end goals are very different. It successfully takes Pinhead in a new direction adding and exploring new facets of his character and giving Doug Bradley some time out of prosthetics.
When Pinhead and his Cenobites chase Joey down a street it is chaos with
explosions going off all around her, cars and people scattering and the Cenobites using their new powers to stop her. If Pinhead gets the Lament Configuration he will fully unleash the dark desires of Hell on the entire planet where it will entice, pleasure and condemn everyone to a living eternal Hell. If you are lucky, you will die when the gates open.
What evil does best is take what is everyday and normal to us and twist it
so it becomes a way for them to get to us. Here, even a simple CD can take your
head right off , a camera certainly lies and a father’s love is a stepping stone to armageddon.
Overall, Hell on Earth is the last of the great Hellraiser movies with solid
characters, a strong sense of identity while giving us a taste of the evil that
simmers beneath the surface of human psyche.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 