Starring: Doug Bradley, Terry Farrell, Kevin Bernhardt, Paula Marshall, Ken Carpenter.
Director: Anthony Hickox.
I've been a fan of Anthony Hickox for a long time, and feel he's a highly underrated film-maker. Ever since the excellent Waxwork and my favorite so-bad-it's-good movie Warlock:The Armageddon. That being said, I feel like Hellraiser III has been something of an often overlooked franchise entry, even if it does basically mark the end of the franchise as a very watchable or enjoyable entity for anyone other than the most devoted of fans.
This film takes a lot of shit, and I'm not sure it's entirely warranted. It really is an exercise in style over substance: Hickox isn't interested in any sort of philosophical or pop-psychological analysis, of artistic ideology, or anything else beyond wallowing in exotic visuals and heavy metal goth aesthetics. It takes him less than five minutes to showcase an exploding head. And, you know what? I don't think there's anything wrong with that whatsoever. It's very early nineties.
It doesn't take long for the film to present itself: Reporter Joey(Terry Farrell) witnesses the aforementioned exploding head, follows her one lead-a scared brunette-to a club called "The Boiler Room." This club is a highly unlikely place that would be almost certainly impossible to maintain, being a combination of art gallery/nightclub/heavy metal venue/white linen restaurant and god-only-knows what else. It's no more unlikely then Farrell's spacious, high-rise apartment that would certainly not be affordable on a low-level local news reporters salary. But, hell, all of it is highly indicative of Hickox's love of excess: everything is bigger, badder and more expansive than reality.
In fact, that might sum everything up nicely: Hellraiser III is entirely about UN-reality and excess, unabashed in it's full on ambition to be visceral and even specifically shallow.
The cast of the film is pretty clearly gathered specifically for physical appearance than acting ability, even though Farrell isn't all that bad here...Paula Marshall is not an extraordinary actress by any means, but she's very pretty and charismatic and even sympathetic: her character, Terri, is really rather sad and tragic. The relationship between her and Joey is really the only thing that even resembles an actual hook to the film as a whole. It's a tenuous link to character-based narrative, but at least there is one.
The same can't be said of scummy bad guy J.P.Monroe, who has very little going on fundamentally besides being scum. Actor Kevin Bernhardt manages not to embarrass himself, but there's not much else. Much like the rest of the cast, he has a good look and adds to that philosophy of excess I was talking about earlier: Monroe is impossibly scummy and dickish, to a level that is almost absurd, just as Teri is SO VERY sad and abandoned(seen reading a book, a teddy bear clutched in her arms, with a lollipop in her mouth), Joey is SO determined. Doc, the Nickelback-looking camera man, is SO helpful.
And then a Woman having her skin torn off, because Hellraiser. Interestingly enough, despite Hickox's general desire to be aggressive, it's kept short and sweet: within seconds she's skinned and sucked into the statue containing Pinhead and we're done. It isn't that it doesn't work-it mostly does, it's an exciting and horrifying visual-it's just a bit of a surprise among all the insanity.
Perhaps the most absurd thing about the whole film is how many people decide to listen to the head-on-a-statue with pins on his head and an admittedly compelling voice. If nothing else, there is one running theme throughout the first three films about the seduction of both the depraved and the innocent by Hell's promises, and the need for sacrifice to gain power. Frank needed Julia to toss him men, Julia needed Chenard to toss her Women, and Pinhead basically needed whoever he could get his hands on in order to free himself.
Hickox accentuates his action with big push-ins and uncomfortable close-ups, along with subtle sounds of screams, rips and tears, and growls. There's a frenzied energy to everything Hickox does, which unfortunately makes slower scenes drag on. When Joey enters her window, wearing a flowing white night-gown(that Hickox clearly finds to be the least interesting costume in the entire film considering how little he does with it despite its obvious symbolic value) to get some exposition-largely through flashback-it feels like a lull, despite being more important in the narrative. It's Hickox working against himself: he conditions us to be comfortable with his unreality and then tries to reign us in for plot...it doesn't entirely fall apart, thanks to his reliance on familiar set pieces to keep us from losing sight of the goal, it just feels a little dull.
If there is a single moment that completely validates my thesis that Hellraiser III has the sole ambition of being as bombastic as it possibly can, it's the unadulterated insanity of the somewhat infamous club scene. It's carnage showcases the best and worst that the MTV era was capable of presenting: while Pinhead's unchecked power manages to butcher hundreds of people in variously inventive(and silly ways), we're treated to a DJ getting cut up by his own floating CDs, a woman's drink turning itself into ice and burrowing itself into her throat, a myriad of chain-kills and living pieces of torture art moving on their own accord. It's wild, stupid, fun and irritating all at the same time: a perfect representation of the film's innate desire to be as uninhibited as it possibly can, and wallow in its own chaotic sensibilities.
Even Bradley seems on board with this cutthroat pop-horror approach: Pinhead revels in his own theatrics here than he ever does at any other point in the series and, despite it being a departure from the character's narrative journey throughout the series(a usual point of contention for the fans who seeks continuity before all else), is probably the most fun the character ever is. Bradley has a ball with it, kind of channeling his own inner Freddy Krueger. "I'm here to turn up the volume" says Pinhead...
A lot of fans decry the third act's interest in underscoring it's pop-culture inspirations but, considering the timing of the film, it actually makes a weird sort of sense. It may be silly to see a DJ-Cenobite, and a Doc becoming a weird Camera-head guy, but bears repeating how nothing in this movie seeks to be taken seriously. Yeah, those Cenobites are weird and stupid, but just look at them. The sheer audacity of these entities, and their commitment to the continuing insanity of Hellraiser III is a wonder in itself. Doc bursts his camera thing through a guy's skull and sneers "You ready for YOUR close-up, Joey?!" If you can't find it in your heart to positively adore that for the miracle of foolishness that it is, then I can't help you.
I take it back: The club scene isn't quite the absolute moment of triumph in this film's mission. No, that almost certainly belongs to the church scene. As Pinhead mocks the pose of Jesus Christ, mocks the faith of the Priest(with as many biblical cliche puns as he can) and forces him to take communion("This is MY body. Happy are those who come to MY supper")...well, that's just about as audacious and over-the-top as it can possibly get.
Not nearly enough dramatic pay-off of Joey and Teri's relationship. It's referenced, so it's better than nothing, but she kind of had more of a reaction to Doc's death and he basically did nothing all movie but be nice, and then die.
In case things couldn't get weirder, here is Terry Farrell in...well, pretty racy bondage, about to be attacked by a weird phallic creature with some pokey looking instruments...by the way, Hickox has used bondage in at least two other films so...you can die happy knowing that the director got his rocks off shooting Hellraiser III. You're welcome.
Final Thoughts: I'm not sure I can elaborate any further on my overall take on this film. It's a complete rumination on stylistic excess and pop-culture audacity. It has no mind to speak of, no point, no ambition for something greater: it just wanted to mess with your head, just a little. It wanted to make you roll your eyes while, maybe just a tiny bit, you smirk to yourself about how weird it all is. I think it's a triumph of style over substance and raw entertainment in it's purest, least pretentious form. It's by no means a great film, but I think it makes a wonderful trifecta with the first two: each has it's own strengths and weaknesses, as well as it's own very specific idea of what it is and what its goals are. Fun movie, nothing else.
Final Rating: Three Stars.
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