Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth is a 1992 American supernatural horror film and the third installment in the Hellraiser film series. It was directed by Anthony Hickox and stars Terry Farrell, Paula Marshall, Kevin Bernhardt, and Doug Bradley. Ashley Laurence, who starred in the previous two films, reprises her role as Kirsty Cotton in a cameo appearance.
Following the events of Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988), in which the demon Pinhead (Bradley) is imprisoned in a statue, he resurrects himself by absorbing the life force of unlucky humans. After convincing a power hungry club owner, J.P. Monroe (Bernhardt), to feed him souls to convert into new Cenobites, Pinhead goes on a rampage, opposed by reporter Joey Summerskill (Farrell) and the spiritual manifestation of Pinhead's good half, Captain Elliott Spencer (also Bradley).
Series creator Clive Barker returned as an executive producer, though he was largely uninvolved until post-production. It was the first Hellraiser film to be shot outside the UK and released by Dimension Films. The film's reception on release was better than the previous film, and it grossed $12.5 million in the US.
In 1996, it was followed by Hellraiser: Bloodline, which was the last film in the series to be theatrically released.
Plot The revelation of his own former humanity causes Pinhead, a demon called a Cenobite, to be split into two entities: his former self, WWI British Army Captain Elliott Spencer, and a manifestation of Spencer's id, which takes on the form of Pinhead. While Spencer ends up in limbo, Pinhead is trapped, along with the puzzle box, among the writhing figures and distorted faces etched into the surface of an intricately carved pillar — the Pillar of Souls.
J. P. Monroe, the womanizing owner of a popular NYC nightclub called The Boiler Room, buys the pillar. An ambitious young television reporter, Joanne "Joey" Summerskill, sees hooked chains embedded in a teenage clubgoer in a hospital emergency room. They come to life and tear the clubgoer to pieces. A young homeless woman, Terri, who came in with the clubgoer, explains that the chains sprang from the puzzle box, which she pried from the pillar. Terri gives the puzzle box to Joey. While investigating the box's background with her cameraman, Daniel "Doc" Fisher, Joey invites Terri to stay with her. Joey uncovers a videotape from one of Pinhead's former victims and survivor, Kirsty Cotton, that explains the puzzle box is the only means of returning Pinhead to Hell. Pinhead remains dormant until Monroe has rough sex with a clubgoer, Sandy. Afterward, hooked chains drag Sandy to the pillar, and Pinhead absorbs her body. Pinhead points out that they have both used Sandy for their own purposes. Although initially horrified, Monroe agrees to bring Pinhead more club members so he can feed on them and be freed. In return, Pinhead promises Monroe power and unnatural delights.
Joey has recurring nightmares about how she presumes her father died in Vietnam. During one such dream, Spencer contacts Joey. He explains that his experiences in WWI caused him to lose faith in humanity, and he sought out the forbidden pleasures promised by the puzzle box. Spencer tells her that without his humanity to act as a balancing influence, Pinhead is completely evil and will indiscriminately wreak havoc on Earth for his own pleasure, in violation of Cenobite laws. To defeat him, Joey must reunite Spencer's spirit with Pinhead and use the puzzle box to return him to Hell. A misunderstanding leads Terri to believe that Joey has abandoned her, and she returns to the arms of her ex-boyfriend, Monroe. Monroe attempts to feed her to Pinhead, but she overpowers him. Before she can flee, Pinhead talks her into feeding Monroe to him, promising to turn her into a demon in return. Now free, Pinhead massacres the club's patrons. Hearing the news reports, Joey goes to the club to investigate.
Pinhead orders Joey to give him the box, but she escapes him. Pinhead resurrects several of his victims as demonic Cenobites, including Terri, Monroe, Rick the barman, the DJ, and Doc, who is also left to investigate the club. Joey flees through the quiet streets, pursued by the new Cenobites. The Cenobites kill local police as Joey enters a church and begs the priest to help her. Lacking faith that demons could exist, the priest is appalled by the appearance of Pinhead. Pinhead defiles the church and almost kills the priest until Joey regains his attention to the puzzle box she holds and gets him to chase her. The Cenobites trap Joey on a construction site and prepare to torture her. She solves the puzzle box, and they are sent to Hell. The box transports Joey into limbo, where she comes face to face with an apparition who appears to be her dead father. The apparition tells Joey to give him the puzzle box, only to be revealed as Pinhead in disguise.
Pinhead ensnares her in machinery and prepares to transform her into a Cenobite. Spencer's limbo-bound spirit confronts Pinhead and forcibly fuses with him. Joey breaks free and uses the puzzle box, which has transformed into the dagger-like form of Leviathan, to stab Pinhead through the heart, sending him back to Hell. With Pinhead's humanity restored, the box returns Joey to Earth. She buries it in a pool of concrete at the construction site. Later, the completed building on the site is revealed: its interior design is identical to the box, and its malignant influence remains.
Cast
Heavy metal band Armored Saint cameo as themselves, performing their song "Hanging Judge" at The Boiler Room nightclub. Actress Ashley Laurence, who played the female lead character Kirsty Cotton in the previous two films, has a cameo appearance via an in-universe videotape.
Production Development New World Pictures and Film Futures, a production company owned by Clive Barker and Chris Figg, held meetings about a third Hellraiser film before Hellbound: Hellraiser II was released. Barker had originally intended for the Hellraiser sequels to focus on Clare Higgins' character Julia Cotton, but Higgins declined to reprise her role in a third film, and her character was killed off in later drafts of Hellbound. Other ideas included a story set in ancient Egypt, a followup to Hellbound in which Pinhead attempted to resurrect himself, and a building that functioned as a Lament Configuration. Aspects from the latter two would make it into the final script.
During these talks, 20th Century Fox demanded extensive cuts to Barker's latest film, Nightbreed, an adaptation of his novella Cabal. Following a misleading marketing campaign from Fox that promoted it as a slasher film, Nightbreed underperformed at the box office and caused Film Futures to go out of business. With New World's own bankruptcy troubles, Hellraiser III went into development hell. Former New World executives, including Lawrence Kuppin, established Trans-Atlantic Pictures, and the rights were transferred to them. Following disagreements with Trans-Atlantic, Barker had no official involvement in the project until much later, during post-production; he said the studio balked at his fee, as they wanted a "cheap and nasty" film.
Tony Randel, who directed Hellbound, co-wrote the story with Peter Atkins. Atkins completed the first draft of the screenplay in 1991. Many major elements remain unchanged from the shooting script, but the Barbie and CD Cenobites do not exist. The end of the screenplay has Pinhead and Elliott merge into one being, but, following this, Joey makes a deal with him to be his willing bride in return for a successful life. Subsequent rewrites introduced the CD and Barbie Cenobites, Pinhead's deception as Joey's father, and a happier ending. The setting was made unambiguously American, ending the first two films' tradition of mixing British and American elements.
Pre-production Randel was attached to direct, but the producers removed him after they became worried that his vision for the film was too bleak. Anthony Hickox replaced Randel after a mutual friend, whom Hickox had cast in Waxwork II: Lost in Time, suggested him. Barker, who disliked Hickox's prior work, believed him a poor fit for the Hellraiser series, as Hickox was known for horror comedy films. When Hickox met with him, Barker stressed that he expected Hickox to take the material seriously. Hickox, a fan of the series, agreed and used the first two films as a guide for the proper tone.
Only two actors returned from the prior films: Doug Bradley as the Cenobite Pinhead and, in a cameo, Ashley Laurence as Kirsty Cotton. Hickox said he found the casting process for a Hellraiser film both exciting and frightening. The first to be cast was Terry Farrell, who was returning to a career in acting after a break. Hickox had previously sought her for a role in Waxwork II, but when that became impossible due to a scheduling clash, he promised to cast her in his next project. Kevin Bernhardt, who had appeared as a series regular on General Hospital, was cast as J. P. Monroe. The role of Monroe's girlfriend, Terri, went to Paula Marshall, who Hickox said was a critical casting choice, as the film rested on the performances of Marshall, Ferrell, and Bradley.
For Joey's cameraman, Daniel "Doc" Fisher, Ken Carpenter, an actor friend of studio executive Kuppin, was cast, as he had the look they wanted: practical and hard-working. Atkins himself took the role of the barman Rick and the subsequent Barbie Cenobite, and several other crew members, including Kuppin and producer Lawrence Mortorff, took cameo roles. Smaller roles were filled with friends-of-friends, local actors, and people who had appeared in prior genre films, including Hickox's Waxwork series.
Most of the crew were new to the series, too. Hickox brought many crew members from his previous films, including cinematographer Gerry Lively, who worked with Hickox on Waxwork II. Bob Keen from special effects company Image Animation was one of the few returning crew members from previous Hellraiser films. Keen had also previously worked on Nightbreed and the Waxwork films. Gary J. Tunnicliffe, who would become a writer and director in later Hellraiser films, joined the film's make-up crew and created the Lament Configuration boxes. Paul Jones replaced Geoff Portass as make-up coordinator.
Filming
Hellraiser III was the first film in the series shot in the United States. Laurence's scene, a recorded interview in which Kirsty explains the series' mythology, was shot separately prior to the rest of the film. Principal photography began in late 1991 in Greensboro, North Carolina, which stood in for New York City. J. P.'s club was set in a furniture factory in neighboring High Point. The interiors were shot at Carolina Atlantic Studios in High Point.
Trans-Atlantic gave Hickox six weeks to shoot the film. Hickox had previously established a very fast shooting schedule that used long hours, which meant the Hellraiser III cast had to adjust to his unorthodox style and the studio's demands. Bradley said he worked for 17 hours straight one day, and the large number of scenes shot each day meant they had little time to perfect them. Hickox's preference for in-camera editing sped up production but limited the actors' view of how the completed film would look. Instead, they had to rely on storyboards. Unlike previous Hellraiser films, the stages were all very close to each other and shared a single sound stage, making simultaneous shooting with multiple crews difficult.