Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth
Keeping up with this whole later sequels of franchises I haven't watched since 2013 motif that I seem to have going, today's film was Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth. I've watched I and II in past binges, so felt I was overdue to revisit everyone's favorite sadomasochist Cenobites. I've always thought the idea behind Hellraiser was immensely creative and creepy, especially for a movie that came out in a sea of slashers. However, this is proof of diminishing returns on this idea and pretty good evidence of why we don't need sequels most of the time.
Much like the rest of the franchise, Hell on Earth focuses around the machinations of Pinhead, a demon with a thirst for suffering. Where this movie tries to amp things up in the same way most sequels do: indulging in excess. Here, Pinhead is brought fully into the mortal realm through a creepy statue and wreaks havok to the tune of hundreds of bodies in his wake. Now, don't get me wrong: that concept is potentially cool, but ultimately it's just ends up being that: excess for excess sake. We're given some weird, ridiculous new Cenobites with horrendously cheesy one liners. I enter into evidence Exhibit A, camera eye handlebar mustache man:
Then there's the completely unnecessary Pinhead origin story (was anyone clamoring to know where Pinhead came from?) and the movie just feels weak compared to the original. I still had fun, but there's an essence that the original had that just seems to get more and more watered down with each entry.
7/10
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