LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Stephen Abell Here's part three of the Hellraiser Saga... Once again this continues from where the last film ended, though it's a looser connection. The battle between Pinhead (Bradley) and his original human self, Captain Elliott Spencer, allowed him to break free of hells shackles. Entrapped in a monolith, he is awoken by Sandy (Leigh), when an accidental cut splashes blood on his stone features. Revealing himself to JP Monroe (Bernhardt), an unscrupulous womanising club owner, Pinhead makes a deal to free himself from his confines and to help JP to achieve his dreams...This leads to lots of twists and turns in the storyline as you know you can't trust a daemon. The only thing which stands in his way is an aspiring investigative reporter, Joanne "Joey" Summerskill (Farrell), who's investigating the gory and violent murders which are appearing in the city.The first thing that becomes evident is the amount of budget available for this film. Instead of being kept within the confines of a house or a hospital, now we're out in New York City. Penthouses, apartments, clubs, restaurants, ally's and streets. The locations are so much bigger. This is good, as it gives scope for a larger story with more hellish violence and gore... and it nearly delivers. Nearly, because the scene where the Cenobites finally take to the streets is actually underwhelming. What was required were a few more Cenobites and quite a few more victims, both pedestrians and police. It's nice to have explosions... I just wanted more.The acting is okay, Bradley still stands out and is excellent as Pinhead. Farrell does a good job as the reporter. However, it's Bernhardt and Marshall, who plays Terri, who have their bouts of woodenness. The direction too is quite different from the first two, gone are the artistic and atmospheric lighting for a more natural feel. This is okay, but the film does lose a little of its mood and spirit, which added strength to the first two movies. I can understand the need for doing this. If you expand the daemons universe to include a lot more of reality then it stands to reason to get that feeling across would be to lose the more imaginative aspects of the filmmaking. That said there are still quite a few iconic shots, such as the entrance of Pinhead at the club and later in the church, and nicely thought out camera shots and angles.Though I didn't find it as good as the first films it's still as enjoyable, though for different reasons... and as Pinhead would attain, variety is the spice of life.Another good thing is that this film actually works as a stand-alone, you only need a vague idea about the previous stories; whereas, Hellbound actually made you feel as though you should have watched the first film before viewing. So for that reason, I would recommend this to all horror fans and newbies alike. This is a well written, structured, and acted film... which has its fair share of tension, fear, and suspense.

bowmanblue If you're into serious sickness in your horror and skinless corpses getting down and dirty with each other before hatching murderous plots, then Hellraiser 1 and 2 should do quite nicely for you. They follow each other and tell the tale of a mysterious puzzle box that, when opened, summons the 'cenobites' – a race of demons who want to tear you apart for their own amusement. The first two films go together nicely and the second expands on the first. However, with part three we're introduced to new characters and the series seems to deviate from what's gone before. The only thing that links it is 'Pinhead.' And, if you don't know who that is then you obviously haven't seen any cover art for the franchise. He's the 'lead cenobite' and basically the only real reason you're going to want to watch part three. In fact, Pinhead, despite being the villain, is the most charismatic and interesting aspect of the whole film. Once you take him out of it there's really little left that's any good.It's about a female reporter who discovers the existence of the cenobites and the box that calls them and decides to investigate. However, the whole film is very dated. Somehow the first two seem to exist in a time and place that's pretty indeterminate. I had difficulty telling whether the originals were set in America or the UK. Here it's set firmly in nineties America – and it always will be. Everything screams nineties, with the possible exception of the acting, which in cases like 'Doc' could well be taken from the nineteen forties. I hate to pick on one actor, but the lead female's cameraman seems to act like he's reading his lines off a prompt card out of shot.At least he's not in it that much. The lead female is about as generic as you can get and just stumbles from one forced plot device into the next. Everything about the film screams 'low budget' and, despite a few nice moments of gore and practical (bloody!) effects, everything falls on Pinhead's shoulder to save.If you're a fan of the first two, know that the drop in quality is about the only thing dramatic about 'Part III.' Most of it is dire, interspersed with good scenes starring the bad guy who you might as well root for seeing as the heroes are so damn bland. Oh, and watch out for the dumbest cops ever to be caught on camera in the final act. They deserve everything that's coming to them.

grantss Quite disappointing, especially after the first movie.Hellraiser II picks up where the first movie left off. Kirsty (played bu Ashley Laurence) is in an institution after her experiences of the first movie. She is then visited by the gang of ghouls we previously met...The first movie was quite original for a horror movie. (Not that this says much, as most horror movies are incredibly formulaic and predictable). The plot was fairly solid too, with good direction and special effects.This, the second movie, is not anywhere near as good. Plot feels random, unoriginal and unengaging. The story just lurches from one contrived, inexplicable horror scene to another.Not worth watching - save your time.

RyanEardley01 Hellraiser III Hell on Earth is a decent sequel mainly because of the story it presents everything else is meh. Now this movie does miss the dark creepy atmosphere the first two had which is one of the big things I loved from the first two however with this movie it has more of a eighties slasher feel to it which I liked with Pinhead being all over this film but I still however missed the dark Gothic feel of the first two. Now the story was pretty unique and different and am glad they didn't decide to do the person comes back from hell gimmick which would have got old quick. The story however involves a news reporter Joanne 'Joey' Summerskill played by Terry Farrell (who turned in a surprisingly great performance) investigating Pinhead played by Doug Bradley (who was just as great as he has been in the other film)and the Cenobites and must send them back to hell. Overall I would check this one out and give it a shot because its extremely underrated just don't go in expecting anything like the first two and also if your looking for a lot more Pinhead and cenobites these movie is easily for you.