HELLRAISER III
A film review by Andreas Kutschera
Copyright 1992 Andreas Kutschera
Well, I seldom get the chance to view a film *before* the US release, so I'll grab the chance and try to do a review of HELLRAISER III. No spoilers before the ^L, I promise.
HELLRAISER III - Hell on earth
One-line-summary: Very little continuation, rather boring.
Judging from the title, HELLRAISER III, is supposed to be a movie that fits into the storyline of the other two Hellraiser movies. Having watched all three of them in a row, I must say that the most "hell-like" aspect of it was that I watched it in a theatre without air conditioning on one of the hottest days in August. Other than that, the movie fails to live up to its promise.
What would you expect from a Hellraiser film?
Yes, the Pleasure Cube is back (it still seems to be the only way to open the dimensional door).
Yes, the Cenobites are back (and guess what they want :-)
So, essentially the story follows the same line as did HELLRAISER I and II. But while HELLRAISER II managed to evolve the storyline further (i.e., tell us more about the characters we already knew), part III only gives us lots of new characters we don't know and who I don't really care about. This, of course, gives the authors an excuse to tell us the same old story we have already seen, the same special effects we have already seen and to keep it at a superficial level.
But, what's even worse, in parts I and II, the main characters had a really strong motive for what they did. These people actually *wanted* something out of life (or out of the Cube). In part III, none of the characters really wants something, so everything that happens, just happens accidentally, almost by coincidence, and the characters only _re_act (instead of *act*).
While I liked HELLRAISER I, because it introduced a new concept to me, and also because I get this chill down my spine when pleasure and pain are mixed (that's all I'll add to the "Barker: Sex & Horror" discussion), and I also liked part II, because the characters were still motivated and the film went deeper into the history of the Cenobites, part III didn't show me anything new.
So what I recommend is, if you want a good story with character development and also some good special effects, go see HELLRAISER I and II (again, if necessary), and wait for III to come out on video. If you can't wait, try to see it for as little money as possible.
Now, there will be a few *mild* spoilers to prove my point about a weak storyline, but don't worry, you'll probably figure out most of it yourself by the first ten minutes of the movie...:
The setting: New York City.
The leading persons: a television reporter (female)
- her cameraman (male)
- a nightclub owner (male, age ~32)
- one of his lovers (of course, did you expect a
*homo*sexual relationship?)
At the beginning of the movie, there is a statue, which is a leftover from a psychiatric hospital. The statue looks like a complex meld of bodies, I-dunno-what and a cute Cube. Viewers of HELLRAISER I and II will probably instantly make the connection between the statue and what it contains.
So the following questions remain:
Will the statue come to life?
If so, how?
Will the Cenobites be released?
If so, how?
Will anyone stand in their way?
If so, who?
How will the movie end?
Is there a possibility for a sequel?
The answer to these questions follows the other ^L :-)
Since I told you that it was a bad movie, the answer to all the above questions is: YES (just as you would expect).
-- all replies to : ak@opal.cs.tu-berlin.de
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