Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (movie #45)

I've liked the Hellraiser movies for years now, and by "the Hellraiser movies," I mean parts 1 and 2. Both of those movies are nasty and gory and icky and sadistic and cool, and I like them both equally. I've heard I should check out the rest of the movies in the series, but I've also heard that the rest of the movies in the series suck, so I never really knew who to believe. Last night, I just said "Fuck it," and watched part 3 anyway, since it was on TV and I had the opportunity. I have to say, it isn't as good as the first two movies in the series, but it has some cool things to offer.

The "cenobites" are demon like creatures that populate hell. They used to be human, but they gave up their souls (kind of half willingly most of the time,they are usually too stupid to figure out what they're messing with when they mess around with the Puzzle box in these movies). See, people find this puzzle box that purports to offer the key to the greatest pleasure they've ever felt, so of course they're geniuses and they play around with it, and when it opens, it releases the cenobites and whoever bought the box loses their soul and gets tormented for all eternity until they reach the state where pleasure and pain are one and the same. Pretty nifty, huh? I still think all of this could be avoided if people would quit buying the stupid box, but people are stupid, in general and in movies.

So this time around a woman gets hold of the puzzle box and releases Pinhead (the main cenobite, the guy with pins sticking out pf his face and head) and there are some other cool cenobites. there's one that shoots out razor sharp CDs, and there's one that has a camera embedded in his head that films people. In one chase scene throughout the city, a lot of people die because the woman is trying to get away, and at one point she's resting,trying to catch her breath, leaning against the window of a TV repair shop when suddenly the picture on the TV screen changes and we see her leaning against the wall, and she turns to watch herself, then realizes that the cenobite with the camera is standing behind her filming her and projecting the image on the TV screen. It's a surreal, creepy moment that I enjoyed. This movie isn't as serious as the first two, but that scene hearkens back to the creepiness of the first two, and it's one I enjoyed. there's another cool scene in a church, but I won't spoil it for now. Suffice it to say that churches do NOT offer solace from these particular demonic creatures.

I liked this movie. It's not great, but it's inspired me to check out the other films in the series.