DAY 2: Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992)

"What began in Hell, will end on Earth"

RATED- R

RUN TIME- 93 MINS

WRITER(S)- PETER ATKINS AND TONY RANDEL

STARRING- KEVIN BERNHARDT, LAWRENCE MORTORFF AND TERRY FERRELL

DIRECTOR- ANTHONY HICKOX

Synopsis taken from IMDb

An investigative reporter must send the newly unbound Pinhead and his legions back to hell.

The third installment of the "Hellraiser" franchise turned out to be not as bad as I was expecting. Yeah, it sucked, but I survived it with no trouble. There were even some parts that had piqued my interest. This is definitely where the films start to decline and you can see it transpiring  right in front of you. After remembering his past in "Hellbound: Hellraiser 2", Pinhead is split into two identities. One being his normal demonic self, the other is of World War 1 British Army Captain Elliot Spencer.

A smug punk named J.P. Monroe purchases the pillar from the previous film that has all the cenobites including Pinhead in it. I understand where they were going with having it purchased like it's a piece of art, but J.P.'s character wasn't doing anything for me. There's absolutely no way you can sympathize with him, he's a jackass and you really don't care that Pinhead uses him. One of the most ridiculous things that I didn't like was that it only takes 2 victims to feed on before Pinhead is back again and free of the pillar. You can tell the writing is getting sloppy and it's becoming more about the gore and torture. Did it not take a dozen bodies in the first two films to bring back Frank and Julia? 

Yet Pinhead drains 2 victims at the hands of J.P. and is free to wreak havoc. 

Not to mention that the whole reason Pinhead gets woken up is due to a rat biting J.P.'s hand, and he swings his bloody hand all over the room when he over acts and reacts. I'd like to know what the hell kind of rat that was supposed to be because the damn thing had lock jaw and bled his hand well. I know there are some seriously nasty rodents out there but this is just unbelievable. J.P. didn't take any convincing to be an evil bastard, he shed a few fake tears but the next thing you knew, he was changing his voice to a more sinister tone. Ridiculous. 

They work the reporter angle in this one as well, which I thought was a fresh take, but it doesn't work out too well. It's cool to have someone investigating the weird phenomena, but when they're not personally involved you don't feel for them or care. The characters had no dimension and were paper thin. I did like how the reporter, Joey Summerskill watched Kirsty's tapes from her time at the institution. It showed they attempted to follow the story of the original, but in the midst of doing their own thing they lost sight of what Hellraiser should be.

The main thing that I did not like at all about this movie is that Pinhead isn't the cold and brooding demon like he was in the first 2 films, in this one he actually has facial emotions and acts out more. I don't know if this was Doug Bradley's doing or if this was the production's fault, but it just doesn't work. Pinhead is a calm, collected evil. Not one looking all angry and having different facial expressions. They were adding things to a character that was already well made, and should have just let Doug Bradley's human self do all the facial expressions and acting out since he is sill in the movie as Pinheads human self. It's slowly beginning to not feel like "Hellraiser" anymore.

Overall, I wasn't completely hating this movie but I sure as hell wasn't enjoying it. Compared to how bad some of the sequels to come are I'd say this one is great, but it's really not. This is where the grip of what the first two films had begins to slip and get away from itself. Unless you want to laugh or be aggravated at how poor this movie is, avoid it.

THIS FILM GETS 2 REAPER SKULLS OUT OF 5

Bates Motel: episode 8 "A Boy and His Dog"

***SPOILERS***

Since I'm doing Hellraiser Madness Week I had to figure out a time to squeeze in the review for tonight's episode, even if it means doing 2 reviews a day. And tonight's episode covered a lot of ground, though it was still technically another filler episode.

Norman starts hanging out with Emma's father and learning the skills of taxidermy since his dog died in the previous episode. He seems enthused to learn the hobby. I like how they're incorporating things from the original film, building Norman up to be how he is and as we all know him to be. They're really going in the right direction here.

Norma makes a visit to the sheriff in an attempt to get a recommendation for a seat in the city council, so she can stray the citizens away from the idea of building a highway that'll jeopardize her motel business. When it doesn't go as she wanted she attempts to threaten the sheriff, but he quickly puts her in her place and she backs off. 

Dylan and Remo get send on a job and the air is still stiff with awkwardness between them. At a bar, they have out their differences and it breaks into a good old fashioned bar room brawl. After beating the resentment they have towards each other out, Dylan begins to see things from Remo's point of view. Remo's anger stems from being outranked by Dylan even though he's had his job for 23 years. Dylan is considered more reliable in the big bosses eyes.

After seeing the weird man in room 9 standing outside the motel and starring at her, Norma goes to do the housekeeping in his room. There he mentions how in town he heard about what happened with she and Deputy Shelby and his death. He then goes on to explain to her that he knew Keith Summers and knew about a sex trade going on. You can tell that he's just prying, trying to see if Norma reacts and gives him any reason to suspect her as being involved. It ends up working and Norma lets her nerves get the best of her and breaks a lamp due to trembling hands.

In the school bathroom, Emma hears the popular girls talking about how Norman is weird and how pathetic he is. When they start saying that Bradley would never touch Norman, Emma snaps and makes her presence known by telling off the girls and revealing that Bradley slept with Norman.

Dylan and Remo pick up some new people to take with them on the job they're heading too. Remo shows no patience for one of the men joining them and wants to leave him. Dylan lets the guy stay because it's his orders to bring everyone. Remember, Dylan is the reliable one. But after so much traveling, Dylan sees that Remo was right and that their new co-worker is rude and disrespectful. Dylan forces him out of the van at gunpoint and leaves him there in the middle of nowhere.

I like how we're seeing a new side to Dylan and Remo. They're good together and I can see them becoming good friends. Always have to watch for that though, whenever someone gets close something bad happens. I've seen too many TV shows to fall for that one. I am curious to see if Dylan will be reprimanded by the big boss for not obeying his direct orders. Remo is going to end up being a bad influence on Dylan.

Back at school, Bradley approaches Norman and asks him why he betrayed her and told the whole school about their little one night stand. After telling her he didn't say anything to anyone, Bradley tells him it should have never happened and storms off, leaving him in tears. One of Norman's teachers sees this happening and goes to stop Norman from leaving school only to see a violent side of him that scares her. He crudely smacks her hand away after screaming at her and leaves school, which isn't a good move.

Norma is called into the school by the principle and asked to come in and talk about Norman's behavior. When she arrives, she is greeted by Norman's teacher and the principle who tell her that not only is Norman suspended for 3 days but he also has to see a therapist now. Norma suggests her own doctor and not one of the school therapists.

Norma follows the weird man from room 9 to a boatyard and watches as he goes through Deputy Shelby's boat looking for something. As she's leaving, Norma is cut off by the man and he tells her that he knows she's following him and that he knows of her involvement with Shelby. He scares her off nearly causing her to trip as she runs. He also tells her that he knows she knows more than she's letting on.

In therapy, the psychiatrist can barely get through to Norman due to Norma sitting in on the session. She answers all the questions for Norman and controls the conversation. After getting nowhere with Norman, the doctor speaks to Norma in private where he tells her he wants to see Norman alone and suggests she seeks psychiatric help. Norma doesn't like this and puts the doctor in his place. You saw her insecurities peek through, she is too prideful to let someone tell her she needs help.

When she arrives back at the motel, Norma stomps down to room 9 and tells the man that she demands he leaves. She threatens him with the cops and he complies, but he lets it be known that it's not over and that Norma opened a can of worms that she didn't want to.

At Emma's house, she confesses to Norman about why she told all the girls about he and Bradley sleeping together. They hug and make up, possibly showing that they may end up dating in the future. 

Dylan arrives at the motel with his van full of workers and asks Norma if she'd be willing to give them rooms for 2 weeks while they're in town to work. Norma shows excitement and thanks Dylan. She and Dylan bond and make plans to go out to dinner once the guests are checked in. Once Norma enters her home she sees Deputy Shelby's corpse lying on her bed with his autopsy scars and a cotton ball in his missing eye. Norma screams for Norman and Emma and the screen fades to black.

I believe Norma is going to think Shelby's body is the works of Norman possibly, thinking he's done it in one of his blackouts. But I think it's apparent that it was the mysterious man from room 9. I want to see where this storyline is going with the man in number 9. He's a creepy character that doesn't seem like someone you'd want to get involved with or screw with. But Norma loves her drama...

With only 2 episodes left, one can only speculate what will happen but I see a few deaths going down more than likely. At least one big death. I was impressed with tonight's episode, we got lots of character development but I'm ready for the temperature to turn up. Hopefully we'll get some heat the next two episodes. I'll be watching.

THIS EPISODE GETS 3 REAPER SKULLS OUT OF 5

DAY 1: Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 (1988)

It will tear your soul apart...again.

RATED- R
RUN TIME- 97 MINS
WRITER(S)- CLIVE BARKER AND PETER ATKINS
STARRING- ASHLEY LAURENCE, IMOGEN BOORMAN AND KENNETH CRANHAM
DIRECTOR- TONY RANDEL



Synopsis taken from IMDb
Kirsty is brought to an institution after the death of her family, where the occult-obsessive head resurrects Julia and unleashes the Cenobites once again. 




After watching this film for the second time I found a new appreciation for it. It's actually not as bad as I remembered it being, which is refreshing. It's actually a very good follow up to the original. Still not on par with the first film, but not a bad film or sequel at all. Hell, if they'd stayed this good we'd all be fans of the series!

What I like about "Hellbound" is that you get to go back and explore the origins of Pinhead. I'm a sucker for origins stories. While Pinhead's past isn't extraordinary, it helps the movie flow and gets you some character development. One thing that I didn't like was the fact that Julia is back. Not that it's a reason to not like the movie or anything, I just don't like her character. She's one of those villains who's such a snake that you just wish them an awful death.

The way Julia comes back is through the mattress she died on. Before Dr. Philip Channard becomes the main villain and Cenobite in this film, he brings one of his sick mental patients to the mattress and essentially feeds him to Julia. This series is more known for it's gore and torture more than anything else, but the effect of Julia resurrecting from the bed was a good scene and her makeup was done with old school class.

Kirsty's character in this film didn't really do much for me though. I feel like she was just there to be there. There wasn't really any character plot or development with her in this film. She just runs around screaming, trying to not get caught by the Cenobites. I like that she's in an institution and considered crazy for her stories that recap the first film. I just felt like there should have been something more to her, or maybe even introduce a new heroine that Kirsty has to help out with her knowledge. 
Kirsty does play an important part in the end though. 

Of course Julia backstabs the doctor who brought her back, even though he thought to have her loyalty. Anyone who seen the first film knows that Julia is conniving and manipulative and knows not to trust her. It ends up working out in the end though because the Channard Cenobite is a bad mother. The special effects suffer but that's fine, the first film isn't known for it's outstanding special effects. It's the makeup we care about and that delivers grotesquely. Channard Cenobite is absolutely one of the most memorable characters in this series.

In the end, I like this film a whole hell of a lot more this time around. It's not a perfect film, but it's a solid 80's horror flick. One of the things that I liked most about this film was that Frank returns once they're all in hell, or the 4th dimension, whatever you want to call it. Aside from Kirsty's dad, just about the whole crew from the original is back in this film. Although we do see Kirsty's dad, only he's skinned and suffering in hell. Part 2 of this series showed us there was still some wind in the sails of the inevitably sinking ship known as the Hellraiser franchise.

THIS FILM GETS 3 REAPER SKULLS OUT OF 5

Hellraiser Madness Week starts tomorrow

Since I'm a completest as much as I am a glutton for punishment, I thought it was time to finish the Hellraiser series. I've never seen any of the sequels past part 2. After 2 I was done with the franchise, but I've tiptoed around it long enough and I'm ready to waste approximately 12 hours of my life that I'll never get back.

I've always been a big fan of the original film, though I don't consider it to be amongst the ranks of "Halloween" or "A Nightmare on Elm Street". It's a concrete horror classic, there's no doubt about that. But of all the horror franchises (except for "Leprechaun") this series tends to be the dog, with repetitive awful sequels.

The OCD and completest in me won't rest until I finish this series and say I gave it a fair chance and learned all there is to know about Pinhead the the other Cenobites. I've already begun the first few of the sequels and I'll save what I think of them for later in the week.

Starting tomorrow I'll be reviewing 1 "Hellraiser" movie every day for the next 8 days in a row. Giving my full scope on the movies and my opinions on them. Wish me luck. If anyone has anything you'd like to contribute please feel free to comment. I'm interested in knowing how many people love or hate this series of sequels.

So I'll be back tomorrow with the first review for "Hellbound: Hellraiser 2", keep your eyes peeled.

So I'll end this with a tweet a fellow horror blogger sent me, "This isn't going to end well. Good luck!"