Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.5

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 31, 2017

Note: This film is available as part of Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box.

There have been any number of iconic and often gruesome creatures who have haunted the annals of horror films. Most folks would probably put Jack Pierce’s astonishing work on the Frankenstein monster at the top of this list, but there are a number of other horrifying entities that retain their angst producing abilities to this day. Lon Chaney’s amazing disfigurement as The Phantom of the Opera probably continues to populate various nightmares (and it’s interesting to note that subsequent remakes of the film seemed to realize they couldn’t top Chaney’s own makeup approach, meaning “later” Phantoms rarely had the same viscerally disquieting appearance). The original version of The Mummy certainly had at least a few unsettling looks at the bandaged phenomenon, and as patently silly as the transformation scenes typically were (due to old style optical dissolves), Lon Chaney, Jr.’s The Wolf Man probably earns a permanent place in this admittedly odd category. Ironically, Universal’s “other” big horror character, Dracula, relied on more subliminal creepiness rather than a ghastly appearance to create his version of night sweats. More modern horror films have introduced a number of variously unkempt creatures to scare the pants off audience members, but there’s probably no more frightening entity than Pinhead (one whose suave manner was reportedly based at least in part on Count Dracula), an individual from another dimension whose cranium has a rather unorthodox array of “piercings”, and who has given the Hellraiser franchise an instantly recognizable glyph of the horrors the series offers its viewers. Many of the Hellraiser films have already had various Blu-ray release, but Arrow has now assembled the first three films in a really beautifully packaged new set that also provides a wealth of new supplementary material.

There’s a rather interesting quote from Clive Barker (circa 1992) included as a kind of epigram in the rather impressive hardback book which is included in the Scarlet Box set:

It’s kind of interesting: the first one was Chekhov, wasn’t it? It was the family drama, played as a monster movie. The second was the ‘madhouse’ movie, and then it moved into Hell. The third one is urban. If you’ve got a mythology, there are always new ways to explore, new routes to explore.

There are now enough movies for a Hellraiser ‘all-nighter’ and if you watch all three, if you put them side by side, there’ll be no repetition, which is very important.

The nice thing is that there’s some sense of progress, some sense of a narrative line that links them. Though they’re completely different in style, all three will play very well together.

My hunch is even some diehard fans of Barker and the Hellraiser franchise in general might have a nit or two to pick with a couple of Barker's statements, for while there are certain undeniable linking aspects joining Hellraiser III to its progenitors, in some ways it's like a weird offshoot that almost plays like a made for television version of what's gone before. The "urban" setting does in fact include crowded locales like nightclubs, but at least several key sequences play out in a confined room where Pinhead (Doug Bradley) has become more or less trapped in a giant column called the Pillar of Souls.

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth continues to attempt to “humanize” Pinhead, giving him a backstory as a soldier named Spencer and allowing Bradley to have at least a few scenes without projectiles emanating from his noggin. A guy named J.P. (Kevin Bernhardt) who owns that aforementioned nightclub purchases the pillar and brings it home, of course soon leading to calamity. In the meantime, an up and coming reporter named Joey (Terry Farrell) starts looking into the whole Pinhead story, leading to even more calamity.

A lot of Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth is pretty silly, and having Pinhead stuck in a pillar kind of like Merlin in a tree in Camelot kind of inevitably makes this the most static feeling of the first three films. One of the things that caught my eye this time through the film is how “Borg” like the Cenobites are later in the film, something that’s at least a little ironic since Farrell would soon become part of the Star Trek family due to her role as Dax in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's deluxe Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box package includes a hardback book with the following information on the transfers in this set:

Hellraiser, Hellbound: Hellraiser II and Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth have been exclusively restored in 2K resolution for this release by Arrow Films. All three films are presented in their original 1.85:1 aspect ratios. Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II are presented with their original 2.0 stereo and 5.1 mixes. Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth is presented with its original stereo 2.0 mix. The original 35mm Interpositive elements for Hellraiser were scanned in 2K resolution at Point.360 Film Labs, Los Angeles. The original 35mm Interpositive elements for Hellbound; Hellraiser II and Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth were scanned in 2K resolution at Fotokem Film and Video, Los Angeles.

The original 2.0 and 5.1 stereo mixes for Hellraiser were transferred and mixed from the original magnetic reels at Deluxe Media/Audio Services. The original 2.0 and 5.1 stereo mixes for Hellbound: Hellraiser II and the 2.0 stereo mix for Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth were transferred and mixed from the original magnetic reels at Post Haste Sound, Inc., Los Angeles.

The 2K scans delivered by Lakeshore Entertainment were fully graded on a Baselight grading system at Deluxe Restoration, London. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris and light scratched were removed through a combination of digital restoration tools. Overall image stability was also improved when necessary.

The 2.0 and 5.1 stereo mixes delivered by Lakeshore Entertainment were conformed at Deluxe Restoration, London. There were occasions during the films when audio synch with picture will appear loose because of instances of ADR/Overdubbing, but these are in keeping with the original theatrical presentation.

The new restorations of Hellraiser and Hellbound: Hellraiser II have been approved by Director of Photography Robin Vidgeon, BSC.

The framing of this release has been hotly debated to the point that Arrow's own James White felt compelled to post the following on a blog:

In recent days we've received some communications about the framing on our release of Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth which we would like to address.

The process taken to bring Hellraiser III to Blu-ray was to utilise new 2K scans delivered by Lakeshore International, the rights-owner of the film for the UK. These scans were made from the original 35mm Interpositive elements (second in the printing chain after the Original 35mm Camera Negative) and these files were delivered to us masked to 1.85:1, the original ratio of the film.

While we appreciate the fact that our framing may look a bit different than on previous editions of Hellraiser III, we would like to point out that older releases incorrectly framed the film in a zoomed and cropped 1.78:1 ratio. When we were working on this film it was confirmed to us that this film, like the other two Hellraiser films, should be masked to its correct theatrical original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, which is how we've presented it on our release.

Our aim is always to right the wrongs on previous releases and produce a definitive version of the film that is faithful to the original. So whilst it has been suggested that our framing might be a bit off balance, we made the decision to present as much image area as was possible without displaying anything that shouldn't be visible in the frame. If we were to 'correct' for this by shifting the entire picture in one direction, a greater percentage of the image would have had to have been unnecessarily zoomed and cropped. As this is something that would have certainly disappointed more people than allowing for more image area than on previous editions, we decided to maintain the framing as it's presented on our disc.

It should be mentioned that any restoration is always limited to what materials are available, which can be difficult to access for rights reasons (this was the reason we could not access the original 35mm camera negative for Hellraiser) or for reasons of poor physical condition (as was comprehensively documented on our release of Nightmare City) but in all cases our aim is to produce the highest quality and most accurate representation of the film. We're proud of our restorations of all three of the Hellraiser films and hope you have enjoyed the release as a whole, and that this explanation behind the process helps to clarify the reasoning behind the look of the film.

I'm not going to join the debate of what's "correct" and "incorrect", and will instead simply point out there are obvious differences in the framing of this release and let everyone come to their own conclusions about how problematic these differences are. I've included three screenshots in positions 10-12 that document some of the issues some have had with the framings, in terms of previously unseen elements suddenly being more than visible on the left side of the frame. Whether these are "mistakes" or not I leave to others to debate, but I will say that I personally feel that these discussions, as with other perhaps picayune arguments that have broken out on our Forum and other similar sites, are good as far as I'm concerned, for they point out the fact that there are serious film fans paying attention to things like aspect ratios and framings, something that augurs well for film history and, hopefully, better technical presentations on home video releases.

Aside from the framing issues, Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth offers the finest grainfield of the three films in the Scarlet Box set, but also a somewhat softer ambience than the first two films. The palette is generally decent looking, though flesh tones can have a tendency to drift toward a kind of peach color at times. Both some nighttime war sequences and scenes in the nightclub have passing issues with shadow detail. The cool blue of the Pillar of Souls is quite effectively rendered, and in brighter lighting situations, fine detail in elements like the weave of a bright green sweater Joey wears look precise.

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth features an LPCM 2.0 mix (it is the only film in the Scarlet Box set not to have a surround mix included). Things are obviously less bombastic here without the fulsome LFE and good surround activity that the first two films' 5.1 mixes offered, but there is still good low to midrange on this track, something that supports some kind of buzzy synth sounds in the score. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly and is generally well prioritized, though some of the crowded club scenes can sound a little chaotic.

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Alternate Unrated Version (1080p; 1:36:38) comes with this information:

  The extended scenes in this version of Hellraiser 3 were not part of the theatrical release, and accordingly are not present in vault film elements. They have been taken from the best available video master, made for the pan and scan US LaserDisc release. As a result, both the video quality and aspect ratio will change during these sections.

• Hell on Earth: The Story of Hellraiser III (1080p; 32:01) includes interviews with Peter Atkins, Bob Keen and Ken Carpenter.


• Paula Marshall Interview (1080p; 14:55) offers career reminiscences along with memories of this particular shoot.


• Raising Hell on Earth: Anthony Hickox Interview (1080i; 13:59) is a decent sit down with the film's director.


• Under the Skin: Doug Bradley on Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1080i; 13:46) continues with the same session with Bradley that is included as supplements on the first two films.


• Original EPK (1080i; 5:12)


• FX Dailies (1080p; 23:49) offers some really fun footage that helps to show how some of the effects were composited and/or achieved.


• Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 1:52)


• Galleries

  Hellraiser III Comic Adaptation (1080p)

  Stills & Promo Material (1080p)

• Commentaries

  Commentary with Peter Atkins (Theatrical)

  Commentary with Anthony Hickox and Doug Bradley (Unrated)

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth is a pretty major step down from the first two Hellraiser films, but it has occasional moments of decent angst, even if its attempts to give Pinhead more than mere pins to think about ultimately don't pay many dividends. While technical merits aren't quite at the level of the first two films in this set, and the framing issues are going to continue to be a problem for at least some, Arrow has again assembled a very impressive supplementary package for the film. Franchise completists will no doubt want this no matter what any perceived problems might be, but those who have imprinted on previous home video framings should take some time to peruse the screenshots included in this review to see what they think about the video presentation.