By DANNY STEWART (Bear Manor Media; 2021/25)
Another book by the irrepressible Danny Stewart, who specializes in boosting underappreciated films. Included in his bibliography are persuasive defenses of THE BLOOD OF HEROES (1989), THE FUNERAL (1996) and SOLDIER (1998), and the subject here, in an extensively revised version of a book that was initially published in 2021, is HELLRAISER III: HELL ON EARTH (1992).
As is his custom, Stewart makes no apologies for his reverence for this not-hugely-admired film. He gushes about it unreservedly, making comparisons to the Faust legend, HEART OF DARKNESS and THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE, as well as FRIDAY THE 13th PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN (1989) and Clive Barker’s original HELLRAISER (1987), with arguments so passionately conveyed one is willing to give them serious consideration.
The first two thirds of the book consist largely of interviews with quite a few members of HELLRAISER III’s cast and crew. We learn that the North Carolina based production was marred by a constantly mutating conception that took a few years to be nailed down, as well as a painfully low budget and innovative special effects (it being the first horror film to feature CGI) that weren’t fully achievable on such limited resources. That anything of any worth emerged is due primarily, it would seem, to the enthusiasm of director Anthony Hickox and the conviction of actor Doug Bradley, who played Pinhead (formerly “Lead Cenobite”), and for whom most all the interviewees have enormous praise.
Stewart’s observations, which take up most of the remainder of the book, focus on HELLRAISER III’s thematic resonance. As the book’s title indicates, Stewart views the film as a war picture (“William Tecumseh Sherman’s now-iconic words—‘War is hell’—echo with chilling relevance in HELLRAISER III”), with the infamous night club massacre sequence described as “a war zone that leaves a lasting impression of (Pinhead’s) destructive capabilities…The film ties the trenches of World War I, the Vietnam War, and the chaos of a modern nightclub together as manifestations of humanity’s propensity for creating its own hell.”
The book is never less than thoroughly readable and entertaining, with the only major quibble anyone could have with it, in my view, being a disagreement with Stewart’s opinions about HELLRAISER III. Many of the interviewees directly challenge his reverence for the film (and he, to his credit, doesn’t censor those dissenting views), but Stewart (also to his credit) doesn’t let that, or anything else, dissuade him.