Prime Video movie of the day: Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth is a hellishly good time

Pinhead’s back, and he’s not here to arrange some flowers

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I’m writing this on a holiday weekend where the title of the third Hellraiser movie,Hell on Earth, seems like a pretty good description of the roads, the stores and pretty much everything else. But if you’re familiar with the franchise, you’ll know that you’re in for something much more horrific than heavy traffic. After the tension of the first two movies, the third is more of a slasher: it’s incredibly gory and there’s a very high body count. It’s also smarter than its rather low Rotten Tomatoes score suggests, and it’s available onPrime Videoright now.

Is Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth worth streaming?

If you’re not a gorehound, the answer is a very big no. But if you like your horror in many shades of red, this third instalment is an interesting one. It moves the previously vague location to Hollywood, where an accidentally unleashed Pinhead causes havoc, and the result is whatTime Outsays is “adult horror to die for.”

Empiregave the movie a largely positive three stars, noting that “mercifully gone is the waffling metaphysics of the second film; instead there are surprisingly careful characterizations and good, creepy, squishy horror stuff.” While Pinhead is really a “sub-Freddy goon” the movie is “a good horror sequel” of the kind that’ll delight mall teenagers. It’s not particularly deep, but then it’s not supposed to be.

Varietyis hardly gore central, but it praised the movie: it’s “an effective combination of imaginative special effects with the strangeness of author Clive Barker’s original conception, on which the characters are based.” AndThe Washington Postliked it too, saying; “Genre fans will appreciate the blood flow and the gore, and director Anthony Hickox keeps things moving so that there’s never a dull moment – or dull blade. Consider Hell raised.”

It wouldn’t be the last time Hell was raised, either: if you like this one, there are eight more movies for you to enjoy; the most recent one, 2022’sHellraiser, was the obligatory reboot to take the series back to its roots. Hellraiser III may not rank among thebest Prime Video moviesoverall, but it’ll really hit the spot for horror fans.

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Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir,Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock bandUnquiet Mind.

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