Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992) - Satanic meltdown disguising messy franchise preservation effort

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Pinhead looks frightening before the New York skyline on this colorful poster for Anthony Hickox's Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth

A career-oriented woman reporter with a nightmare about her father, who passed away in the American Vietnam War, sees a chance for herself, when a mysterious massacre takes place in a local nightclub...

 

Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth is written by Peter Atkins (Wishmaster (1997)), with Tony Randel (Godzilla 1985 (1985)) contributing story elements, and directed by Anthony Hickox (Waxwork (1988)).

A yuppie owner and his guests are terminated in inventive ways, and the film enjoys regular blasts from a grandiose score (by Randy Miller (The Last Dojo (2018, short))), which sounds like it plays straight from hell. The story is often ridiculous, - among other things there is a Cenobite that kills with flying CD's! - but at least one isn't bored, as long as the expectations are held low - very low.

Unfortunately the story develops with a grinning Pinhead (the central demon) enormously blasphemous, almost satanically, while amateur production values shine through. The ending shows clearly, and without any real sense, that the main focus of the film here is on preservation of the budding horror franchise. The budget dollars for Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth were not wasted on stars but on special effects, (down to the last dime it seems), including some dubious early CG work.

 

Related post:

 

Hellraiser franchise: Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988) - Nightmarish FX abound in the first Hellraiser sequel 

Hellraiser (1987) - Barker's legendary horror debut

 

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: Estimated 5 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 12.5 mil. $ (North America only)

= Some uncertainty but likely a box office success (projected return of 3.4 times its cost)

[Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth premiered in May (Dylan Dog Horror Fest, Italy) and runs 93 minutes. Randel was fired as director prior to shooting and replaced with Hickox. Shooting took place from September - November 1991 in North Carolina. Hickox claims that Bob Weinstein loved his first cut, whereas Hellraiser creator Clive Barker claims that Weinstein got him to save the film (by adding new gore scenes) due to Barker's criticisms of Hickox's cut. The film opened #3, behind fellow new release Sneakers and holdover hit Honeymoon in Vegas, to a 3.2 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 12.5 mil. $. The foreign gross numbers are regrettably not reported online. With a projected 17 mil. $ world gross, the film ranks as a box office success, provided that the estimated cost of 5 mil. $ holds up. The franchise continued with 8 more sequels, the first being Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996). Hickox returned with Motörhead: Hellraiser (1992, music video) and theatrically with Warlock: The Armageddon (1993). Doug Bradley (Corrective Measures (2022)) returned in 2 TV-series and one music video credit prior to his theatrical return in Shepherd on the Rock (1993). Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth is rotten at 40 % with a 4.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth?

Häxan/Heksen/Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922) - Christensen's great, otherworldly work of satanic horror

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A fascinating, extremely detailed and eerie poster for Benjamin Christensen's Häxan, which mixes sexuality and satanism in its erotic imagery

Häxan begins in a lecture-like fashion with presentation of historical representations of world views, Satan and witch culture, and later delves into these areas as both nonfiction and fictionalized fantasy.

 

Häxan is written and directed by great Danish filmmaker Benjamin Christensen (Sealed Orders/Det Hemmelighedsfulde X (1914)). The original title translates to 'the witch'.

The many text cards in this deeply remarkable silent film inhabit a distinct and keen, underlying intelligence, which is not without humor, and if one has the ability to lose oneself in Häxan, the film can cast an almost hypnotic spell on you. It later evolves into fictional depictions of the fantasies and practices of the Middle Ages, sometimes with acerbic commentaries added to them, and a good deal of them wholly without music.

Nothing in Häxan will make you think that it was shot in Denmark, (unless you recognize some of the few locally well-known Danish actors in it.) The impression is rather intensely otherworldly, and particularly the many devil scenes (with Christensen playing Satan!) are haunting material. Häxan is an extraordinary film about Europe's hair-raising past as it relates to witches and witch culture.

 

Related posts:

 

Benjamin Christensen: Top 10: Best Danish movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

The Mysterious X/Det Hemmelighedsfulde X/Orders Under Seal/Sealed Orders (1914) - Pioneer Christensen's spectacular spy thriller debut

Watch a modern trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 1.5-2 mil. SEK

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain

[Häxan was released 18 September (Sweden) and runs 105 minutes. Christensen had found a copy of the 15th century German inquisitor's guide Malleus Maleficarum in a bookshop in Berlin and then developed his script from 1919-1921, where he was able to get extensive funding - and artistic freedom, - from Svensk Filmindustri. He bought and refurbished the Astra film studio in Hellerup, Zealand, Denmark, North of Copenhagen. Shooting took place there from February - October 1921. The production was the most expensive in Scandinavia ever undertaken at the time, and is still considered the most expensive Scandinavian silent film ever made. The Swedish censors required extensive cuts of brutality and nudity prior to release. The film premiered simultaneously in 4 Swedish cities and 2 months later in Copenhagen, accompanied by a 50-piece orchestra performing live. It was screened in several countries over the course of many years, reportedly first coming to America in 1929. In 1968 it was re-released in North America, re-edited to 74 minutes, with a new narration by William S. Burroughs and a jazz score. Though made by a Danish filmmaker and shot in Denmark, the film is mostly considered Swedish, (because funding came from a Swedish production company.) Christensen returned with Hvem Er Hans Kone? (1923). Häxan is fresh at 91 % with a 7.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Häxan?

The Lords of Salem (2012) - Zombie's disturbing satanic radio witch horror lacks a compelling center

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+ Most Sinister Movie of the Year

Sheri Moon Zombie in satanic goth emo getup on this decay-tinted poster for Rob Zombie's The Lords of Salem

A woman rock radio host in Salem, Massachusetts receives a record with a mysterious melody, which awakens something sinister in her and other women, which hails from the witches of Salem's past...

The Lords of Salem is written and directed by Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses (2003)). Zombie denies us conventionality in the form of murders and relatable characters here: Instead Bruce Davison (Return of the Killer Shrews (2012)) researches around, (he is a Salem witch trial expert), while Sheri Moon Zombie (Halloween (2007)), the filmmaker's wife, gabbles with her maybe-boyfriend with occult stuff in her surroundings.
It never becomes really exciting or scary; the plot is simply too feeble-minded for that. It is a shame, because The Lords of Salem features strong and highly unpleasant imagery; the sabbath in the beginning is enormously hideous; the mystical melody does sound like something straight out of hell, and there is no shortage of strange and disturbing images overall, springing from a concert hall of a religious variety. The Lords of Salem is blasphemous or more accurately satanical, which makes it especially tough diet for Christians. 

Related posts:

Rob Zombie: 2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
Halloween (2007) - Zombie's remake is a bloody stinker
The Devil's Rejects (2005) - Zombie's crazy serial killer Americana

Watch an interview with Rob Zombie about the film here

Cost: 1.5 mil. $
Box office: 1.5 mil. $
= Huge flop (returned 1 time the cost)
[The Lords of Salem premiered 10 September (Toronto International Film Festival, Ontario) and runs 101 minutes. Zombie was given free reins with a low budget from horror producer maestro Jason Blum to do something supernatural. Shooting took place in California, including Los Angeles, and in Salem, Massachusetts from October - December 2011. Zombie toured with his band, while the film was edited. It opened #16 to a 642k $ first weekend in 354 theaters in North America, where it decreased from there, playing a total of 4 weeks, grossing 1.1 mil. $ (73.3 % of the total gross). The only 2 foreign markets accounted for are Italy with 373k $ (24.9 %) and Spain with 5k $ (0.3 %). Rob Zombie returned with a video promo, a concert film of his own metal band Rob Zombie and theatrically with 31 (2016). Sheri Moon Zombie returned in said promo and theatrically in 31. The Lords of Salem is rotten at 46 % with a 5.3/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Lords of Salem?

Faust/Faust – Eine Deutsche Volkssage (1926) - Murnau's grand, religious, Germanic folktale adaptation

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An original, Gothic-styled, chilling poster for F.W. Murnau's Faust

Faust, an old alchemist, who is attempting to make gold, becomes the object of a bet between God and Satan: If the devil can corrupt Faust, he is entitled to everything!

Faust is written by Gerhart Hauptmann (Der Biberpelz (1971), TV movie) and Hans Kyser (Arabella/Arabella. Der Roman eines Pferdes (1924)), based on the legendary Faust tale and on Johann Wofgang von Goethe's (The Sorcerer's Apprentice/Der Zauberlehrling (1797), poem) same-titled two-part play (1808; 1832), and directed by German master filmmaker F.W. Murnau (Tartuffe/Herr Tartüff (1925)).
As the plague sweeps across his town, Faust welcomes the devil's messenger, Mephisto, - in the grotesquely overacting, menacing figure of Emil Jannings (Husbands or Lovers/Nju - Eine Unverstandene Frau (1924)), - and later he fully enters a pact to reclaim his youth. SPOILER Contrary to the original ending of the myth, here God is in the end proved right, because the devil doesn't know of ... Liebe! [love] This provides a fine and moving ending that has a grandeur about it that matches the rest of the film's.
Faust is most impressive because of its striking images, compositions and lighting, (cinematography by Carl Hoffmann (The Girl from Fano/Das Mädchen von Fanö (1941))); its sets, costumes and effects, (among them are Faust and Mephisto's flying on the latter's cape to Italy!), and its iconography, as is also apparent in the photos from the film below.

 

Related post:

 

Top 10: Best German movies

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 2 mil. marks, different sources determine this to have been approximately 0.47 - 0.9 mil. $ at the time - a very substantial budget at the time
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain - but reportedly the film recouped only half of its costs in admissions, which would decidedly suggest that it was a huge flop
[Faust was first released 20 September (in Denmark!) and runs 106 minutes, - though running times may vary from version to version, as at least 5 versions of the film have been located. Murnau was not initially meant to direct the film, but after he - with Janning's backup - sought the job, he got it. And due to his success with The Last Laugh/Der Letzte Mann (1924), he was given a reportedly unlimited budget. Kyser's first script was reportedly so disliked by the studio that they hired Hauptmann, whose script was even less liked, and Kyser's was reportedly the one finally used. Filming lasted 6 months in UFA's Berlin studio, where Murnau challenged convention with two cameras filming simultaneously and innovative detail and effects orientation. The details surrounding the film's theatrical performance are not known. Murnau had relocated to Hollywood, when the film came out in Germany, and he was already busy making his first film there, Sunrise/Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927). Jannings returned in The Way of All Flesh (1927), also in Hollywood, now a lost film. Roger Ebert has given Faust a 4/4 review, translating to two notches better than this one. A version of the film has entered the public domain and can be seen and downloaded free and legally here. Faust is fresh at 94 % with an 8.4/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Faust?

End of Days (1999) - Arnold faces Satan in Hyams' rigmarole

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The packed, apocalyptic poster for Peter Hyams' End of Days

QUICK REVIEW:

A New York ex-cop gets his work cut out from him, as Satan comes to the city in search of a bride.

With End of Days, it's easiest to sum up the film's good parts first: For a fan, Arnold Schwarzenegger (Maggie (2015)) exchanging lines such as these:
[Bad guy]: "I'm not afraid to die!"
[Arnold]: "Good! - 'Cus I'm not afraid to kill you!"
- That's good fun. The film also has Rod Steiger (In the Heat of the Night (1967)) adorning a supporting role, - and some fair action.
But the story is a semi-religious bungle of millennial paranoia and satanism that doesn't really levitate, and some of the elements of the film are simply too kitsch: SPOILER Like Schwarzenegger getting beaten up by an old lady, or Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment (2008-10)) playing Satan, pissing fuel. Also Robin Tunney (Supernova (2000)), the main actress in the film, shows pretty much just one facial expression throughout the film. - And the ending lasts over 40 minutes!
End of Days is written by Andrew W. Marlowe (Hollow Man (2000)) and directed by Peter Hyams (Timecop (1994)).

 

Related post:

 

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Watch a teaser for the film, taken from a VHS tape, here

Cost: Estimated 83 mil. $
Box office: 211.9 mil. $
= Minor hit
[End of Days premiered November 16 and runs 123 minutes. Sam Raimi, Guillermo Del Toro and Marcus Nispel were in talks for the director's seat for the film before it came down to Hyams, who had a good time directing it. Schwarzenegger hadn't been in a film for two years, since Batman & Robin (1997), reportedly due to a health issue, and was ready to mix it up. He received a hefty 25 mil. $ paycheck for it. The film opened #3 to a 20.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, behind Toy Story 2 (57.3 mil. $) and The World Is Not Enough (23.2 mil. $), and grossed 66.8 mil. $ domestically (31.5 % of the total gross). End of Days is rotten at 11 % with a 3.7 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of End of Days?

The Exorcist (1973) - Friedkin and Blatty's masterpiece, one of the scariest pictures of all time

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The iconic poster for William Friedkin's The Exorcist

QUICK REVIEW:

In Georgetown, Washington, D.C., a famous actress' preteen daughter Regan is possessed by an ancient Iraqi demon so strong that an official Catholic exorcist gets involved.

The Exorcist is an adaptation of William Peter Blatty's (Legion (1983)) same-titled 1971 novel, - which was based on an actual 1949 exorcism of a young boy in Maryland, one of three exorcisms authorized by the Catholic Church in the US at the time, - written by Blatty himself, winning an Oscar for his job, and directed by Oscar-nominated master Chicagoan filmmaker William Friedkin (The French Connection (1971)). It is a notorious film and still diabolically scary.
It is beautifully photographed by Oscar-nominated Owen Roizman (Wyatt Earp (1994)) with lots of vertical angles and symbolism. The extraordinary, Oscar-nominated Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream (2000)) is phenomenal as Regan's mother, and so is Max von Sydow (Truck Stop (1996)) as the titular exorcist, Father Merrin.
Especially for Christians, The Exorcist is and will probably always remain one of the scariest movies of all time.

Related review:

William Friedkin: Killer Joe (2011) - Friedkin's dark, intense maybe last cinematic package
The Boys in the Band (1970) - Friedkin and Crowley's groundbreaking gay birthday party movie

Max von Sydow in William Friedkin's The Exorcist

Linda Blair (Sorceress (1995)) as Regan in William Friedkin's The Exorcist

In lieu of a trailer for the film, not currently on Youtube, here's a scene from it

 

Cost: 12 mil. $ 
Box office: 402.7 - 441.3 mil. $
= Blockbuster
[The Exorcist was released December 26 and runs 121/131 (director's cut) minutes. The adaptation of Blatty's New York Times bestselling novel was difficult in many ways. Directors Stanley Kubrick, Arthur Penn, Peter Bogdanovich, Mike Nichols, John Boorman (who eventually made the God-awful sequel) and Mark Rydell were all contacted but turned down or otherwise fell out of the project, before Friedkin was hired based on his incredible job with French Connection. The fabled production, which began August 1972 and lasted not the already long, scheduled 85 days but an astounding 224 days, concluding in July 1973. It included Friedkin using unconventional methods to get the best performances out of everybody, including giving Burstyn and Blair back injuries due to harnesses pulling them, Friedkin slapping a reverend across the face before his scene, firing blanks from a gun on set, affecting the cast and crew with eerie music and sounds playing between takes and constructing a giant freezer around the exorcism set, so that everyone had to work in freezing temperatures for long durations of time, (Blair mostly just in a night dress.) It was shot on location in Iraq in a blistering heat (!), in a Manhattan studio, in New York locations and in Georgetown, D.C. Several versions of the film have been devised since its release, cutting and changing different parts and reinserting material, such as the famous spider-walk scene, which has been reinserted after digital technology has made possible its improvement, so that the wires visible in it could be erased. The Exorcist opened to mixed reactions from critics, some lambasting it while others sang it praise: Roger Ebert awarded it a perfect 4 star rating but also called it a "painful experience." It opened very tentatively in just 26 theaters but the sensational response of the public, (just try typing 'the exorcist 1973 reactions' on Youtube!) soon made it available all over North America, where it grossed 66.3 mil. $ in rentals in its first run, becoming the second-biggest movie of 1974 domestically, behind The Sting. With reissues, it has grossed 232.9 mil. $ (ca. 57.8 % of the total gross) in North America. It was nominated for 10 Oscars, becoming the first ever horror to be nominated for Best Picture. It lost editing, director (George Roy Hill), picture and art direction to Sting, cinematography to Cries & Whispers, supporting actress (Blair) to Tatum O'Neal (Paper Moon), supporting actor (Jason Miller (Rudy (1993))) to John Houseman (The Paper Chase), actress (Burstyn) to Glenda Jackson (A Touch of Glass), but it won for Best Sound and Best Adapted Screenplay (Blatty). It was also nominated for 7 Golden Globes, winning 4, for Best Drama (!), Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actress (Blair) and Director. The film has spun two sequels and a prequel, a Turkish remake and inspired tons of other films. The Exorcist is certified fresh at 87 % with an 8 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Exorcist?
What is the scariest film of all time in your opinion?

The Devil's Rain (1975) or, The Meltdown!

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It's not saying too much to remark that this incredibly colorful poster for Robert Fuest's The Devil's Rain promises more than the movie delivers

QUICK REVIEW:

A family's patriarch vanishes, and their son goes looking for him. This is somehow connected to a satanical church out in the desolate countryside, whose leader Corbis has lost a highly important book.

The Devil's Rain presents a hardly understandable story, which bounces out by having members of the satanic church melt to death at several occasions. SPOILER The title refers to the rain which melts them all, when their spooky soul-goblet gets smashed in the end.
The film is well photographed, by Álex Phillips Jr. (Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)), and it has some scary sounds made as the purgatory lamentations of souls.
But its narrative drives in a kind of neutral gear for too long, and elements like Ernest Borgnine (The Wild Bunch (1969)) playing a goat make the experience more involuntarily funny than frightening. Another such grotesque element is that William Shatner (Big Bad Mama (1974)) has no eyes for most of the film... One hardly notices that John Travolta (Domestic Disturbance (2001)) makes his completely unimpressive debut here as one of the 'melters' - These and other things about Devil's Rain have nonetheless over time given it a notoriety to some as a film so strange it simply has to be seen.
The Devil's Rain is written by Gerald Hopman (Evilspeak (1981), associate producer), Gabe Essoe (The Adventures of Black Feather (1995)) and James Ashton, (whose only credit it is), and directed by Robert Fuest (The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)). Fuest, who had directed 6 features before this, went down with the ridiculed flop the film became and subsequently worked only on TV, except for the erotica Aphrodite (1982).

Watch a trailer for the film from a Danish video here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown
[The Devil's Rain was released June 20 and runs 86 minutes. The shoot was reportedly shortened from 8 to 6 weeks during production. Real-life satanist Anton LaVey was used as an adviser on the film and has a minor part in it. Borgnine reportedly swore never to be in another film with a satanic topic due to strange accidents during production. The film was panned upon release: Roger Ebert gave it just 1½ stars out of 4, which translates to a note harsher than this review. Australian critic Michael Adams has called The Devil's Rain 'the ultimate cult film', [because]: "It's about a cult, has a cult following, was devised with input from a cult leader, and saw a future superstar indoctrinated into a cult he'd help popularize." (Referring, of course, to Travolta, who is a prominent Scientology member.) The Devil's Rain is rotten at 20 % with a 3.9 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Devil's Rain?

The Devil's Advocate (1997) or, Satan the NY Lawyer

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The two stars in slick suits against an ominously red color scheme adorn this poster for Taylor Hackford's The Devil's Advocate

 

A young, hot Florida defense lawyer, Kevin Lomax has an uncanny knack for getting guilty a-holes off the hook. He now gets lured to New York by a major law firm there. Inattentive of his wife's growing mental problems as a result of the move, he rises to the stars in the firm with unusual speed and takes on a high-profile triple murder case for the firm's charismatic boss. But something isn't quite right.

 
The movie is adapted from a same-titled 1990 novel by Andrew Neiderman (In Double Jeopardy (1998)), stars Keanu Reeves (The Matrix (1999)) and Al Pacino (Heat (1995)) as the two leads and is directed by Taylor Hackford (Ray (2004)) as a fairly anonymous Hollywood mega-production.
It starts off well with an introductory pedophilia case involving a victimized Heather Matarazzo (Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995)). It then builds slowly, as Lomax is warned against the sins of 'Babylon', - the Big Apple in this interpretation, - by his fervently religious mother, but decides to go there anyway.
SPOILER Pacino is good as Satan himself for most of the film, playing off his macho charms and energy, although his speeches get longer and longer, and by the end, he is shouting most of his lines, and his charm ebbs out as a result, while a painting comes to life lengthily in a terrible effect. It all ends ambiguously and uses a film student ploy to make its ends meet, which I didn't like. It seemed like its writers, Jonathan Lemkin (Lethal Weapon 4 (1998)) and Tony Gilroy (The Bourne Identity (2002)), had some difficulties with finishing the film, and that this was their best bet.
The Devil's Advocate does have quite a few good scenes, especially in its first two acts, as the rooftop scene, in which Lomax is introduced to and interviewed by his new employer, or some of the eerie scenes of his wife's (Charlize Theron (Tully (2018))) seeing 'things'. Rick Baker (Missing Link (1988)) has created some nightmarish, diabolical effects for the film.
The Devil's Advocate also has a very sexy Connie Nielsen (Gladiator (2000)) as a redhead drifting around the office and Jeffrey Jones (Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)) in another juicy office role. There's also a sex scene between Reeves and Theron/Nielsen that might excite some.
But in the end Advocate sits between chairs and never succeeds; partly law thriller, partly religious horror, its slow pace dissolves in a long third act that becomes flat out boring. I was almost certain the film was going to end somewhat anticlimactically after an empty city crane shot, but it turned out that it still had a good many scenes left. The pic is at least 20 minutes overlong but still nearly a good film.

Watch a clip from the film here

 

Budget: 57 mil. $
Box office: 152.9 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 2.68 times its cost)

[The Devil's Advocate premiered 13 October (California) and runs 144 minutes. Reeves turned down 11 mil. $ for Speed 2 in favor of a change of pace and 8 mil. $ for his performance in The Devil's Advocate, a pay cut reportedly necessitated by Pacino's higher salary demand. Shooting took place from October 1996 - February 1997 in Florida, New Jersey and New York. The film opened #2, behind I Know What You Did Last Summer, to a 12.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 6 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#3-#4-X-X-#3-#3-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-#3), grossing 60.9 mil. $ (39.8 % of the total gross.) Roger Ebert gave it a 2.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Hackford returned with Proof of Life (2000). Pacino returned in The Insider (1999); Reeves in The Matrix (1999). The Devil's Advocate is fresh at 63 % with a 6.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Devil's Advocate?