The Hellraiser Films and Their Legacy

by Kane, Paul

  Waxwork II: Lost in Time (1992) was another parody. Gallagher returned to reprise his role from the original, but with model Monika Schnarre replacing Foreman. The protagonists are not confronted by waxworks of the monsters on this occasion, but are transported via a time bubble to meet them personally. Martin Kemp’s Dr. Frankenstein rubs shoulders with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Godzilla, and a shopping mall full of zombies. Hardly the credentials, you might think, for a Hellraiser director—a concern broached by Barker himself. “I was nervous about this choice. I wasn’t a fan of his previous efforts.... He’s a slick cameraman with movements to match and he makes great-looking pictures. But I didn’t have a great deal of faith in his story abilities. I made this quite clear when he came round my Hollywood home to discuss the film. I told him in no uncertain terms that I hoped, (a) it wasn’t going to be funny, and, (b) he told the story properly. These were the two main obstacles in my view.”20

  From left to right: writer Pete Atkins, director Anthony Hickox, producer Lawrence Mortoff and effects man Bob Keen. Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth publicity still (photograph credit: Keith Payne).

  His supporters, on the other hand, felt that it would make a huge difference that he wasn’t directing one of his own screenplays. In any event, the opportunity itself arose immediately after the filming of Waxwork II because of a good turn Hickox had done. After giving movie insurance broker Buckley Norris a small role in the film as the judge, Norris repaid the favor by mentioning Hickox during dinner with Larry Kuppin. Hickox received the phone call in the middle of the night asking if he would like to do Hellraiser III, “And I was like, yes, I wanna do Hellraiser III please. And that was basically it.”21 But the director did admit to being concerned not only about the rigors of having to start another film so soon after one had wrapped but also about his change in style: “This represents a major U-turn in my directorial approach. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about pulling it off.”22 What did help was Hickox’s admiration for the first two films, something that would give him a pointer as to how to pitch number three.

  The next step after securing both the writer and a new director was casting. With only two actors from the previous films returning—Bradley as Pinhead, and Ashley Laurence as Kirsty (her scenes were filmed on a barren dubbing set with a video camera long before the movie began shooting)—the task of filling the vacant roles remained. It was something Hickox found both exciting and frightening: “It was scary, but there was an amazingly good response because people want to be in Hellraiser movies. We basically auditioned people. Terry Farrell came in first and she was great.”23 So great that the director started dating her after they worked together on the movie, Hickox having something of a reputation at the time for romancing his leading ladies. The beautiful twenty-eight-year-old Iowa-born actress had already starred in a number of TV shows and films. She first appeared as an Elite Model in Robert Goralnick’s Portfolio (1983), reflecting what she did for a living before acting. Next came a part as Laurie Caswell in the TV series Paper Dolls in 1984, then as Nicki Phillips in The Cosby Show in 1985. She featured in The Twilight Zone and Family Ties, both 1986, and Beverly Hills Madam with Faye Dunaway.

  She gave up her promising career to live with actor Mickey Rourke for a few years, but was ready to start again by the early nineties. Hickox had wanted Farrell to star in Waxwork II but it clashed with a commercial assignment, so he promised if the lead in anything else came up he’d contact her, little realizing that would be a Hellraiser movie. For the young actress it would mark something of a comeback, and would almost immediately springboard Farrell to her most prominent role as Dax in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Speaking about her character, she said she saw Joey as “A driven career woman who has not come to terms with her father’s death. It is because of his death in Vietnam that she has a connection with Elliott. He is able to come into her world in her dreams.”24 To prepare for her role she studied tapes of TV reporters and read a book by famous journalist and television producer Linda Ellerbee.

  The substantial part of J.P. Monroe went to thirty-year-old Kevin Bernhardt, who had something of a soap opera background. Bernhardt had starred in General Hospital as a temporary replacement in 1984, then as Dr. Kevin O’Connor (1985–1986) and in Dynasty as Father Tanner McBride during 1989. The intervening years saw him feature in the European films Le Feu sous la peau (Gérard Kikoïne, 1985) and Escuadrón (José Antonio de la Loma, 1987), as well as Charles Norton’s actioner Kick or Die (1987). Genre fans would also remember him for a stint on the appalling Superboy television series in 1989. Bernhardt had the same dark good looks as Sean Chapman, which was quite appropriate as the characters of Monroe and Frank have much in common.

  For Monroe’s girlfriend and pivotal character, Terri, they plumped for relative newcomer Paula Marshall, who in spite of playing a woman younger than Joey was in fact the same age as Farrell. Coincidentally, Marshall had also been in Superboy, though much later than Berhardt, but it wasn’t her first brush with a comic book hero. Her inaugural role was as John Wesley Shipp’s girlfriend in the pilot of DC’s The Flash (1990). Subsequent TV work took in the crime series True Blue and Mancuso, FBI (both 1990), and she would later go on to star in Grapevine, Life Goes On, and coming of age show The Wonder Years (all 1992). Marshall’s look combined just the right amount of vulnerability and attitude. It was an important casting decision, because along with Bradley and Farrell she would make up the third member of the nucleus of characters at the very heart of Hell on Earth. As Hickox explained: “This one was really driven by Doug and Terry and Paula. If they didn’t work, that movie would be a disaster.”25 The director was so impressed that he used her again, not once, but twice, in Warlock: Armageddon and Full Eclipse (both 1993).

  For Joey’s cameraman and friend, Daniel “Doc” Fisher, Lawrence Kuppin had the perfect actor in mind. A friend of his, Ken Carpenter, had just the look they were after: a rough and ready jobbing technician, one of the unsung heroes of the media that holds the reports together. Carpenter’s first taste of film work, and of genre work, was on Brian De Palma’s Phantom of Paradise (1974), a rock reworking of the famous Phantom of the Opera story, with, aptly, elements of Faust included. In this he played another behind the scenes hired hand, almost prophetic considering Doc’s calling. On TV he was A.L. Alexander in The Lindbergh Kidnapping Case (1976), but there was a considerable gap before 1989’s children’s adventure Spirit of the Eagle (Boon Collins). Apparently Hickox thought that the tall, bearded man was too cleaned up for the film—a process which involved a hair trim—but he still managed to retain that earthy, hard-working appearance. The movie would also mark his first time playing a monster, when Doc is transformed into the Camerahead Cenobite, of which Carpenter enthused, “It’s incredible. I’m fascinated with what I have to play with in this movie. I sat there in awe as they were applying my make-up ... and I thought, I’ve become another person. I don’t know who I am....”26

  Veteran actor Clayton Hill was chosen to play the priest who opposes Pinhead in the church scene. Hill had started in show biz at a very early age, singing in beer gardens with a three-piece combo when he was just six years of age. When he was a teenager he sang on the radio station WTAE-Pittsburgh, then after the army and drama school he took the role of lead zombie in George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978), for which he also served as weapons coordinator. He worked again with Romero for Nightriders in 1981, as second assistant director. Adding further strings to his bow, Hill also did some stunt work and location scouting for films.

  Peter G. Boynton secured the part of Joey’s father, who still haunts her dreams. His first role was in Big Apple Birthday (Nick De Noia, 1978) as the Frog Prince. Boynton appeared in The Catlins TV series as Beau Catlin (1983–1984), before taking a role in Luis Aira’s Miloha a.k.a. The Pool (1987). Aimée Leigh—sometimes created as Aimee Lee—joined the cast as Sandy, the blonde whom Monroe has sex with before discarding her. Her portfolio consisted of an uncredited
part in Russell Mulcahy’s cop thriller, Ricochet (1991), alongside Denzel Washington and Ice T. According to Hickox and Bradley,27 she apparently hadn’t read the script, and wasn’t at all happy about the bedroom scenes with Bernhardt. She was eventually talked around, but only if the actor covered her breasts with his hands—which, if anything, adds an even more perverted twist.

  As for other minor parts, this wasn’t “Blond Nurse” Sharon Hill’s first medical role, as she had starred as the unfeasibly-named Nurse Flovilla Thatch in Russ Meyer’s Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens (1979); “Female Cop” Shanna Teare had been a stuntwoman on Hickox’s two Waxwork films and Sundown; “Male Cop” Bob Bragg had been stunt coordinator on those films as well as many others; “Second Male Cop” Bob Stephens had also worked in the stunt industry—most recently on Cape Fear (Martin Scorsese, 1991), while Brent Bolthouse from Waxwork II filled in as the DJ, a dual part shared by an uncredited Eric Willhelm as the C.D. Cenobite. Young Bobby Knoop and Hickox’s brother, James, played yuppies, and the go-go dancers were ably brought to life by Tonya Saunders, Angela Thomas, Kim Ball, Cassandra Perry, Anna Marie Isaacs and Flame.

  “Of course,” admitted Hickox afterwards, “there were lots of people that were friends of friends and anybody who would actually arrive who could act in Greensboro would be grabbed and put into a part.”28 There were even producers onscreen. Larry Kuppin is a derelict, and Lawrence Mortoff the tramp who sells J.P. Monroe the statue, not to mention Pete Atkins returning to acting as both the barman and the fire-breathing “Barbie” Cenobite.

  On the production side, the crew was made up of virtually all new people. But after working on Nightbreed and Waxwork II production designer Steve Hardie was more than qualified for the assignment of making places like Joey’s flat and the nightclub a reality. Taking over from Robin Vidgeon was cinematographer Gerry Lively, who had worked with Hickox on Waxwork II. Editing chores would fall again to another Hickox regular, Christopher Cibelli, from both Waxworks and Sundown, and James Hickox. Costume designer Leonard Pollack had also worked on the first Waxwork and Sundown. Completing the team was art director Tim Eckel.

  Gary J. Tunnicliffes first Hellraiser, pictured here with helper Fiona Leech (courtesy Gary J. Tunnicliffe).

  It was left to Bob Keen and Image Animation to bridge the gap from the first two movies, but at the same time they came to the project having worked on Hickox’s movies as well. Keen and his crew were the ones primarily responsible for the look of the new Pseudo Cenobites. On board in the make-up department was Paul Jones as make-up effects coordinator, Martin L. Mercer as make-up artist and Gary J. Tunnicliffe as part of the make-up crew. The latter, who had worked on the short-lived forerunner to Buffy the Vampire Slayer: She Wolf of London (1990), would also be responsible for the Lament Configuration boxes and would play a huge part in the Hellraiser story from this movie onwards.

  Possibly the most worrying news, though, was that Christopher Young would not be scoring the film. Four years after Barker wanted to use Coil for the soundtrack of Hellraiser, Hell on Earth was all set to have a full-blown rock soundtrack. The makers gathered together some of the most original heavy metal musicians around to lay down their songs. Obviously, some would be used for scenes within J.P. Monroe’s nightclub, Armored Saint, for example, singing “Hanging Judge.” But others would be there just for the sheer hell of it, including a genuine “Hellraiser” song performed by Motorhead, with lyrics by Lemmy Kilmister and that famous Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne. Other artists and songs on the soundtrack included “Divine Thing” by the Soup Dragons; “What Girls Want” by Material Issue; “Go with Me” by Ten Inch Men; “I Feel Like Steve” by the Electric Love Hogs; “Waltzing with a Jaguar” by the Chainsaw Kittens; “Baby Universal” by David Bowie and Tin Machine; “Down, Down, Down” by House of Lords; and “Troublemaker” by Triumph. Unfortunately, upon test screenings it was decided to cut back on their usage in the main body of the film, with a cinematic soundtrack taking its place.

  That job went to Randy Miller, whose first score had been for the 1988 movie Witchcraft (Rob Spera). Miller was given just over three weeks to compose an hour’s worth of music, which—due to budgetary constrictions—would be performed by Russia’s Mosfilm State Choir and Orchestra. Miller became the first American to score a Hollywood film in the newly privatized Russia, spending ten days there recording the material. However, he himself had concerns about their ability to play the score he’d written and their recording techniques: “You can throw the most difficult music in front of an American studio orchestra, and they’ll be able to play it in a minute,” he said, “but Mosfilm wasn’t used to that quick pace, and it took a lot of rehearsals to get the score right. I insisted on a certain level of excellence, and while the Russians may have gotten a bit annoyed with me during rehearsals, they were glad that I pushed them.”29 Much of this annoyance is translated into the music, making it the angriest Hellraiser score yet. The subtler, more suspenseful moments with violins—for example in the track “Back to Hell”—are suddenly interrupted by violent booms and a repetition of the composer’s main Hell on Earth theme. A more pacy, action oriented melody, this is at times disjointed and has none of Young’s majesty. Thankfully, Young’s themes do appear sporadically, as in “Cenobites Death Danse,” used in its entirety for the opening credits sequence, but here they only serve to remind us that the days of the first two movies are long gone. Miller did, though, come up with a memorable new theme for “The Pillar,” which he uses again in “Elliott’s Story.” None of this is to say that Miller’s score is bad; it simply reflects how different Hellraiser III is to its forebears.

  Shooting began in late 1991, with Bradley and Atkins being flown over to the U.S. and meeting Hickox for the first time. Said Bradley, “I didn’t meet Tony until I got to North Carolina, which was my first experience of working in the States. And I just got on with him straight away. Maybe the English sense of humor thing worked as well? It was a curious kind of crossover point. It was the point at which the A-Team, so to speak, who had been responsible for Hellraiser and Hellbound, were starting to move out of the equation. But Pete was still there, Bob Keen and the Image Animation Team was still there, and I was still there.”30 Atkins, who was needed on hand in case there were anymore changes to be made to the script, summed it all up more succinctly: “I guess we’re not in Cricklewood anymore, Toto,” he commented to Bradley as they were driving to film a location scene, “and it sure ain’t Pinewood.”31 The movie itself was shot in Greensboro and High Point, a tiny town which is the furniture capital of America. It would double as the New York setting, and a furniture factory would be transformed into the Boiler Room. In complete contrast to the conditions on the first movie, the studios were right at the back of the hotel, with one huge soundstage and four sets which were within walking distance of each other—good in one sense, but quite difficult if the second unit films a scene at the same time as the first in close proximity, especially when working at such a fast pace.

  Undoubtedly this was one of the major criticisms of the shoot. Zach Galligan had remarked during the filming of Waxwork II about the speed Hickox worked at: “The first two or three days were difficult, getting used to the pace at which Tony operates. He does 50 or 60 set-ups a day, which is almost unheard of. It’s three times more than I usually do, and there are no stand-ins, so we’re constantly on the set, constantly working.”32 The fact that there was only an eight week break between that movie and Hell on Earth seemed to do nothing to slow the director down. It was something that Bradley saw as a downside as well. “Clearly Tony enjoys working fast and doesn’t mind the long hours. Yesterday, I clocked up my longest day ever, seventeen hours in total. It has to be fast to achieve everything in the six weeks Trans Atlantic Entertainment allotted the production. But you can’t linger to get things right and that’s frustrating.”33 Hickox also preferred to edit in camera, which again speeded things up but occasionally made it very difficult for the a
ctors. In effect they were working in close-up with just the storyboards to give them some idea of how the finished thing would look.

  A Fangoria cover showing that schizophrenic moment when Elliott and Pinhead merge (courtesy Starlog Group).

  Bradley also experienced a number of other problems on the set. The first was his scenes inside the giant Pillar of Souls. The actor had to hold on to two bars inside and put his head through the gap; not the most comfortable of positions. And deprived of any movement other than facial, Bradley had to make his words count even more. It is a testament to his dedication, and to Atkins’ writing that these Pillar scenes work so well. The next concern was make-up related. With Paul Jones taking over from Geoff Portass, when it came to applying the make-up there were noticeable changes. The application was much faster, with the look totally redesigned. There were fewer pieces of latex and the nails were now plastic instead of metal, which helped them sit better on Bradley’s face. But they had a tendency to bunch up, making it not quite as clean as the first two make-up jobs. This might be the reason Bradley has said it is his least favorite make-up of all the films.34 Pinhead’s flesh color is also different, more beige than blue-white, not helped by some of the lighting effects and a completely misjudged dream sequence where he is filmed outside in a field. Meant to be seen on a set or at night, the make-up simply doesn’t look right in daylight. One good thing, though, was that Bradley was able to find an optician in Greensboro who could make him prescription black lenses. Whereas before he had only been able to wear the contacts for twenty minutes at a time, now he could comfortably shoot scene after scene.