Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth - Production

Production

This became the first Hellraiser movie produced and directed in the United States. Originally, Clive Barker had proposed the plot to involve the Lament Configuration having its roots with the Egyptian Pyramids or Pinhead to be trapped in a relic in a church. Peter Atkins adapted the latter idea as Barker took a backseat role as executive producer. Atkins was originally meant to direct the film, but when Miramax bought the series, they felt he didn't have enough experience, instead hiring Anthony Hickox.

Much of the budget was used for building J.P.'s club The Boiler Room, which already existed as an actual club in down town High Point, North Carolina. Many of the extras were members of the crew or friends and locals. Writer Atkins starred as a bartender and his incarnation as the pyrotechnic Cenobite. The church in which Pinhead enters and mimics a Jesus Christ pose caused the crew two problems: No church would give the crew permission to film on location and, Anthony Hickox claimed, due to Pinhead's subsequent lines in the script, it would be a direct admonition by Pinhead that the notion of God exists, a first in a Hellraiser movie. A matte painting was used instead to create the illusion of a church, with only the aisle between pews and the altar existing as physical props.

Director Hickox also talked about the difficulties they faced filming Pinhead in sunlight for the first time in a short sequence, feeling the makeup was designed to better reflect in a dark atmosphere rather than bright light. The movie featured a heavy metal-rock soundtrack and Barker directed the Motörhead video for "Hellraiser", featuring Lemmy and Pinhead playing a game of cards and varied clips on the movie.