Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992) is a Siamese sequel in that it’s simultaneously a sequel to Hellraiser and a sequel in spirit to Black Widow. Both predecessors were coincidentally released in 1987. When I think of Black Widow, I think of the lesbian subtext and the colour green being a motif. As for Hell on Earth, notice how a female sculpture in the background has a phallic appendage. I’m surprised that the threequel isn’t known as Gay on Green Earth. The July `91 draft of the script (which wasn’t the same as the shooting script) was actually more gay in its subtext. Here are examples…
INT. MAIN ROOM, JOEY'S APT. NIGHT CLOSE on the front door of the apartment as it opens to reveal Terri leaning against the doorframe. Clad identically to how we last saw her, Terri clutches a well- stuffed leather bag, containing all her worldly possessions. TERRI Hi. How're you doing? Not waiting for either reply or invitation, she moves forward. CUT TO WIDE - as Terri walks past the dressing-gowned Joey and heads straight for Joey's sofa and sprawls on it, laying her bag on the floor beside her. TERRI You got anything to drink? Joey closes the door, raised eyebrows registering her slight disapproval at Terri's cavalier attitude. Her voice, however, is polite. JOEY I put some decaf on. Er ... make yourself comfortable. TERRI Right. Joey walks past Terri and through to her kitchen, from where we hear the sound of COFFEE BEING POURED. Terri looks around at Joey's room. VARIOUS ANGLES ON ROOM The large and spacious room suggests that even if Joey is dissatisfied with her job she's at least being paid enough to make it bearable. The room is very ordered, very neat, but stops short of being prissy. A very large picture window takes up all of one wall. At the moment of course the drapes are closed. Another wall is taken up by a huge shelf unit packed with books, videos, and CDs. Joey's obsession with "getting the whole story" seems to be true of her personal life as well as her professional. ANGLE ON TERRI - having finished her quick examination, she calls out. TERRI So ... what was your bad dream?
How that excerpt ends is how it begins in the released version. Whether the previous stuff was filmed or not remains to be seen. Below, I’ve underlined the lines that you didn’t get to hear or see.
TERRI Whatever. All I know is - this is it for me. Just me, my bag, and a series of shithead boyfriends. It'd be good to see something else. Have a nighttime life. Be somebody different. Terri pauses, then smiles like she's just realized something. TERRI Hey ... this is great, isn't it? Just girls talking. Like having a conversation? Good coffee. You got a cigarette? Joey waits, letting herself catch up with Terri's good-natured but marginally strung-out personality. She looks around the room as if trying to remember where there are cigarettes. JOEY Uh... yeah. Yeah, somewhere. Wait a minute. Joey crosses to the big shelf-unit and pulls out a concealed pack of cigarettes, a Zippo lighter, and an ashtray from behind a shelf of videos. We notice that the videos are THE WORLD AT WAR, volumes 1 thru 26. She brings the smokes to Terri. TERRI Great. Thanks. You gonna have one? JOEY I'm trying to quit. TERRI Oh, go on. Have one. Fuck it. You think you're going to live forever? She smiles and proffers the pack to Joey who shrugs, smiles, and takes one. Terri picks up the Zippo and sparks it. A huge FLAME leaps out of the lighter, producing an instant of terror from Terri. Joey pulls the lighter back from Terri and closes the lid extinguishing the flame. Terri draws a book of matches from her pocket shakily attempts to light her cigarette. JOEY Sorry. It was my father's. It's temperamental. TERRI It's okay. It's just someone burned me once. Joey takes the book of matches from Terri's hands and lights both cigarettes. Terri takes a long, fearful look at the burning flame and then takes a deep, calming drag of her cigarette. TERRI Wanna know how I look at it? Way I see it is ... you give up, right? Three days later, you get hit by a fucking truck and you know - you just KNOW that your last thought as you go under those wheels'd be "Jesus H. Christ, I coulda smoked another three packs!" She lays the book of matches down. Joey's eyes go to them. ANGLE ON MATCHES Black letters on the dark-grey cover: UNDER THE UNDERGROUND. ANGLE ON JOEY AND TERRI Terri's eyes flick to the match-book and her mood changes, becoming subdued and a little sullen. TERRI Oh. You wanna talk about that stuff.
That last line was essentially left i.e. it was reworded differently. The following morning when Terri is making breakfast for Joey in Joey’s apartment, there was way more dialogue and not necessarily in a homosexual way. There is so much dialogue that’s missing from the released version that I’ve only underlined the stuff that was heard…
TERRI Jeez, I've never owned anything. I haven't even had a room of my own since I was fifteen years old. JOEY How have you...? TERRI Guys. Sometimes friends. Mostly guys. Terri walks past Joey's TV set (sound down, cartoons playing). ANGLE ON TV The Box is on top of the TV. In the warm light of morning it seems innocuous and harmless, like just another ornament. DIFFERENT ANGLE - as Terri walks on, pausing by the shelves of books. TERRI Wow. Lotta books. You read all these? JOEY No. I buy them to impress people. Of course I've read them. TERRI Cool. I read a book once. It was like all these people discovering who they used to be. You know, like reincarnation? It was really good. You ever read that? JOEY I don't think so. But it's a fascinating subject. Did you ... But Terri has already moved on. She is by the big picture window. The drapes are now open. TERRI Great view! Great view! Look at this! Joey stands and walks to join Terri. JOEY Actually, I'm pretty familiar with the view ... GIRLS' POV - THROUGH WINDOW Joey's apartment is on a high floor and her window overlooks many lower buildings, giving a view of the city beyond. JOEY (off) ... but it is good. You know, over to the left, you can ... TERRI (looking to right and pointing) Who's that? On the flat roof of a nearby building, a RETARDED TEENAGE BOY sits motionless in an old rusty deck chair next to a small Jerry-built pigeon coop. Its door is open and it is empty. The boy is some distance from the girls but his solitude, his stillness, and the empty coop beside him lend the scene an atmosphere of sadness and loss. As Joey tells his story, we INTERCUT between the POV of the roof and the girls at the window. JOEY I don't know his name ... I saw the whole story. A wounded bird was on his roof. I could hear its cries from here. He went straight to it. I couldn't've. I'd be frozen between pity and fear. But he wasn't. Its pain spoke directly to him. He picked it up. Nursed it. Fed it. And it got better. Everyday he'd watch the pigeon. Everyday the pigeon would watch him. I saw him learn. Learn that there was one more thing he had to do to make the rescue complete. And one day, just as afternoon became evening, he leaned over, opened the cage, and walked away. Didn't look back. But he heard the sound of its wings. TERRI And he still sits there? JOEY Every day. TERRI Maybe he thinks it'll come back. JOEY No. He knows it won't. It was his final act of love and part of him knows that and part of him doesn't yet. TERRI Bullshit! He should've kept it. It'd live longer! It's dangerous out there! People get hurt! ANGLE ON JOEY - as she realizes she has a wounded pigeon of her own. JOEY What? I wasn't talking about ... I ... Do you want to stay? You want to stay here for a while? Terri shrugs, gives a nervous smile. Joey crosses to the TV, picks up the Box and weighs it in her hand. JOEY OK. OK. It's a done deal. But you have to help me.
I've got to solve this thing. I've got to know what's going on.
The below scene never happened.
INT. MAIN ROOM, JOEY'S APT. NIGHT ANGLE ON DESK - FAVORING the telephone/answering machine, its red message light blinking in the darkness of the apartment. Heard OFF is the sound of Joey coming in to her apartment - doors opening and closing, bags being put down, footsteps etc. Joey's hand comes into frame and presses the message button. WIDER ANGLE - as Joey waits for her machine and glances around the room for Terri. JOEY Terri? ANGLE ON SOFA - JOEY'S POV The sofa is empty. Joey looks puzzled and is about to call again when the machine kicks in. FALLON (on ansafone) Ms. Summerskill. Joanne. Hello. This is Dr. Fallon. Martin. Your reference material is on its way to you. I very much enjoyed talking to you and I hope that if I'm ever in town you'll do me the honor of (sqwaaaaalk) Joey has her finger on the fast forward button. JOEY In your dreams, pal. The chipmunk-squeal of Fallon's voice is replaced by the warning-beep of a second message. Joey lets it play. WOMAN (on ansafone) ... your number from your resume. Which was very impressive, by the way. My name is Sharon Leech and you can reach me here at K-YZY in Monterey, area code 805 ... (sqwaaalk) Joey stops the tape. JOEY (to herself) Shit. Why now? Why not last week? Oh ... She glances round at the empty room again, troubled by Terri's absence. She crosses to her bedroom door. INT. JOEY'S BEDROOM NIGHT Joey enters the darkened room - and then stops a few feet from the door. Terri - lit only by the moonlight through the blinds - is lying on one side of Joey's bed fast asleep. Apart from her shoes, which she has kicked off, she is fully dressed. Joey approaches the bed and watches her sleeping friend, her face sympathetic, affectionate, and troubled. Joey reaches over, takes one of the pillows from the other side of the bed, and lays it at the bottom end. She slips off her shoes, shrugs off her jacket, and - delicately, carefully - climbs on to the other side of the bed, laying her head on the pillow she had moved. JOEY (whispered) Goodnight, Terri ...
The next scene was only half-seen
INT. MAIN ROOM, JOEY'S APT. NIGHT Joey enters the unlit main room. She glances across at the sofa. It's unoccupied. Joey puts the light on. She grimaces at the chaos of the room - the piles of videos and books - and crosses the room to the bedroom door. She opens the door and looks in. JOEY Terri, we can't bunk up every night! People will... The bedroom is empty, nobody on the bed. JOEY (off) ...talk. ...Terri? Joey leaves the door and walks back into the main room. She looks around and then walks over to the phone. Something has caught her eye. ANGLE BY PHONE A hand-scrawled note by the phone reads ENJOY MONTEREY, YOU LIAR. JOEY registers the note. JOEY Oh shit. Joey shakes her head sadly. What can she do? It's the early hours of the morning. She has no idea where Terri is. She walks back to the bedroom and closes the door behind her.
A few more things that I would like to say about the green connection. There is a scene outside the Pyramid Gallery where we see an old man across the road with his dog. On the right side of the wall to where the man is standing, there are three white stripes which are small in size and have a green background. Later on, when Joey looks at the tapes, what looks like the number 3 can be seen in semi-green glory on the top at the left side of the screen. Even the `91 draft of the screenplay references a digital clock having warm green figures.
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