Third Channel Podcast

Don’t think for a moment you are not in danger. Join PJ and Derek as they follow an investigative journalist searching for a death-defying cult in another direct-to-video sequel, Rick Bota’s Hellraiser: Deader (2005). In this episode the guys explore the film's troubled production history, its origins as an unrelated screenplay, and the surreal themes of death, resurrection, and obsession through its dreamlike atmosphere, plus the increasingly loose connections tying these later sequels to Cl...

Welcome to the worst nightmare of all. Reality. Join PJ and Derek as they try to get to the bottom of the bizarre hallucinations and psychological fever dreams in Rick Bota’s Hellraiser: Hellseeker (2002). In this episode the guys welcome Kirsty Cotton’s return to the franchise for another confrontation with Pinhead, in a sequel that blurs the line between nightmare and reality as memory loss, guilt, and desire collide in a twisted psychological spiral on our continued descent into Hell. 📺 Pl...

Hunt for the Engineer and the Engineer will hunt you. Join PJ and Derek as they attempt to solve the grimy, guilt-ridden puzzle at the heart of a noir-influenced nightmare in Scott Derrickson’s Hellraiser: Inferno (2000). In this episode the guys follow corrupt detective Joseph Thorne through a hellish maze of murder, addiction, and self-destruction, while digging into the film’s surreal atmosphere, psychological horror, minimal use of Pinhead, and the surprisingly existential direction that ...

Welcome to Oblivion! Amen. Join PJ and Derek as they dismantle the ambitious, but fractured sequel that took the Cenobites from 18th century France to the far reaches of deep space in Kevin Yagher’s Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996). In this episode the guys dig into the troubled production history that gave us the “Alan Smithee” cut, unpack the mythology of the Lament Configuration, celebrate the film’s twisted practical effects, and ask whether they consider this an underrated cult oddity or the...

Oh, you wouldn’t believe what I can dream of now. Join PJ and Derek as they dive headfirst into the chaotic nightmare that turned Pinhead into a horror icon in Anthony Hickox’s Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992). In this episode the guys explore how the film transformed the series from intimate body horror into supernatural splatter spectacle, the MTV-era aesthetic that gives the movie its distinct identity, with its elaborate Cenobite designs and unforgettable practical effects, and whethe...