The Movie "Hellraiser III" was released in many different versions worldwide, therefor its hard to say which is the Original Cut.

The US Theatrical Version (Rated R) is perhaps the shortest "Uncut"-version. In comparision to other releases in this one basically plot scenes are missing, but also a very explicit warflashback was shortened. We can´t tell if this happened because of cuttings for a R-Rating. A longer Release is on the UK DVD Release, but the new scenes are different from the rest of the movie. With smooth fadings these differences are partial found in the R-Rated cut, the scenes are zoomed in the UK DVD Release. Even longer than the UK DVD is the German "Red Edition"-Release. Apparently material was brought together from different sources, therefor the Warflashback is more explicit. On the other hand one shot is missing inJoey´s walk through the boilerroom. Furthermore there is one deleted scene in the bonusmaterial, which is only shown on the japanese Laserdisc.

The German Publisher "Kinowelt" decided to re-release the movie on the German market, with the original cinema format (anamorph 1,78:1) and better Picture and Sound quality. Therefor Kinowelt took the R-Rated Cut because of the better Picture/Soundsource with the unrated material missing.

If you are interested in buying a Release you have to choose an the different advanteges and disatvantages. Regarding the technical background the "Kinowelt"-Release should fit because the quality of the unrated material from UK and US Releases is rather bad. The German "Red Edition" only reaches videotape quality and is therefor not advisable. Disadvantage for the Kinowelt Release is, that it contains only the uncut R-Rated Version, but the cuts are only on plot bases. We're not sure if the cuts in the flashback scenes are because of censorship, the UK Release is in this sequence not complete as well. The longest version is the German Red Edition. It has some shots which are even missing in the unrated version and only lacks one single shot of a body. But the Red Editon comes with lower picture quality. If you like anamorph transfer and the unrated version you should pick the UK Release by Anchor Bay. Best Picture/Sound quality with small cuts delivers, as said, the German Release by "Kinowelt".

(Glogcke / Playzocker)

Comparison between the German R-Rated DVD-Release by Kinowelt (=US DVD) with the UK DVD by Anchor Bay (BBFC 18, Unrated).

175,92 Seconds missing with a complete amount of 9 Cuts.

Running Time UK DVD without credits: 1:27.42 Min
Running Time Kinowelt DVD without credits: 1:24.46 Min
Running times on both releases work after the UK/Germany pattern.

9.52
Joey talks with the security guy and walks along.
12,32 Sec

11.35 / 11.22
The shot of the party guys is 3 frames longer in the R-Rated Version. A dancer gets topless while Joey talks to the DJ.
19,16 Sec

17.38 / 17.06
The Camerashot through the boilerroom and outside is missing. The R-Rated continues with the appearance of Mister Monroe.
31,88 Sec

40.01 / 38.58
Terry watches a drug deal and then a pair in love. Then she looks at her cup of coffee which mirrors the face of Mister Monroe.
64,72 Sec

53.25 / 51.17
The R-Rated keeps running in this shot while te unrated shows two dead bodies in between.
3,2 Sec

53.32 / 51.22
Different shots of the dead soldiers are missing.
4,96 Sec

55.00 / 52.45
Elliot and Joey are on an indian bazar and have a conversation about Elliots life.
31,92 Sec

1:04.07 / 1:01.21
A shot of the boilerroom and a hanging foot is missing.
5,4 Sec

1:04.54 / 1:02.03
Another dead body is shown.
2,36 Sec