Nobody ever said Pinhead is good or even neutral. It's obvious he was a full fledged bad guy waiting to come out, considering he's a demon from a chaotic dimension. It was the split from Elliot Spencer's soul in part 2 that created the fully evil Pinhead.
Part 3 technically still had the humans as bad guys plot. The film had JP Monroe, though he ended up being Pinhead's lackey.

I like Pinhead in this one,he was very aggressive and cynical.
But I like his presence in the first two movies more.
We Have Eternity To Know Your Flesh. (Pinhead)

Agreed.
CG gore is the worst thing that has ever happened to the horror genre.

yup it wasn't "pinhead" they killed the character (as freddy Krueger in NOES 2)
THIS is not pinhead
BHT RISES myspace.com/blackheart60

In some respects, Pinhead lost some of that calm and eerie aura about him. His speech wasn't quite as refined and they didn't have that white glow effect. He would have never said "stinking" as an adjective in the first two films.
On the other hand, I feel like the film gave Pinhead back his strength. The second film essentially presented us with a watered down, morally conflicted Pinhead who lost a fight to a doctor-turned-cenobite. That left such a bad taste in my mouth that it took me two years to get around to watching the third film.
Overall, the first film is still the best, but I like this one a lot better than the second film.

The "true" Pinhead is in every film in this series, get over it.

I agree with the OP in that the villains were usually the HUMANS, not Pinhead himself (which was more of an evil moderatorlol). Here he was full on "Freddy'd" out
At least they tried to explain that with the split of Pinhead's humanity.

Im gonna punch you in the cooter, I swear to God!

This message has been deleted.

This movie dumbed the series down. It's unfortunate because it would have been nice to have a good trilogy rather than two good movies followed by a bunch of crap.

The difference was explained though. What made Pinhead so restrained and ordered in the first two movies was Elliot. Here, it's Elliot's evil made flesh. It's actually not dissimilar to the old school trope where a character is split into two people who each represent a side of their personality. Think Star Trek's "The Enemy Within" and how Kirk's aggressive, passionate half acted. The way I look at it is Elliot is the human spirit untainted by flesh, while Pinhead is the sum of his human desire, which left unchecked is destructive.