Hell Baby (2013)

Simply A Masterpiece

Let's be realistic.

i must have seen a different film!!

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This is a 10 minute comedy sketch stretched out to a 98 minute film. Great cast. There is a lot of comedic talent -- writers, creators, actors -- represented here. But the best I could muster were a few smiles. This is clearly a case of comedians making themselves laugh. Not that there's anything wrong with that, as Seinfeld would say.

This movie certainly does deserve more then the low ratings it has. I wanted to give it 6.5 but that's not possible so a 6 it is. I can see why people dislike it, because they probably expected something completely else but it is what it is. It's a parody of horror movies with some stupid jokes, and that's what it is supposed to be. The stupider they are the funnier it gets. As soon as I saw Keegan-Michael Key was in it I was skeptical because I absolutely hate him in the TV-show "Planet's funniest animals", but in this movie he was actually not that bad. I even laughed out loud a couple times. Don't expect horror or anything even though there are a lot of bloody gory scenes because it's all too funny to be scared. I don't regret watching this at all.

In particular, critics. Critics seem to have a special disdain for movies directed by former members of The State (Michael Ian Black, Thomas Lennon, David Wain), but there's definitely an audience for all of them. Every one of them that I've seen have been fantastic. I take that back, I didn't really like Wanderlust all that much. It does horror parody without resorting to a bunch of random, inane pop culture references. And it seems like the world has forgotten that that's how parody works. The Wayans Brothers and their successors with Scary Movie and all of the others have really run things into the ground. A movie like Hell Baby seems to set things right. And of course, it seems like almost no one's seen this. It's on HBOGO right now, treat yourself.

As soon as I was done with this little gem, I stroke it off my list of movies I would want in my collection. It is over promise and under deliver. If you are looking for some good cracks, this is not for you. If you are looking for a few laughs, this movie is not for you. If you are a fan of the director / actors, you better be die hard not to be disappointed. The plot never really develops. There are basically no themes under the story and there are no good effects. It is like a bad drag queen show in a has-been club. I enjoy many genres and there are quite a few b-grade movies that I have reviewed as good entertainment in the past. This was really just a total waste of budged that could have been better spent. Nothing really to say about the cinematography, the sets or anything. It just drags on. It is not even particularly bad. It really is a void of nothing. A good student exercise maybe to teach the camera team how to operate their equipment - at best.