Hellbenders (2013)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Admirable film.

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

After a rash of reports about possessed people, a group of blasphemous priests intent on bringing deadly demons back to Hell find their greatest challenge in a resurrected demon attempting to reopen the gates of Hell.Overall this one was quite an enjoyable and entertaining effort. What really tends to work the best in here is the utter joy this takes in warping the traditional take on the pious priests by here completely revealing and even encouraging others to partake in sinful behavior in order to do their jobs better. That's the fun of seeing them curse every other word, steal, cheat and engage in numerous acts that would be considered too profane for most normal priests. In turn, the film's best feature is the fact that these scenes are usually there to base off the main exorcism and possession scenes that occur here as there's several rather impressive ones from the opening scene showing them taking out a demon while having him throw them around the darkened basement where he's chained up while also finishing off the exorcism rites. Even later scenes where they try to save the possessed son who in turns starts the film's main plot makes for a great scene with the failed rites and generally enjoyable action allows the escaped being to really get a lot of impressive elements out by showcasing all the frantic action in the confined space with the failure of their performances for a wholly enjoyable sequence altogether, and the finale in the burning pit manages to evoke quite a large amount of fun with the fury of the demonic hordes ripping into the priests attempting to stop it, the violence against them in an attempt to halt the demonic incantations and the fun of having the whole thing done with firelight for a generally impressive and enjoyable offering. Along with the impressive demon make-up for the possessed creatures and rather frantic storyline that keeps everything moving along nicely that really works here, these are more than enough to hold out the lone flawed part of this whole thing in it's incredibly lame and stupid one-note comedy. The fact that all this has to rely on for it's comedy is the general rule-breaking and sinful behavior of the target priests, it soon grows old after realizing all they're doing is just that. It doesn't feature any real variety, doesn't take as much chances as it thinks it does, and worse off plays out better as a straight-forward horror effort without much need for comedy than it does as a horror/comedy, despite the ingeniousness of it's premise. Otherwise, this one was a lot of fun.Rated R: Extreme Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, Full Nudity, comedic homosexual sex scenes and comedic blasphemy.

Only seven reviews so far, so I guess this movie slipped under the radar. Too bad. If the horror/comedy genre is your bag, you should catch this. Horror + Religion (The Exorcist) can be a pretty creepy combo, and this movie has its touches. The comedy aspect is not goofy slapstick, but sort of low key and character driven. Think of some of the weirder people you know -- likable, odd-ball funny, but not necessarily of the "ha ha" sort. Then mix in the over-the-top plot (well discussed in several reviews here), and you have something quite different and a real blast. The cast was wonderful. I loved Clancy Brown's character, a guy we probably all know, and Clifton Collins' good-hearted punk. I liked these "debauched" Hellbenders because they were still good-guy Regular Joes, struggling with the dichotomy of good vs. evil in a world (somewhat) more off-kilter then ours.

Leave your political correctness at the door, and enjoy this raunchy and surprisingly well done horror movie. The vulgarity is 'integral to the plot' as the old saying goes. I thought it was being made as a horror comedy when it first started, and I was surprised that the cast was made up of seasoned experienced actors whom don't really appear in horror movies. Then the horror scenes began and I saw they were taking things seriously (raunchy humor aside). The scares are well done and imaginative (aside from the obviously tongue-in-cheek 'gateway' to hell), the story stays on pace when it cranks up , and it sets up for a sequel without being cheesy about it.

Watch this movie.It's fun and absolutely irreverent while being faithful at the same time. The basic plot idea is fairly novel, and works well with the story despite the obvious logical and religious fallacies that present themselves in such a scenario.In the same way that the "Adams Family" brought a breath of fresh air to the TV sitcom industry, this film brings a breath of fresh (well, freshly laden with the scent of whiskey perhaps..) air to the idea of exorcism. The Adams are evil, dark, twisted and backward, and yet somehow manage to deeply embody the cherished values of any strong family.This film works somewhat the same, but with a lot more swearing, sexual innuendos and gory battles. The priests are absolutely the worst of the worst, and purposely keep themselves yoked with the burden of as much sin as they can in order to "fight fire with fire." It's a new take on the idea for certain. The originality makes it fun, and you can tell that the writers got it down quick, with all of the energy that having a good idea can generate.This is a movie that was made purely for the sake of outlandish enjoyment. It has few pretenses, and doesn't bother taking itself seriously at all.If you don't mind a little swearing, some poking at religion, a few sexual references and some fake blood, then I suspect you will enjoy this movie. So put your cynicism and expectations on the sideline for a little while and watch this. It's a good time.And if you decide to watch it, know that my personal favorite part was the scene with the cracker.. and make sure you read the credits.