Hell Is Empty

As Shakespeare said; "Hell is empty and all devils are here". This beautifully crafted compact indie proves such a point. Ed (aka, Artist) and his coven of sister wives live together on an island in a shanty that is the perfect back drop for a Hierronymus Bosch like cult. They find a young woman the woods and take her back to the shanty for Artist as if she was a flower and for some unspoken reason the young woman goes with them. This bothered me because it was never explained why she went with them all willy nilly. Perhaps a part two of Hell Is Empty needs to be made. Even thou the characters aren't defined in depth, there is an acceptance one gets from being plopped into this grotesque situation and man was I glad to get back to my mundane life. Maybe that is why i watch such films.

Ya ya ya its poorly made, most independent movies are but what we got here is a very interesting concept with lots of gore. The acting isnt oscar worthy, what Bfilms are? If you like movies about cults, gore and woodlife gone wrong you might get Hell Is Empty.

HELL IS EMPTY is a well researched look into micro sects of twisted religions that have been enacted hell on earth. I think what we have in this small film is a pretty accurate look at the darkest aspects of what happens when the Bible is misquoted and used for nefarious psychosis of its leader. At times HELL IS EMPTY isn't clear on its take away message but I like that so I can find my own take away message.

Hypnotized by the period detail of The Yellow Wallpaper, (2021-also reviewed) I decided to continue peeling away at the line-up of the Cine-Excess Film Festival, by discovering how empty hell is.

View on the film:

Arriving to the island where the one Male figure is also the lone figure with power to rule over all the inhabitants, co-editor/co-writer (with Adam Desantes) / director Jo Shaffer & cinematographer Alex Halstead casts a wide-net eerie atmosphere of unsettling stilted wide-shots gazing at the horror inflicted on women who question Ed's cult on the land.

I liked this low budget film cause it had a sick twisted story about this artist guy who had a bunch of women thinking he was this tapped in prophet and all he was was a psycho killer. Where they made this movie felt sick n what not just watching it made me think that this place was spooked. The pregnant girl needed to leave I felt so sorry for her and the chick who got lost and ended up there like man what was she doing she could have left on the first day. So I dont understand if the artist guy cursed them brainwashed them or poisoned these girls to stay.