Back from Hell

I first caught a viewing of Back From Hell on the Horror Channel a number of years ago, and I instantly loved it because of the fake blood, the sets, and even the music Matt Jaissle designed for the movie. For a bad movie, I know where the director was getting at. I know that from the locations the camera seems to be filming while the music is playing, is suppose to give suspense, or give a haunting atmosphere however it fails big time at giving anything like that. It inspires me because of how bad it is, and how amateur it is, If I was to start making b horror movies, Id start off at watching this because of the editing which is pretty bad, yes its so bad that its good. YES, it does fall into that category.

Its kind of strange that I loved this movie, the story is fine, and the background of Aaron and Jack is fine, the acting - the worst I've ever seen. First off this has to be one of the worst movies ever made, the sound seems so far away. The two main leads, and that cop seem as if they forget their lines most of the time. There is no emotion in their voice when they're talking,and when it seems like they give the impression that there is suppose to be, you cant help but laugh at some scenes. As other reviewers of this have said, there is some hilarious one-liners and action scenes with those satanic ninjas, and the make-up and gore is so bad its funny.

I tried for a while to get this on DVD, and luckily found a copy after some time on Ebay. If you love B-Movies, add this to your collection, its a good one.

DON'T STAIN THE TASSLED BOAT SHOES!

This is the one of the greatest films ever produced. It would be an insult to the makers of this major motion picture if you simply labeled it "horror." Its message and subversive themes extend deep into a realm of social conscience and philosophical consciousness.

My recommendation is to purchase this movie and add it to your collection. It sits on my shelf at home between "Toxic Avenger" and "Mondo Magic."

Back from Hell is something of a mess. The premise is entertainingly subversive--it's even quite compelling and alternately funny at times. Matt Jaissle is a one-man band (he directs, writes, produces, composes the score, does the cinematography, edits, mixes the Kool-Aid, etc.) who definitely exhibits passion about the genre and a great, enthusiastic attitude towards his material, but the technical and artistic elements of the film make it plod along like jalopy with square tires that's also missing a door, two fenders, and has three coats of primer over gaping rust holes.

The story is simple as long as you do not mind glossing over the details. Basically, Back from Hell is about two guys who were school buddies, but who have gone their separate ways. The one who became a preacher, Aaron (Shawn Scarbrough), is driving out to meet the one who tried to make it big in Hollywood, Jack (Larry Dubois). Jack has returned home to the Ann Arbor area after his Hollywood bid didn't go so well. He made a deal with Satan for success, but when Satan asked for human sacrifices as collateral, Jack backed out. From that point, the film is basically an excuse to introduce zombies and incompetent ninja Satanists (apparently they're big in Michigan) whom Jack and Aaron must battle.

I found Aaron an attractive character. He's a preacher who has come out to hear confession from his friend, and despite his weakly stated reservations, he ends up becoming an ass-kicking, murdering mercenary. Of course, if we pay close attention to the plot, it makes very little sense. Jack expressed reservations about offering human sacrifices, but in the flashback scene, he's shown killing some bum or something. It's almost hilarious how wanton Jack is about killing people throughout the film, and even more hilarious how easily Aaron joins him. The ninja Satanist guys remain fairly inexplicable. Jack seems involved with them somehow, but it remains a mystery. That's just the tip of the iceberg of the plot confusions and inconsistencies on a fine-grained look.

It doesn't help that the cinematography and lighting throughout the film are poor. The visual design could be compared to any random low-budget porno film from the early 1970s. On the other hand, the film's grunginess is an appropriate atmosphere, and Jaissle chose a couple attractive locations for exterior shots.

Also not helping are the horrible performances. DuBois, in particular, sounds like someone semi-literate trying to read their lines. On the other hand, the performances are occasionally hilarious. The standout on this end is the "cop demon"--I was laughing so hard at this over-the-top, almost Lynchian performance (it reminded me a bit of the Garmonbozia midget from Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)) that I had to pause the DVD.

The dialogue is usually banal, but there are also some catchy lines, if mainly because they're so ridiculous or ridiculously delivered. "Tell me I didn't just murder a man in cold blood", answered with, "You just performed a fast exorcism, pal" was amusing, as was "They say that (the) more things change, the more they stay the same . . . if Satan has taken over, things will certainly change, and things do seem to be the same", and of course, "Tell Satan I said . . . kiss my black ass!"

Jaissle tries to be John Carpenter by composing his own music. Unfortunately, he doesn't have quite the skill needed to write compelling, simple music that can be repeated throughout the film without becoming grating, in contrast to Carpenter's approach on films like Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) and Halloween (1978).

But as I mentioned, the attitude of the film is laudable, even if the extremely clunky technical abilities keep getting in the way. Jaissle does his best to get plenty of blood and gore in the film. Cutaway shots to one of our two "heroes" getting sprayed with blood pumping from the fresh jugular wound of an opponent is a big motif.

However, there is usually no suspense in the attack scenes. This can be blamed on a confluence of less-than-satisfactory elements, from the awkward directing to the bad performances and the lack of timing when it comes to editing. The gore is decent, but it usually comes across as stagy, which is not what you want to shoot for in a visceral horror film. This could be improved by better lighting and editing to hide some of the fakeness, but again, the directing and performances have a lot to do with it, too. It also doesn't help that some of the effects are painfully bad. A throat slashing with a knife couldn't look more fake, and the "evil Bible hand" couldn't be more obviously inanimate as Scarbrough "fights" against it.

On the positive side, Jaissle does enough admirably unusual things that I had a mini-epiphany while watching. I came to a better realization of why I love horror so much. What other genre can take such left turns and be so experimental when it comes to characterization, plot developments, actions, cinematography and so on? It's very unlikely that you'd see a romance, comedy, drama, etc.--at any budget level--suddenly start an extended sequence in negative colors with heavily processed, purposefully unintelligible dialogue (one of the better sequences of Back from Hell). You wouldn't even see other genres with a long late-film dialogue-free sequence of a principal character just walking through the woods, shot from a number of unusual angles (another good sequence). In horror, maybe because it isn't very well respected by the mainstream, filmmakers are truly free to do just about anything they can imagine. You can have any disposition and fate you like for any character, and you can do all kinds of experimental, "rule-breaking", artistic and technical things along the way. In this respect, Back from Hell is admirable, even if it's a mess.

If you are a fan of MST3K then you will love this B Movie Jewel.

Jack sold his soul to the devil in order to get famous. Now for some reason a demon is trying to kill him. Jack is just walking down the street when he gets attacked. He manages to kill his attacker and throws a piece of his throat at a random passer by for no apparent reason.

The director then decides to film the railroad tracks for an unimaginable, unexplainable period of time.

Jack is worried about his mom so he goes with his priest friend to his mother house. The demons are waiting for him. Jack defeats the "demon" and ties the fat guy to a chair. But the demon is crafty. With a comical wink to the camera the demon pretends to fall asleep. Jack seeing this also falls asleep. But it was a trick! the "demon" wakes up to remove the well tied rope from around the chair. Jack manages to drive a powerful knee into the demon to defeat it. This amazing feat it gloriously displayed in slow motion a couple of times for the viewers delight. Jack also performs his own stunts like jumping over small walls.

The directors vision of the movie was to have blood splatter on various objects for effect, like the bible, the cross, the priests white shoes and peoples faces.

The best part of this movie is the ending, when jack actually meets the demon. He luckily finds a tree full of weapons in the wilderness to fight the ninja assassins off with. Jack also luckily finds a shotgun on the ground to finish them off with.

This movie is the funniest movie I have ever seen. It deserves to be #1 on the bottom 100 and I've seen the MST3K Manos and Monster A Go GO. This movie is worse!

When you meet so many people in your life who call themselves Christians (but will chastise, condemn, beat up, or even kill someone for something as minor as a Marilyn Manson shirt), you often forget that there are more interesting Christians out there who are actually somewhat fun to be around. It seems that it is people out there who are the latter that are ready and willing to make splatter movies in the name of Jesus Christ. The result is low-budget wonders like this rare, little gem that is way more fun than any kind of church sermon one might hate to sit through. (I, regardless of any of the very few religious/spiritual standpoints I might have in common with Christianity, I am no Christian and I REALLY HATE churches!) In this movie, Jack (Larry DuBois) is a young Hollywood star, who, to maintain his fame, has sold his soul to Satan. Jack must follow through with a human sacrifice, but he doesn't have the heart, making the forces of darkness quite upset with him. Any one person who looks into his eyes becomes possessed by evil and hellbent on killing him in some very unpleasant ways. So, Jack, having one last very old and long-lost friend to turn to, contacts (an unrealistically non-judgemental) Father Aaron (Shawn Scarbrough) to help him combat Satan's army of masked killers, Ninja-looking types who carry axes. It all culminates in an outrageous bloodbath of limbs sawed off, gallons of spurting blood, and airborne guts. The FX (done on an obvious shoestring) often look pretty cool considering the practically nonexistent budget and, though the acting truly is the ultimate pits, it all makes for one good n' cheezy splatterfest classic. (The highlights are definitely the demon hand that grabs Father Aaron by the crotch from his own bible and when the good father shouts, "Tell Satan I said he can kiss my black ass!" before firing off a bloody hole through one last adversary. The latter scene leads to a particularly bizarre and unexpected twist.) For undemanding fans of the gory and goofy (like myself), this is a movie that starts off with an unsure and slow-moving feel, but speeds up and comes to life rather quickly and unpredictably, grabbing you (no pun intended) until that hellacious grip just gets tighter and tighter, climaxing in a release of the viewer into a very strange (and oddly eerie) non-ending which will leave all watching thinking, "What the hell was that?" Still, I'm a fan of David Lynch and Gregg Araki, so I do know that this isn't exactly a bad thing. You won't really know until you try this one out all the way through, so I urge all daring and bored sickos to give it a look!