Hell Baby

I was hesitant to put this one in for a while. Bad reviews and all. But a lot of people that I admire are in it. So today I finally watched it. (and I can watch very few movies these days since I am in the hospital for 5 weeks and only seldom get out (waiting for surgery)), well back to the movie. It's structured like a spoof but has an original actor and features most of L.A's stand up elite. (Some of the have already got their own TV Shows). Thomas Lennon not only has a huge part in this movie he also directed it and he did that very well. They had a limited budget but you can't tell the difference from a big studio in any way. The jokes were original and very well executed. Never does it stupe to the level of a Scary Moie 5 or Haunted House.I also loved the constant smoking by the two priests. Usually these days when someone smokes in a movie he's automatically a bad guy. I hate that. All the creature effects are done very well too, especially considering the budget. If you have a couple of extra buck be sure to pick up the Blu Ray.

I grew up with parodies, stuff that was making fun of other movies through references rather than vulgarity or silliness. I tried to enjoy many of the parodies of today and I couldn't, because they were not meant to be real movies, they didn't have acting, but just an ugly caricature of the art.

I am happy to report that Hell Baby is a really fun parody of possession movies! It references a lot of them, but not in a direct recreation of scenes or using toilet humor, instead by taking the parody and putting it into a well acted film. All actors involved played really well, but Rob Corddry was the highlight of the film. Also Keegan-Michael Key added a lot to the comedy of the situation.

The plot is that a family awaiting twins move into a run down house in a bad neighborhood. The house is possessed and soon lovely Leslie Bibb, the pregnant mother, is as well. The demolition of horror clichés soon follows.

Bottom line: I am not really into comedies and I don't easily laugh at them. Parodies have to be even better than a normal comedy, because I've seen the movies they are making fun of and they have to be at least funnier than those - which is a hard thing to do for some of the horror films around. And yet I really enjoyed Hell Baby and I recommend it to just about everyone. Well done!

Sort of like the ZAZ boys movies but in the horror genre. There are some laughs along the way but no where near as good as films like Airplane or Naked Gunn.

"It started with white people moving into the neighborhood." Jack (Corddry) and Vanessa (Bibb) are expecting twins and have just moved into a new neighborhood. Before they can get settled they are told the history of the house they are in. Vanessa begins to experience strange things but doesn't realize it. Jack is worried and questions what is happening. So, what can I say about this. The group that did Reno 911 did this movie so that is the baseline to go off of. The jokes that were in Haunted House and Scary Movie 5 are pretty much repeated again here. Some of the jokes go on a little too long while others are funny at first but begin to tire after the repetition. It is hard to say too many bad things about this because the cast is funny and really carry the movie for as long as they can but like the other two movies I mentioned it can't sustain laughs the entire time. This is a movie that would be better watched in twenty minute segments rather then all at once. Overall, a movie that is funny but gets repetitive and loses steam toward the end. I give it a B-.

I loved this movie. If you go in expecting some big budget plot driven parody you'll be disappointed. What you get is sketch based comedy where the absurd situations are purely reasons for the characters to improv some hilarious one liners. These guys can all deadpan with the best of 'em and the whole movie is played that way perfectly. Bonus love if you are from the south and familiar with Cajun cuisine and stereotypes. There is gore, over the top gore but the movie is not based around that nor does it derive it's comedy from the gross factor. I have no doubt that time will be kind to this movie and it will get cult status, there are so many great quotes for it not to have a long life. I hope it makes enough money so the writers and actors can make more improv based deadpan insanity.