Hell Baby

Jack (Rob Corddry) and his pregnant wife Vanessa (Leslie Bibb) buy a rundown home in a gang-infested New Orleans neighborhood known locally as the House of Blood. F'resnel (Keegan-Michael Key) is their invasive neighbor. Something is going wrong with the pregnancy and Vanessa turns evil. The Vatican sends exorcists Father Sebastian (Robert Ben Garant) and Father Padrigo (Thomas Lennon).

This is written and directed by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon. It feels like a silly comedy from another one of these comedy troupes. while it's mildly humorous, it seems to be aggressively asking if it is funny. It expects to be hilarious but it never rises to that level. I don't think the Corddry Bibb pairing fits this style especially Bibb. It needs someone much more wackier. I loath to suggested that she's funny enough for a hottie. The fact is that she ain't no comedian. It does have comedian Riki Lindhome playing her sister Marjorie. Now, Riki does a full frontal nude comedy bit. While I get the bit as it runs on and on, the nudity definitely overwhelms the comedy. I am impressed with the comedic talents in the cast but it never adds up to something great.

I wait-listed a ticket for this film at Sundance, knowing nothing about it. In line, I found out that it was a Thomas Lennon film. Awesome - huge fan. Starring Keegan Michael Key? You got me.

While there were lulls and dead spots, ultimately the movie was successful in making fun of common scary movie themes while simultaneously seeming original. It had me laughing much more often than it had me simply watching. Not everyone's cup of tea, but I will say that, aside the middle-aged woman sitting in front of me, the film had everyone engulfed and having fun.

I just found out the film got picked up, and I'm glad. It definitely deserves it. I just hope the suits don't cut out some of the more graphic scenes before its theatrical release.

Hilarious, gross, sexy, original, sometimes even genuinely scary, this film was nothing short of a quality horror film parody.

General movie rating - 6.5/10 Comedy Movie Rating - 8/10

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.

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 just ended up feeling like a kind of disjointed, slow sketch comedy American Horror Story.

The whole movie felt too flat and blunt. It's like they thought up clever or funny ideas, but threw them out in the simple way possible. And then they made sure to let them linger, as if they were pausing for audience laughter. Hell, sometimes it even felt like a laugh track would improve the movie.

I mean, the "Scary Movie"s are full of those broad and cheap laughs. This on the other hand, is quirkier and WANTS to be more than that. And unlike the Scary Movies, it DOES feel like one whole story, instead of a bunch of sketches spoofing horror flicks. But every scene felt like it dragged on for too long, way past when you "got" the joke and were ready for them to go deeper or move on or add more layers or something. And that made it come out stale. Over and over, it took you out of the movie, and reminded you that this is just a bunch of funny friends who went out there with a camera and a simple idea to have fun. That idea...just happened to only be 20 minutes worth of story and gags, that they had to stretch out to an hour and a half.

And as much as I could respect the kind of story they wanted to tell, the ways they were trying to milk comedy, and the characters they created...it's just not well edited or put together. There's not enough story, the jokes were too on the nose, and I left it kinda disappointed. This had a lot going for it: great cast, clever creative people behind it. But you might be better off just watching "This Is the End" instead.

Oh, and a certain scene with Riki Lindhome was really random and fully appreciated...