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.

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.

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...

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.