There’s comedy stars a plenty in the dark humor film Hell Baby now on Blu-ray. The very quirky film reminds me of several send up movies like Scary Movie and Tucker & Dale vs Evil both of which pander the horror genre for laughs. Here it’s Rosemary’s Baby in a depraved look at a house from hell. If you are into films that are gory and really messed up, then this wicked flick should do the trick.
Down on their luck Jack (Ron Rob Corddry) and Vanessa (Leslie Bibb), a lovely couple about to have a child, decide to buy a dilapidated house in the lower, lower garden district of New Orleans. Their suddenly appearing neighbor F’resnel (Keegan-Michael Key) informs them on moving in that there has not been a murder in the house for at least 6 months. Although the two are concerned, they move in knowing they got a great deal on the price of the two story haunted mansion. When the baby gets born, they have to call the Vatican to send a team of exorcists to save them from their baby devil.
The film gets really wild and crazy with laughter being created in every scene. Directors and the screenplay writers Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon use every trick in the book to put scares and giggles on the screen and they succeed. Both Garant and Lennon are best known for their roles as cops in Reno 911! and here they even give comedic performances themselves as the exorcists called in to control the demon baby. Using a top notch cast of funny people they keep a great mix of hilarious and creepy that makes the film a winner.
The cast looks like they are having a great time in the film playing characters they know how to handle. Bibb shows her stuff as the naïve wife who just loves having her baby inside her, even though it’s controlling her to do some dangerous things and creating awful strange sounds in her tummy. She takes her role over the top with laughter in dealing with the effects of her evil ‘child bearing’.
Corddry is just meant to play his role trying to hide concerns about the crazy things happenings around him. He’s the unsuspecting dad who starts putting all the suspicious clues together only to be surprised in the end. Most have seen him in the recent Warm Bodies where he plays a zombie turning back to human, but I like him best for his clown faced Dr. Blake from TV’s “Childrens Hospital” that keeps me in stitches.
The cast has a lot of familiar faces most of which were culled from television shows like” Childrens Hospital” and “Reno 911!” like David Wain (TV- “Childrens Hospital”), Michael Ian Black (TV- “Reno 911!”), Ron Huebel (TV- “Childrens Hospital”), Paul Scheer (TV- “The League”) Dave Holmes (TV- “Reno 911!”) and Kumail Najiani (TV- “Franklin & Bash”). They all work well together helping to keep the laughs coming.
Hell Baby has been rated R by the MPAA for bloody violence, graphic nudity, sexual content, language and some drug use when it played in theaters. However, this Blu-ray has the unrated version. Although it may be a comedy, be cautious when deciding to allow immature children see the film as it does have some scenes that are very inappropriate for adolescents.
BONUS FEATURES: There are over 40 minutes of extras including a very funny gag reel and deleted scenes. Check out the Rawdog Radio Comedy featuring Jimmy Childers, it’s a hoot.
The Blu-ray video quality is extremely good played on an HD television and its Full Frame 16×9 Aspect Ratio 1.78:1 fills the whole screen. Interior shots where most of the movie takes place are well lit and colorful.
The Blu-ray audio quality using the 5.1 TrueHD works nicely in my player. The dialogue is crystal clear played through either the television speakers or my upgraded sound system. There’s a lot of comedic banter throughout and I didn’t miss a syllable.
Specifications and additional film information:
Cast: Rob Corddry, Leslie Bibb, Alex Berg, Keegan-Michael Key, Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon and Riki Lindhome
Directors/Writers: Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon
MPAA Rating: (Unrated Version) R for bloody violence, graphic nudity, sexual content, language and some drug use
Genre: Comedy Horror
Running Time: 1 hr 38 min
Video Release Date: December 31, 2013
Original Film Release Date: September 6, 2013
Language: English
Format: Blu-ray
Audio: 5.1 TrueHD
Video: Full Frame 16×9 Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Number of Discs: 1 Disc
Distributed by: Millennium
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
