Movies
[BD Review] ‘Hellbenders 3D’ Highly Ambitious, Fun Horror
Burrowers director JT Petty returns to Midnight Madness with Hellbenders, a truly entertaining horror comedy that may have been a bit too ambitious. While filled with laughs, and some incredible creature effects, ultimately it’s a bit fragmented from what feels like budgetary constraints.
The first act of Hellbenders is incredibly strong as Petty introduces the viewer to the motley crew of modern exorcists. In short, this collection of men and women are supposed to sin as much as possible in order to deliver demons back to hell. The idea is that if they get possessed, they can commit suicide and drag the demons down to Hell with them. Hence, the audience is blasted with profanity as they watch an array of disturbing acts and consistent verbal abuse. Watching a bunch of ordained priests act like jerks in absolutely hilarious, but what makes this work is that the audience knows they’re “good people” at heart. Likability is extremely important it making Hellbenders an entertaining flick. Clancy Brown reunites with Petty and delivers quite a standout performance as the drunken leader. Unfortunately, Dan Fogler – who I absolutely love – was underused, and barely even had a reason to be in the film.
Once acclimated to the group, a few of them are sent off to handle a new case, one that ends in disaster. This is the pinnacle of Hellbenders as it taps into to the vein of The Evil Dead and Ghostbusters with its sound design, humor, scares, and FX work. It’s a haunting moment that sets the bar so high that the rest of the film struggles to reach the same level.
From here on out much of the second act is muddled with exposition and a subplot where the new Pope has shut down their division. The final moments, while enjoyable, felt the choking sensation of budgetary constraints. The audience is teased that the gates of Hell are to be opened, but by the time the gang arrives, all of the chaos has already erupted; it’s a bit frustrating, as the viewer deserves to see the madness occur.
Hellbenders is highly ambitious filmmaking that works just enough to make it worth a view. There are quite a few gut busting laughs, creative scares, and even more gore for the horror junkie. Unfortunately, it just runs out of steam by the finale.
Described as “Ted meets ET,” David Mikalson’s raunchy comedy Goblin is being brought to life over at A24, and Will Forte (“The Four Seasons”) is now in talks to star.
Deadline first reported the news this afternoon.
Kenneth Branagh has been cast to voice the titular Goblin in the upcoming A24 movie, with the character said to be “green-colored” as well as “anatomically correct.”
Skyler Gisondo (Superman) is reportedly playing the Goblin’s human best friend.
The mysterious project sounds a bit like films including A Gnome Named Gnorm and more recently, Frankie Freako, though it’s important to note that it’s not billed as a horror movie.
Deadline details, “After [Mikalson] hatched the idea to make an outrageous buddy comedy about a goblin, using a practical puppet and operating outside the Hollywood system, his script quickly got him a rep team. While others might have eyed the raunchy comedy as a writing sample or planned to wait to see the micro-budget version Mikalson has been directing in Kentucky, A24 jumped all over it. The hot indie essentially has agreed to finance a full feature.”
“There was a lot of interest, but A24 came with what Mikalson really wanted, after spending all his money crafting the puppet title character: they acquired the movie and agreed to let him make it with a significantly increased budget than what he had left after creating the anatomically correct title character,” Deadline’s report goes on to explain.
What does the titular Goblin actually look like? Well, a cake that Mikalson had whipped up for his reps might give us our first look at what to expect. Deadline explains the photo you’ll see down below, “Take a look at the cake he commissioned with Marc Gravelle at Cake Art in West Hollywood, to present to his reps as thanks for making his dream come true.”
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