Review: Hell Baby


A nice couple with a baby on the way (Leslie Bibb and Rob Corddry) move into a house they soon realise is haunted. Crazy shit happens, neighbour Keegan-Michael Key acts weird, Vatican priests (Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant) arrive to save the day. Paul Scheer turns up as a cop, Riki Lindholme is Bibb’s free-spirited sister.

 

Co-directors/co-writers/co-stars Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon strike out with this desperately lame horror spoof from 2013 that makes the “Scary Movie” franchise look brilliant by comparison. And that’s a bit surprising because Garant’s “Balls of Fury” had its moments, Lennon has been funny at times too (as the snooty German in “Balls of Fury” especially), and they both co-wrote the “Night at the Museum” films which were kinda fun. But then you remember that the film comes from Millennium Films, has Rob Corddry in the lead, and supporting performances by C-list comedians Paul Scheer and Keegan-Michael Key, and it starts to make more sense.

 

Why are we getting a parody of 1970s Satanic horror in 2013 anyway? At least the Wayans family mostly spoofed targets from the period in which their films were made, mediocre as those films are. I know “Repossessed” spoofed “The Exorcist” in 1990, but at least that film had some genuine laughs in it (though it doesn’t play as well now as it did when I was 10). Laughter does not exist in this dojo. Someone must’ve found this boring piece of human waste funny. They should’ve gotten a second opinion because there isn’t one laugh in the whole thing.

 

Leslie Bibb (whose character seems to go all Linda Blair after a while) tries really hard here and deserves better. Meanwhile, Rob Corddry being cast in a kind of Charles Grodin role just doesn’t work. Milquetoast he ain’t. As for Mr. Key, I found him more irritating and bizarre than funny. The character was too unrealistic, even for a silly film like this. And while I applaud Ms. Lindholme for giving us rare full-frontal nudity, she should’ve had a couple of hamburgers first. And found a genuinely funny script. Her performance is stupid and clichéd, but she’s been handed a lemon in the first place.

 

Most of the people involved here come from TV comedy, and if you’re a fan of any of them, you might not find this an unendurable load of garbage.

 

Rating: D

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