Hell and Back

Plot synopsis:
At a rundown pier carnival, idealistic promoter Remy (Nick Swardson) is desperate to bring in business. He is friends with the overweight and odd carnival repairman Augie (T.J. Miller) and the insolent assistant manager Curt Myers (Rob Riggle). After Curt discovers that the bank has foreclosed the carnival, a frustrated Remy heads down to the boat of a fortune-teller named Madame Zonar (Kerri Kenney-Silver), who is in possession of a crying Devil book. Seeing an opportunity to bring in business, Remy tells his friends that people would come around to see the Devil crying and sets the book up at The Gates of Hell, the park's main ride attraction. When Curt requests a mint Remy has in his possession, Remy forces Curt to take a blood oath so he can pay Remy back with a mint only for Curt to callously admit that he doesn't have a mint. While Remy and Curt argue, Augie sees strange weather and soon, Curt is sucked into Hell itself through the ride and Remy and Augie take a car from the ride into the portal to rescue Curt.
After landing in Hell, they discover that it is full of green lost souls and aggressive demons. After being discovered, they are taken to the Devil (Bob Odenkirk) himself, who reveals to be an aggressive, if comical being, who is just coming from a meeting. He encounters the duo and while speaking with them, mentions the Greek legend Orpheus who has a reputation for bringing mortals out of Hell. He forces the duo to hide while meeting with an angel from Heaven named Barb (Susan Sarandon) who he is infatuated with. When Barb mentions that she is aware of the mortals in his domain, he tries to show them to her, but discovers that they have escaped and calls out a search for them. Remy and Augie try to use a contraption to escape, but are discovered and are about to be apprehended by demons. Just then, a ship appears and captures them and a demon. On the ship, a mysterious figure disposes of the demon. When the duo tell the figure why they're here, the figure reveals herself to be a female demon named Deema (Mila Kunis) who Augie becomes infatuated with. She agrees to take them to Curt if they take her to Orpheus. They track him using the Devil's cell phone (which Remy and Augie snagged from his office).
Meanwhile, Curt meets the Devil and hits it off with him pretty swell, but when mentioned that he is being sacrificed for not living up to his blood oath, he persuades the Devil to not sacrifice him via a contract if he puts on a show to win the favor of Barb who had a fling with him while she was dating God. It was God sent the Devil to Hell for this. Remy, Augie, and Demma locate the way to Orpheus which is guarded by Deema's mother Durmessa (Jennifer Coolidge), but they manage to make it past her. Before Deema passes through, Durmessa warns her that Orpheus isn't what she expects him to be. They use a submarine to find Orpheus and eventually locate him when he finds them through a giant robot. They discover that Durmessa was right about him as Orpheus (Danny McBride) reveals to be an eccentric slacker who is retired from bringing people out of the Underworld. Remy is the only one who seems to enjoy his lifestyle. After passing 2/3 of Orpheus's ridiculous tests, he reveals himself to be Deema's father, as he had a fling with Durmessa, but never came home. Annoyed with Orpheus, Deema leaves and Augie decides to go with her upon being fed up with Remy's selfishness. After sharing a romantic moment, they discover from the Devil's cellphone that Curt is being sacrificed at the crossroads and head out to save him.
When Remy finds out where Curt is via Orpheus's TV, he leaves to find him and uses a Purgatory boat to catch up with his friends and reconciles with them. The Devil goes back on his deal with Curt and decides to sacrifice him anyway. After the Devil retires to the bathroom after he ate Curt's contract, Remy, Augie, and Deema manage to make it past the Demons guarding Curt and reunite with him. They find themselves at the mercy of the demons and the Devil who decides to sacrifice them all. Having a change of heart, Orpheus attempts to rescue them while disguised as the leader of a demon band, but is also captured. Barb, who the Devil called and showed her the mortals, comes to Hell via a stripper's pole and she becomes attracted to Orpheus because of his song when he disguised himself. A jealous Devil tries to use a bazooka cannon full of T-shirts to kill Orpheus. When they are escaping, a T-shirt hits Barb, knocking her unconscious. While they are falling, Remy slaps Barb awake, but the group find themselves in the lower regions of hell full of living sex-offender trees. One sex-offender tree (H. Jon Benjamin) had raped Orpheus (which he mentioned multiple times earlier). Orpheus will forgive him if he rapes the Devil, which he does later on.
Remy, Augie, Curt, and Deema are caught and bounded by the trees and when Remy is eventually held down by roots, Curt, while hanging upside down from a tree, drops a mint onto Remy. Although upset at first about Curt keeping this from him, Remy is told that if he eats the mint, the blood oath will be paid. The Devil and a demon try to stop him, but Remy eats it reopening the portal that brought the mortals to hell, sending them back to the land of the living with Deema going with them. When the Devil asks them where Barb is, she eventually appears with Orpheus flying on her, telling him about their relationship, much to his distress. On the surface, the group discovers that Remy's idea to keep the park open is actually successful as people are lining up with coins in their hands to watch the Devil cry.
6 months later, Remy uses the money to renovate the carnival with attractions that are similar to what is seen in Hell, including an attraction called the "Gates of Heaven" with Orpheus and Barb in it.
The ending credits show a lost soul in Hell and a Demon who keeps misleading him (as he does this many times in the film) with the occurrences ending with the demon saying "Welcome to Hell".

Tags: flashback

Review:
From its choppy stop-motion style of animation, its lack of real creativity in its jokes, and its miserable color palette, there is a striking joylessness present in "Hell & Back" that is only highlighted by the film's lackluster writing.The story opens in a failing theme-park, largely run by slacker employees Remy (voiced by Nick Swardson), Augie (T.J. Miller), and Curt (Rob Riggle).
When Curt borrows a mint from Remy, taking a blood oath to pay him back before reneging on his promise shortly after, the three are sucked into a vortex that takes them to Hell, where they are seen as "mortals" awaiting sacrifice.
While Curt is the only one who is set to be sacrificed, for breaking a blood oath, Remy and Augie are also planned to be executed simply because of their presence in Hell as mortals.
As a result, they team up with a demon named Deema (Mila Kunis), who is searching for Orpheus, a famous spirit who is said to have saved countless mortals who's souls were doomed to perish in Hell in time before the Devil (Bob Odenkirk) decides to sacrifice the three men.Despite the high stakes, the film feels like a constant array of tired stoner jokes written by a gang of adolescents that still find using at least two curse words in every sentence is hilarious.
Consider the scenes that involve the demons of Hell tempting the souls by having a Taco Bell/Pizza Hut counter.
This happens a couple of other times in the film and works because of how simply outlandish and ridiculous the scene plays out, in addition to a few scenes of demons looking up the sins of the souls to see what constitutes their presence in Hell.These scenes are few and far between, however, as the bulk of the film has Remy and Augie bumbling on to random setpieces in Hell, witnessing some crass display of juvenile gags all captured in some of the most visually ugly scenery I've seen all year.
With all the lame jokes occurring and the setting feeling so dim and dingy, there's simply very little positivity in this film to keep an upbeat frame of mine.
Comedies set in underworlds or places of little hope obviously have difficultly meriting this constant stream of upbeat humor in contrast to the setting, but when both elements fall apart here, "Hell & Back" doesn't have a leg to stand on, frankly.Finally, there's a real cheapness to the animation here.
This doesn't occur frequently, but when it does, it makes the whole film seem off balance, and, much like the writing, poorly conceived.I remember hearing of "Hell & Back" earlier in the year and thought it would be something of a box office surprise; we rarely get adult animated films, and if we do, they are usually so obsessed with the idea of being vulgar and animated ("Cheech and Chong's Animated Movie" and "Jay and Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie" to name a few) that they wind up being throwaway projects of little merit.
Unfortunately, with the startlingly silent marketing for the film and the quiet release, "Hell & Back" will likely join other contemporaries as an experiment that failed largely because of its worst tendencies..
The demons (especially Pena and Nanjiani) and Odenkirk's devil absolutely make this film.
Bottom line: some very talented, very funny and very dedicated people made this film and clearly enjoyed making it, you should watch it and if you don't appreciate the story, appreciate the zany world, voice acting, quotable lines (welcome to hell) and incredibly detailed claymation atmosphere.
That kind of humor is just not amusing enough to carry an 1 & 20 minute film.The one thing that the film did have going for it is the animation, the settings all looked really good.
There were a few times where I kind of felt like I was watching one of those you tube videos where people dub over children's cartoons in an effort to be funny.
I enjoy animated stuff aimed at adults, however it seems like for the most part it just doesn't work when it comes to films.
There are plenty of great animated TV shows for adults (Archer, South Park, Bob's Burgers, etc) but when I try to think of great animated movies for adults the only one that really comes to mind is South Park: Bigger, Larger, and Uncut.
"Hell & Back" had a lot of promise, it's filled with very funny people doing the voices for the characters and the premise seemed like it opened up a lot of room for very funny situations.
It was entertaining enough to keep me watching but most of the jokes just fall flat and the comedians who lended their voices to the film are mostly wasted on a very poor/unfunny script.
Nick Swardson, Mila Kunis, T.J. Miller, Rob Riggle, Susan Sarandon, Danny McBride and Bob Odenkirk voice the main cast.
That being said, the story is good, ridiculous and funny; the jokes are crude and at times, laugh out loud funny.
The best part of this film is the animation, stop motion animation is far and few between these days and I always strongly enjoy seeing the art form.
Hell And Back is a fun ride with good adult laughs and a great cast.
Hell And Back is a fun ride with good adult laughs and a great cast.
Cheers and remember life won't suck as long as there is a good movie to watch.
That's the movie there's not even a story to fall back on.It is the most desperate attempt of adult jokes I've ever seen.
The story is stretched so thin and one of those, "setup with nothing else going for it" type of films.The most disgusting part of this movie is it's advertised as an adult film while it treats us like children.
So what is this trying to prove?The best thing I can say about the film is like I said, the voice talent, animation, set design and art direction.
First was the instant success of Robot Chicken, and now their first Movie should be a box office hit, but today when i watched Hell and Back, I was the only one in the room.
If i had to say (type), a bad thing about the move, I noticed the lip-syncing was off by a bit, sometimes, But overall, I HIGHLY recommend you watch Hell and Back!
I know it's a stop-motion movie, most people want actors, real-life places and realism, but we all love Robot Chicken, so basically Hell and Back is a extended, well-written episode..
I did love the fact that the movie was a stop motion animated film, and it does have a few laugh out loud jokes, plus it is a nice Hard rated R as well, filled with mostly really dirty jokes.But overall, the movie is pretty weak.
Especially, considering what an all star cast of voice overs that are featured in the film, like Susan Sarandon and Bob Odenkirk.The animation is actually pretty dull and unattractive and only a few jokes really stood out while the rest were stale.
I think I was expecting something like Heavy Metal, and was surely disappointed with what it really was, a lame stoner flick, which would not be so bad if maybe Cheech and Chong were the guys battling their way out of hell..
I am not sure if that is bad or good, but it all looks good.As for the rest of the film, me and my partner both walked out on it...well, as much as you can walk out on a movie in the confines of your own living room.The writing is so atrociously talentless and the attempts at dirty jokes are so strikingly unfunny that one can only conclude that the script was written by a couple of middle-aged construction workers, who don't care at all for writing but have agreed to quickly write something because they were given 5 buks.The cast of the film has some notable names, and the performances are not terrible, but you can tell why the actors did not promote this film and why it has faded into obscurity..
(2005-present) that threatens to derail the entire adult toon genre with gleeful insult humor and lazy references.Hell and Back is brought to you by the same stop-motion studios as Robot Chicken (2005-present) a fifteen minute sketch show involving action figures and claymation figures.
Curt (Riggle) assistant manages while Remy (Swardson) works primarily on the Hell's Gate ride featuring a few cheap scares for the price of a few dollars and your dignity.
What does matter is the trio come across a demonic book, Curt swears a blood oath on it, immediately renigs and is dragged to hell.
Remy and Augie follow him and face demons, assorted tortures and the Devil (Odenkirk) himself to save their friend from eternal damnation.As with Robot Chicken, the animation style in this film evokes the memory of Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas (1987) only with a displeasing slurry of dirty jokes and adult situations.
The film features bluntly stated dialogue discussing lewd sex acts, the shame of virginity in your 20's and one unbearably drawn-out discussion of tree rape that is brought up several times.
Ironically the jokes that made me chuckle the hardest were the subtle ones such as a soul being tortured by a demon by trying to order a pepperoni pizza from a Taco Bell/Pizza Hut Express.Those of you who are a fan of ShadowMachine Films and their genre expanding TV shows will be mightily disappointed by this stop-motion slacker comedy.
Despite some funny one-off jokes, Hell and Back has precious few redeeming qualities outside it's talented voice cast.
The side characters are worse still including an ineffective devil, a boring tag-along in Mila Kunis's half-human, half-demon Deema, and an especially braggadocios Orpheus (McBride).
You wonder what the attraction is for the makers for "Chicken Run", "Box Trolls" and for the Bro Comedy "Hell and Back" to stop motion animation.
Anyway, the plainly descriptive-titled "Hell and Back" lifts the way Satan from South Park is rendered whole, gives him "Breaking Bad's" Bob Odenkirk's voice and drops him in a bro comedy.
Hell and Back is a foul mouth R rated animated film which was in theaters for only a small limited released.
Starring as the lead voices of the film are T.J. Miller, Rob Riggle, and Nick Swardson .
There just is not enough great jokes, but Hell and Back is quite entertaining to watch.
Tiresome and unpleasant, this R-rated animated comedy has a gorgeous visual look and engaging voice work from an all-star cast, but the script is legitimately execrable.
Hell & Back "Rant-View:" Or How Susan Sarandon will be in any movie nowadays.
Boy Was I spot on!Plot: Hell & Back follows the adventures of Remy, Augie, and Curt.
We learn that the devil is really a metrosexual (he even listens to a trendy boy band while in the shower!), who only uses the "giant red horn physique" in order to "motivate the troops (the demons)." It is not long before Remy and Augie's presence is sensed and "Barb the Angel" (an oversexualized angel, voiced by the most marquee worthy actor in the film, Susan Sarandon) is dispatched to return them to the world of the living.
Scenes like this occur throughout the film (and even over the end credits), yet are few and far in between.
It is an R-rated film, yet wants me to be amused by an animated purple, devil-esque woman parading around in a skimpy cotton outfit.
I don't think it deserves as low of a rating as it got simply because it was quite a good movie.
I'm sure this film is directed at some low brow humor but it actually is really good.
If you like movies you don't have to pay too much attention to but still have a good time, you'll love this.
A waste of perfectly good stop motion animation and voice acting.
It is a mystery to me how anyone could have looked at this script, then thought it might be a good idea to hire good voice actors and go through the painstakingly process of creating a stop-motion animation.
Only one joke in the entire movie made me laugh.
Not that I have trouble with humor that does this, but not only the entire movie is based on that kinds of jokes, they are also written so poorly.
The movie actually gets better for a while, if you set your internal commentary to those two film students writing their script: "Dude...
When their buddy breaks a blood oath and lands in hell, two best friends risk everything to save him from demons and the devil.
Sadly we do not get an all star movie.Hell & Back has some of the workers behind Robot Chicken.
I personally didn't find it funny, and in my opinion, Robot Chicken is much better.The movie has some nice claymation/stop motion animation behind it.
Writing comedy isn't like writing other films.
With comedy it's either funny or it isn't.I believe this movie could have been much better, and I truly wanted to enjoy it.
However, I saw the whole film on Youtube for free, and it really isn't worth the time.So these are my final Bitchin' Buddha thoughts on Hell & Back.
If you like this film, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
For both are awful!The movie was about a hour and thirty minutes, but felt like I was in Hell all along, eternal damnation.
Knowing I wasn't in Hell, but maybe that was the point all along, a movie so bad it made you feel like you were in Hell.
Because he will not go easy on them like they showed within the movie."Welcome to Hell" - Demons.
All the demons would say that, if you ask me, maybe the movie was bad on purpose to show this is what Hell really is.
Watching the movie was Hell.
Having a migraine thanks to the movie equals Migraine in Hell.
Crushed is a good word to use after watching the movie and realizing this is what we got.
Almost every single one of them I try to avoid because they all have the same character in all their films/jokes.
"Hell and Back" is one of the weirder stop motion films I have ever seen.
Directed by Ross Shuman and Tom Gianas, "Hell and Back" is a little seen and greatly hated venture that will remain a blight on all those involved.The story follows three men (?) who work at a pier carnival, and have been best friends since childhood.
Two of the friends make a blood oath in front of a book with a crying devil, which sends one of them to Hell.
While all those involved are accomplished (Mila Kunis, Bob Odenkirk, Susan Sarandon etc.) none of them are working with much, and therefore most of the jokes fall flat.
It's unclear what is up with the Devil's facade, why we need a shot of Mila Kunis' purple devil in nothing but a tank top and underwear, why Orpheus is such a tool, why there is a distended running joke about male rape via a tree, or why the ending is so swift and easy, making the entire film pointless.There are some good jokes peppered here and there but for the most part everyone involved is just too good for this movie.
Besides getting to see some pretty great stop motion and hear some okay one-liners, there's no reason you have to see this film..
Soon, Curt breaks his oath for not having a mint, and so he ends up going to Hell, and it's up to our two bro-tagonists to come and save the poor man from the Devil(Bob Odenkirk)Now, the biggest problem with the film is dealing with the likability of our main characters, especially Remy.
Remy is one of the worst written character's I've seen in a movie to date.
His jokes aren't funny in the slightest, and he has this other form where he's dressed like a hipster and it's stupid as hell.
Jokes in this movie drag out for too long, even the legitimately funny ones, and they feel rushed as a result.
A noteworthy series of the good ones involve a suffering spirit trying to take punishments from a demon, but the punishments are really subpar and no big deal, and the demon ends it with "Heh heh, Welcome to Hell." However, those jokes are vastly outnumbered by toilet humor that feels like it belongs in a bad kid's movie, and stoner comedy that feels like the throwaway gags ripped from that movie American Ultra.However, I can't help but see some light in the dark of this film.
The animation looks OK, the music is good(and that includes the songs Orpheus sings), and the design of Hell is pretty good for what they got.
I wish it were better, but it's still an underwhelming, mediocre stoner film that just so happens to be claymation and in hell..
While the vortex is still active, Remy and Augie follow into H*ll, so as to find Curt and save his sorry self.Delineation of conflicts: The Devil would like to have sex with Barb the Angel.
Barb knows this, and leverages it into having the Devil find Remy and Augie, so that she can get 'save the misplaced mortals' off her To Do list.Remy and Augie are looking for Orpheus, since he was able to walk out of hell with a person who was condemned.
They encounter a number of characters and a Devil who runs hell like a corporation.First off, this is NOT for kids unless bad language and crude sexual references are okay with you.
The film looks like 3D claymation.
A good film for those that like the crude humor of teen sex comedies but none of the nudity.