HELL AND BACK Trailer
One of my unintentional passions that occurred as a result of watching way too much anime was voice acting. I loved how you can go into a booth and just pretend to be someone else where your physical appearance wasn’t a factor. Additionally, it could potentially intersect with my other loves, games and animations. If you know Bugs Bunny, you know Mel Blanc and if you know the Simpsons, you love the Simpsons. I grew up surrounded by awesome voices and I’d be damned if I didn’t constantly get the compliment “you have a great radio voice” throughout my years. Originally, I just thought they were calling me ugly but I’ve come to find out people like my sound. Thus brings me to an animated movie starring Satan.
Hell and Back is directed by Tom Gianas and Ross Shuman. It stars Mila Kunis as the purple demon and Bob Odenkick as The Devil. By their own description, this film is based around two best friends setting out to rescue their pal after he is accidentally pulled into hell. That’s as far as they go on the plot. Good news is that it’s rated R, so no kids. Bad news is that it’s rated R so you’ll need a babysitter. You can also expect “pervasive strong and crude sexual content, language, and some drug use.” So, it’s very likely to be fun if you can get out of the house.
As far as I can tell, it is good old-fashioned stop-motion animation using puppets. If you remember the now defunct Celebrity Deathmatch, that is pretty much what I’m imagining. Oh, they also mentioned it came from the same guys who brought you Robot Chicken. Now I’m a little uneasy. Stuff like this works in short bursts based on some gimmick. Robot Chicken hits pop culture from multiple angles but it’s almost always a one-liner. Celebrity Deathmatch relied on the goring of annoying pop culture celebrities. What we have here is an actual movie trying to keep your attention for an hour and up.
The part that excites me the most here is the talent pool. We have comedian Maria Bamford and she is an amazing vocal talent if you’ve heard her stand-up. Coming along for the ride from the Adult Swim channel is Dana Snyder who you might know as Master Shake, the crude milkshake member of the “detective” squad, Aqua Teen Hunger Force. If you don’t watch it for the story, I will recommend the talent making things come to life. These are amazing people here and that includes the great Susan Sarandon. If you don’t know who that is, go rent The Rocky Horror Picture Show for Halloween. We need more dudes brave enough to vogue in garter belts. Oh by the way, H. Jon Benjamin, the voice of Archer and Bob from Bob’s Burgers, is also here as…The Tree. Yeah, got your attention now.
Lastly, it wouldn’t be a decent hell flick without some classic Greek mythology. Again, this is a trailer. Even with the limited information I have, my assumption that the Orpheus seen in this picture is the Orpheus and not just any Orpheus. If you don’t know your Greek myths, you probably have no patience for human error. That’s something I’ll write about somewhere else. Anyway, Orpheus is a legendary…it’s just easier to call him a bard. You can say rock-star if bard is too archaic a description for you. As a rock-star, he is meant to be charming and incredibly eloquent in his music so much so that Gods and monsters weep when he plays somber notes. Getting to the point, he’s in this movie, and Mila Kunis’ character has her eyes on him. I can only guess why.
Hell and Back has already been released in U.S. theaters. For the list of countries still waiting in line, click here.
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