Back From Hell

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Audience Member Wildly entertaining low-budget shot-on-shitteo film, with the instant classic quote "Tell Satan to kiss my black ass!" Highly recommend if you like low-budget exploitation. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member Back From Hell (aka "Demon Apocalypse") Starring: Shawn Scarbrough, Larry DuBois, Don Ruem, and Matt Hundley Director: Matt Jaissle After Jack (DuBois), an actor who sold his soul for stardom, renegs on the deal with Satan, he turns to his childhood friend, Aaron (Scarsbrough), now a priest, hoping not only to free himself from the curse that has been placed on him, but also to stop the demonic conquest of the world that is coming. "Back From Hell" features a good idea--an actor who is cursed to inspires homicidal rage against him in anyone who looks into his eyes--but that idea is watered down by an insipid "demons are going to conquer the world" storyline that gets added. Any potential to bring decent life to this idea is then squashed by badly written dialogue that is delivered by actors who are amazing in their lack of talent; by bad casting (Larry DuBois would barely be believable as a porn star, let alone a Hollywood leading man); by badly choreographed fight scenes; by some of the worst gore effects ever put on film; by inconsistent color correction of the footage; by sound editing and foley work so bad it might almost have been better if the crew hadn't even bothered; and by a music soundtrack that sounds like it was a discarded rough draft stolen from the garbage cans outside John Carpenter's office. (Or maybe the band Goblin saw some of their discarded music swiped... there are after all zombies tossed into this flick for no real good reason.) I think maybe three minutes of actual music was composed for the film, and the same bit was used over and over... and it doesn't matter WHAT is happening on the screen... zombie attacks, boring filler footage of the heroes driving down the freeway, filler shots of the landscape... all are equally worthy of the short little electronic riff that is the movie's score. The only thing that makes this film even remotely watchable is the occasional moments of unintentional comedy, which is at its high-point when Father Aaron is touched by the Bible in ways he's never been before, and when the demonic entity Tiamat speaks with Jack and Father Aaron and sounds alternatively like Cookie Monster and Grover from "Sesame Street." (I kept expecting the demon to start saying "Near... Far! Neeaarr... Faaar!") There is also humor in the bad editing, sound effects, dialogue, and continuity control in the film. However, the giggle-worthy stuff is vastly outweighed by the just plain bad. "Back From Hell" is one of those films that is barely worthy of a putting on the program for a Bad Movie Night... and you want to make sure you show it last. It may be too bad to actually get through. (I only got through it because every time I reached for the remote, something so atrotiously bad would appear on the screen that I had to keep watching to see if things could get worse. It teeters on the brink between One Tomato and Zero, with the unintentional comedy earning it what little rating it gets. "Back From Hell" is a film that you want to put back on the shelf if you ever come across it. (I think the only place you'll find it on DVD are in some of the Brentwood Home Video multipacks--I saw it in the "Bite Night" 10-movie set. If you see it listed, particularly in one of the four packs, you might think twice before parting with your cash. Rated 0.5/5 Stars •  Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Back From Hell

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