Hellblazers (2022) User Reviews

A Fair movie

[rpatrickvelez · 6/10 · 27 January 2022]

Without me giving a full synopsis- expect a fairly routine plot- evil stalks a small town, trapping the survivors in a bar until the final confrontation.

The most interesting plot points were the mid credit & after credit scenes.

The veteran actors had a few key moments and really serve as the hook I know they're why I clicked on the title. Dern is especially entertaining in a key scene with the sheriff. Adrienne Barbeau and Tony Todd have a few scenes ... However Meg Foster feels wasted in approx 1 min of screen time. Billy Zane appeared to give the minimum effort possible, but it's always a pleasure to see him. I suppose he did the best he could with what he was provided and I would have liked to know more about his character.

The rest of the cast is serviceable with a few needing additional practice delivering their lines. The sheriff was my favorite character-and was memorable in a scene carried by Dern.

The effects are fair (keep your eye out for the obvious chicken skin!!!) And when possible used practical vs digital (always a plus when delivered properly). A few scenes linger too long.

For what it is, a movie carried by a free streaming service, it's passable.

I watched why waiting for a repair man to visit my home and it made the time go fairly quickly.

This is a very uneven movie that doesn't take itself seriously, but if it did a little bit more, could have been really good

[kevin_robbins · 5/10 · 10 May 2022]

Hellblazer (2022) is a Tubi Original that I watched on...Tubi. The storyline follows a small town where a cult has unleashed a demon from hell. As people start disappearing the sheriff starts investigating the area where the cult resurrected the demon...it may be his last investigation.

This movie is directed by Justin Lee (A Reckoning) and stars Tony Todd (Candy Man), Adrienne Barbeau (Creepshow), Meg Foster (They Live), Courtney Gains (Children of the Corn), Bruce Dern (The Burbs) and Billy Zane (Demon Knight).

This movie has a tremendous cast...and every single one of them is under utilized except Bruce Dern. He was awesome. The comedy overall is pretty good. Dern's entire conversation at the store, and his Purdue reference, is hilarious. The cult vs Dern was outstanding. Todd being on the cover I will say is false advertising. He's in the movie for like two seconds. The demon in this is fairly crazy looking and I say the cult was well done.

Overall this is a very uneven movie that doesn't take itself seriously, but if it did a little bit more, could have been really good. This seemed liked an excuse to put together an awesome cast; unfortunately, they didn't do much with them once they did. I would score this a 5/10 but recommend seeing it once.

Impressive cast ensemble, but dubious movie contents...

[paul_haakonsen · 4/10 · 17 December 2022]

Well, initially then I have to say that I was rather impressed with the cast ensemble that was on the cast list for the 2022 horror movie "Hellblazers" from writer and director Justin Lee.

And yeah, I hadn't heard about the movie prior to stumbling upon it here late in 2022. But with it being a horror movie, of course I opted to sit down and watch the movie.

"Hellblazers" was watchable, sure, but it was by no means a grand milestone in horror cinema. In fact, I will actually go as far as to deem "Hellblazers" to be a rather mundane and bland foray into the horror genre. Luckily a rather impressive cast ensemble were able to keep the movie afloat.

The concept idea for "Hellblazers" was interesting enough, there were some potential here, for sure. But writer and director Justin Lee seemed to drop the ball and opted to go for a rather bland and generic approach to bring the movie to life on the screen.

If you are a newcomer to the horror genre, then you might get a kick out of "Hellblazers". But if you are, like myself, a seasoned horror veteran, then "Hellblazers" came and went without much of any lasting impression. This is hardly a movie that I will recommend to horror fans, except if it is only to see the rather nice cast ensemble.

The acting performances in "Hellblazers" were fair enough, but it was clear that the actors and actresses were struggling with a bland script and character gallery. There are some familiar faces and names on the cast list, especially if you have been watching horror movie since the 1980s; with the likes of Ed Morrone, Adrienne Barbeau, Meg Foster, Courtney Gains, John Kassir, Edward Finlay, Bruce Dern and Billy Zane.

My rating of "Hellblazers" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.

As usual, the overall rating has been manipulated

[romneymeredith · 3/10 · 27 January 2022]

Note - this movie was a Tubi production.

I'm a huge horror fan and enjoyed seeing Dern, Zane, Barbeau, Foster and Todd in the movie but only the first three had any real roles (which were too small) which was a real waste. I thought the other actors and actresses were okay and I really liked the small town setting. I also liked the cinematography.

But what the movie failed to do was what a movie like "Lake Placid" did - deliver a well-crafted script with funny moments (they tried but there wasn't enough 'hits') and a real punch in the death scenes. Except for a few brief moments with the monster, the special effects were so lacking that almost all of the death scenes were implied and the killing blows took place off camera. And note to the writers of this - Claymore mines don't simply explode in a big plume of dark smoke. The action scenes involving guns were a joke. This movie was rated R only due to some scattered obscenities, there was no nudity or gore. Also, the pacing for a good part of the movie was just too slow and some of the scenes were simply not believable - for example, why did Candyman (Tony Todd) simply sacrifice himself when he had no need to nor the motivation to do so?

I actually at first thought that the 5 veteran horror movie actors and actresses had pooled their own money together to produce this movie but after seeing the credits I realized they didn't. Smart move.

Look, if you're bored late at night and you really have nothing better to do then give it a look. Adrienne, you really kept yourself fit. But Meg Foster looks like Darth Vader when they removed his helmet at the end of "The Return of the Jedi" which is a darn shame.

I thought Dern's monologue at the beginning was funny but Tubi, if you're going to make a movie with people of this quality for the love of all that's holy GIVE THEM A SCRIPT!!! Hire some competent writers! And spend some money on special effects! You suck out most of the horror in a horror movie when all the gore is implied because it takes place off screen!

P.s. I am so tired of seeing movies like this initially with high ratings (6.5 stars as of my review) obviously not real. Cast, people who worked on the movie and their friends are obviously skewing these reviews - don't fall for it. Read the most negative reviews first as they have no financial motive to post them, as I don't.

Cut the cr@p

[radhrh · 1/10 · 10 February 2022]

This isn't irony. It isn't so bad it's good. This isn't an homage to great(er) movies. It's cr@p pure and simple. A very bad movie indeed which for some reason has tricked the gullible into thinking it's some sort of post modern deconstruction of whatever. Billy Zane and Bruce Dern must be very hard up to take part in this stinking pile of garbage. I feel sorry for them.

I'll never get that hour an a half back!

[tman-21289 · 1/10 · 12 February 2022]

Don't let that happen to you! This is basically The Void meets Feast and it's horrible!!! Long and boring. Short on scares and blood this shouldn't be in the horror genre!! Simply put, this is worse than any SyFy channel garbage I've ever seen!! Your time is more valuable than this movie!

Wanted to love it

[theRealKidneythief · 2/10 · 26 January 2023]

Within the first 20 minutes there is an event, then a witness of said event describes the event we just saw to the sheriff. Then the sheriff says "Let me get this straight..." and relays the event back to the witness who just described it! Who is writing this stuff?

The premise seemed interesting and with a better script and more gore (this may have been due to budget constraints) it could have been entertaining. As-is it feels like the talent they brought together for this effort was wasted.

I also think this would have worked better as a straight-up horror film. The "comedy" was not funny. Honestly, I would skip this one.

Indie Horror at Its Best

[track100 · 9 February 2022]

Fun plot and great cameos. This is by far the best Tubi Exclusive on the app. I put it on for background noise and it turned out to be engaging and super fun. Justin Lee deserves more money and time for his next project. I hope the whole cast comes back for some kind non-sequel follow up. Practical effects fans will be pleased. Purdue alumni will have mixed feelings. Go see it!

Awesome cast!

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 9 June 2022]

Vietnam vet Bill Unger (Bruce Dern) is just trying to visit his wife's grave when he hears Joshua (Billy Zane) and his followers conjure a demon, a fact that no one seems to believe. They better - the coven plans on feeding that demon every single person in town.

The real reason many genre fans will want to watch this Tubi original is the cast: Courtney Gains (Malachai!), Meg Foster (Evil Lyn!), John Kassir (the Crypt Keeper!), Tony Todd (do I even have to tell you?) and Adrienne Barbeau as a DJ not named Stevie Wayne, the nightlight at KAB.

It's also a The 'Burbs reunion and doesn't miss the opportunity to throw in a line between Dern and Gains.

Director and writer Justin Lee (Apache Junction, Big Legend) has excelled at making movies with monsters in them. This one has a great demon - you barely see it but when you do, it's quite incredible - and a cult determined to destroy a town that is in no way ready to go down without a fight.

Sure, VFW and The Void did this before and better, but if Tubi is now our video store, this is certainly not a bad film to grab before the store closes and you promised everyone you'd get a horror movie.

The Void meets Feast

[scary-art · 7/10 · 7 February 2022]

It kinda starts off with a SyFy movie formula but then takes a lot of fun, unpredictable directions. It's good to see Tony Todd and Adrienne Barbeau if fun movies again. Bruce Dern would have ruled in You're Next.

Seriously?

[simoncoram-06766 · 1/10 · 25 May 2022]

How anyone can take a mega-cast like this and make such a steaming great pile of poo is absolutely astonishing. The director and screenwriter should've faced a firing squad. The sheriff is the original tawt-in-the-hat, about as useful and competent in his role as a dog egg. The deputy cannot act. Literally the only reasonable thing apart from the stars, who do their best with the terrible script, is the 'demon'.

Fun movie from the start!

[cirisortiz · 9/10 · 24 January 2022]

Great cast! A little bit from this movie, another bit from that one, and on and on. I found it entertaining and fun. Not the movie for someone looking for a masterpiece. Couldn't believe someone's dumb review, what no sense of humor? I started laughing for the very beginning. Sure beats those horror movies that are just a copy of a few hundred before. I wrote the name down, so I can watch it again. Billy Zane, Tony Todd, Bruce Dern's explanation of what he saw, LOL.

A Good Tongue in Cheek Horror Movie

[fatfil-414-451797 · 7/10 · 14 January 2023]

This was one of those movies I was sort of half watching while doing something else, but after the first 10-15 minutes I was hooked. Nothing makes sense in this movie. Nothing is ever explained, the extraordinarily bad decisions made by some characters are frustrating. But the thing that really lift s this above is the fact the characters a likeable and very well acted. There are some great characters acted by some recognisable actors. It is a good fun movie, but suffers from falling between the lines of comedy and horror. You never find out the backstory, and the first 10 minutes seem like a life time ago, but it was fun, and sometimes horror movies need that..

Horrible

[nency · 1/10 · 19 February 2022]

If this was a parody I would hav giving it an 5-6 but it's not. Don't waist you time on this one..............................................................................,..,. And 150.

One of the better Tubi originals, but that's not the highest bar

[Cr0wgrrl · 5/10 · 29 January 2024]

Who it's for: Fans of horror movies like the cheesy, often lumbering Lovecraft adaptations from the 90s - if you can watch them in all their uneven glory, you'll probably have a lot of fun watching this movie. I recommend watching it with friends who enjoy yelling advice at the screen and view watching horror movies as a social activity.

Who it's not for: Gorehounds who want lots of blood, people who hate "evil cult" movies, people who can't find any joy watching low-budget indie flicks made by people who dream a bit higher than they can reach, people who only like deeply intellectual movies.

What it's got going for it: A) A decent plot. B) Some fun classic horror actors that it's always good to see on screen. C) A sense of humor. D) A clear love for the genre. E) A good climax. F) Actors who obviously care about their role and aren't just zombie-ing their way through the lines like you get in flicks from The Asylum; when they look and sound amateurish in the beginning, it's intentional. G) A monster that looks way better than Rawhead Rex (again, a low bar, but hey).

What this move needed: A) An editor. The dialogue would be a lot funnier with better pacing, and the action would have as well. B) A bigger budget, especially for special effects. For the amount of people killed in this movie, the deaths are ridiculously bloodless. C) Less restraint. This movie deserved to run wild and go to 11. I don't care if you're using sausages and ketchup like the first NotLD movie, put that axe into someone's stomach and let the gory good times fly. That's what the core audience of a movie like this is going to be there for. D) More on-screen time for the horror greats. I don't know if it was a budget or availability issue, but I for one would have LOVED to see Tony Todd or Adrienne Barbeau as the sheriff, for example. Let the folks with the horror chops lift the movie up. E) A little more awareness. It's 2022, we're past the point of only having one black character who sacrifices himself to save the main white cast with no motivation. See D - Tony Todd as the lead would have been banging.

All that said, I finished this movie with a certain fondness for it. It's low-budget, but it knows what its job was. It's decently directed and shot, and decently acted. It just needed *more*.

Such potential

[onceanelf · 3/10 · 25 September 2023]

Sloppy, sloppy work.

Sad to see some great icons dragged so low.

Continuity was appalling, editing, set design, camera work, it was all sloppy. Don't get me started on the terrible practical effects. I understand working on a budget, but I swear they just draped chicken skin on the demon at one point.

It's such a shame to be honest. It had a lot of potential to be a great low budget film. Perhaps, instead of hiring some kitch legends, they could have spent the money on production. Tony Todd, Meg Foster et al can not substitute for decent FX. In fact it was a little sad to see them all in this.

Not good enough

[deloudelouvain · 4/10 · 4 March 2023]

I get it that this movie isn't to be taken too seriously, they tried to make it mildly funny at times (and in my opinion they failed), but the story is just too stupid. Too many bad decisions to make it not looking idiotic. For example, why would a cop armed with a 12 gage run away from a hooded villain armed with just a sickle or a crowbar? What kind of cop is that? It's little details like that that made it boring. The cinematography wasn't bad, I'll give them that, nor was the acting although the 'big' names just have a very small role, but the story was just not good. The demon/monster looked okay for a small budget, but scary for sure not. I wouldn't waste your time with this one if I were you.

I Watched This For The Cast

[ladymidath · 7/10 · 16 September 2023]

I have not seen such a dream movie cast since The House Of Long Shadows. I watched this because Having Tony Todd, Billy Zane and Bruce Dern in the same film is absolutely awesome. Throw Meg Foster .and Adrienne Barbeau and it is a horror happy meal. The movie unfortunately was not great, it was okay and did it's job. With the cast it had, it could have been a lot better, but it was not bad, it just didn't really do anything that different. Also. Todd and Dern did not stay in the film for very long. I would have been great to have had them in longer and doing a bit more. I did enjoy this movie, it was fun and there were some pretty good action scenes. At times, the acting was a little off, but nothing too bad. This is a fun film.

Lorena, we have a big problem

[nogodnomasters · 6/10 · 21 December 2022]

The film opens with Billy Zane reading from a book and rather poorly attempting to raise a demon from hell. They manage to get the victim into the pit and out pops a demon. This was witnessed from afar by Bill Unger (Bruce Dern). The scene then goes to the small town of Hope Valley which has a policeman for every three people in town. Here we are introduced to many of the town's characters, none of which are as funny as Billy Zane or the gritty Bruce Dern. Bill rolls in the sheriff's office and goes on about what he saw on his property to the new sheriff Joe (Ed Morrone) from New York. For some strange reason Joe doesn't believe this Vietnam Vet who occasionally sees space aliens on his property. The plot heats up as the Boilermakers need to feed the demon human bodies.

The film was funny when Zane or Dern were on the screen. It was boring when they weren't on the screen. Needless to say, they exited the film too soon.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity.

Character is everything

[bowmanblue · 7/10 · 3 January 2024]

I watch a lot of B-movie horror films and normally the characters are pretty forgettable. They're all cliches or annoying, or both! In 'Hellblazers' the plot is nothing new - basically a big monster is stalking a small-time American town. However, what puts this head and shoulders over almost all others in its genre, is the writing and characters.

Most modern films seem to go on too long and feel like they're outstaying their welcome. But this time I actually would have preferred 'Hellblazers' to be remade into some sort of ten-part Netflix series. Every character is interesting and distinctive. None of them are particularly unlikeable - even the one who is (and he instantly redeems himself by knowing he's not very nice and leaning into it!) and play off each other well. The dialogue has a natural feel to it and characters chat to each other about things that have nothing to do with the overall story. This kind of 'extra' dialogue almost gives the film a 'Tarrantino-esque' feel to it.

The movie clocks in a one hour twenty-four minutes. I happened to pause it at forty-four minutes in. That's basically over halfway through and I have to admit, not much had actually happened by that stage. Normally, I'd say that's a drawback, but I'd enjoyed the characters so much, I really wasn't that bothered.

It's not beyond criticism though. The film-makers managed to cast legendary Tony 'Candyman' Todd in it (you'll probably notice him in ALL the marketing!) yet his role is little more than an extended cameo, which is a shame as he would definitely have made the film - even - better being in it for longer.

For the first half I was impressed with how characters act sanely (not always common in a horror/slasher film!), but - unfortunately - some tend to make silly mistakes in the second half simply to move the plot to where it needs to go. Plus the monster isn't on screen for very long, but it's a nicely gruesome masked man in a costume, so I guess it's forgivable due to budget.

Overall, I really enjoyed this. I'd loved to have seen it as a 'Twin Peaks' style miniseries, but I'll take what I can get!

Thought it was really good.

[pillowbiter-33406 · 8/10 · 19 March 2022]

In the opening scene with Billy Zane, I thought it would be camp and cheesy. But it actually turned out to be fun and enjoyable. Bruce Dern and his booby traps were great and the supporting cast was so very good. Don't overthink and take it too seriously.

Solid comedy-horror with a phenomenal "tribute" cast.

[leesimon-26357 · 8/10 · 22 September 2022]

Big city sheriff moves to small town to avoid the high crime and violence, but weird events start to occur, and people start to disappear. What is going on and how many of our cast of goofballs and stereotypes will survive?

Almost every horror staple actor who was still alive at the time of filming was briefly present in this very enjoyable, short, straight-forward movie. Bruce Dern and his character were absolutely hysterical. A hearty Happy Hannukah to you, my friend!

I liked it a lot. The biggest detriment is how light it is on story, script, and dialogue. It almost feels like this was more created as a series of small inside jokes, references and tributes to previous horror movies, rather than its own story. But I still enjoyed it. The silly humor was my kind of humor. There were a few nice and gory kills. And in the end. There is basically zero explanation for the actual supernatural events.

I'll re-watch this often. I liked it very much. It's a solid 8.9 for me, and I revisit this review wondering if I should raise it to a 9, probably only due to a few jokes that I found particularly pleasing and worth seeing regularly.

Loved it

[thales-63045 · 10/10 · 7 October 2023]

This is a total iuss take of the horror genre. Lots of cameos from the likes of Bryce Dern, Meg Foster to name a few. It's not to be taken seriously and unlike the Evil Dead there isn't as much blood and gore. The actors looked like they were having fun. I could say the story is weak but it's supposed to be. It's a non think movie and something to watch during a severe rainstorm (as I did). It's quirky amusing and Billy Zane was definitely extracting the urine on this one. It's low budget but even then it's miles better than a lot of multi million dollar movies currently showing on Amazon Prime.