Hell’s Bells Blu Ray Review (SRS Cinema)

Hell’s Bells (aKa Devil Music) is a 2020 horror comedy written/produced/directed by Jim O’Rear (Living Dead Live!, The Deepening, Torture Room, Scream Farm, Camp Massacre, The Hospital 2, and Nightblade) and Scott Tepperman (I Dared You! Truth or Dare Part 5, Cruel Summer franchise, Nightblade, and Magnetic Highway franchise). It was executive produced by Robbin Terry (The Hospital 2, Nightblade, Idle Girl, and Cruel Summer). Two aging morons Arthur (played by: Jim O’Rear from Post Mortem America 2021, Truth or Dare Part 5, Day of the Dead, and Cruel Summer franchise) and Herb (played by: Scott Tepperman from The Hospital, Don’t Look in the Basement 2, Fatal Desires, and Ghost Hunters International) accidentally make a deal with the Devil (played by: Marc Price from Trick or Treat, Killer Tomatoes Eat France!, Family Ties, Combat High, and Condo) to make themselves rock stars. They are enjoying their new found fame until it’s time to pay the greedy Reaper. Their lifelong dreams become a living nightmare!!!! Hell’s Bells is basically a lower budget horror version of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Imagine if Dumb and Dumber meets Trick or Treat but with no budget whatsoever. Los Bastardz Productions has been pumping out independent features since 2017. The script is silly and over the top. Jim O’Rear kept busy directing, writing, producing, acting, composing, editing, and visual/special fx here. Arthur is so damn dumb but he’s entertaining. His decisions just keep getting worse in this and he deserves exactly what he gets. Scott Tepperman is just as stupid as Herb. He has no ambition in life besides being a rock star. Unfortunately, his music is awful so he’s forced to get help from the supernatural Lucifer. These two have solid chemistry together. They know what they are making when it comes to Hell’s Bells. I know they did it to add to the humor but their wigs look beyond fake and horrible for this. Marc Price gives the best performance in Hell’s Bells as the mysterious stranger. It’s pretty obvious that he’s up to no good but everyone involved has no brains so he takes advantage of the situation. It’s an interesting take on the devil. The rest of the supporting cast includes Rebekah Erb (Parallels), Cameron Scott (Post Mortem America 2021), Layla Dawn (The Pact), Cayt Feinics (Death-Scort Service), Paul Van Scott (Cruel Summer franchise), Jimmy Maguire (Cruel Summer), Jerry Reeves (Kill Dolly Kill), Tom Komisar (Don’t F*ck in the Woods 2), Lisa Krick (True or Dare Part 5), Harold McLeod II (Night School), Ernest Douglas Nichols (Camp Massacre), and Kim Casciotti (Nightblade). Hell’s Bells never takes itself seriously. It’s pure parody and satire. One of the best things about Hell’s Bells is the special fx from artist Marcus Koch (Rot, 100 Tears, Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV, Sweatshop, Jakob’s Wife, Death House, Frankenstein Created Bikers, We are Still Here, Death-Scort Service, and American Guinea Pig: The Song of Solomon). It has some funny moments, they embrace it’s cheap production values and do whatever they can with it. It kinda reminds me of a Full Moon Features comedy. It’s not for everyone but I thought it was fun for the most part. It tries to be bad on purpose, it’s something that you just need to turn off your brain and check out. It’s currently streaming on Tubi and Fawesome if you are curious!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from SRS Cinema! This 1080p (1.85:1) unrated transfer looks decent on home video. It’s the best it’s ever going to look but I appreciate it’s ambitious production design and gore. It has an English: Dolby Digital 2.0 track on the disc. It’s all about it’s soundtrack when it comes to the audio. All of the dialogue is very clean, the comedy is elevated, and the music has a killer boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. It has an “Audio Commentary” with Jim O’Rear and Scott Tepperman. They said this feature almost didn’t get finish. They had some issues and the post production took over a year. They point out locations, references, and go over all of the scenes. They had to change their original title Devil Music because another film came out before this that was similar with the same exact name. They make fun of them the whole time and they have a blast revisiting this. They chat about the cast, crew, characters, fx, and many other things. They are very detailed with their information and they have plenty of inside stories. It has the little over 20 minute “Behind the Scenes”. It has interviews with a variety of the cast and crew from Hell’s Bells. It has all kinds of BTS footage from the set. It gives you an inside look into the shoot, their independent process, and the special fx. It has a little over 4 minutes of “Bloopers”. It has the little over 2 minute “Burnin’ Love” music video from Devil Music. It has a “Trailer” for Hell’s Bells. It has a variety of SRS Cinema related “Trailers”. It’s available everywhere right now!!!!