As soon as rumors of Hell Baby’s existence started forming in the ether, it excited me to no end. The State and Reno 911 alums Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant bypass their usual high-concept comedy fare for something more high-concept horror comedy. Okay, so it’s not revolutionarily different or anything but it’s seemingly a perfect third bookend to David Wain’s 2012 comedy Wanderlust and the Yahoo-turned-E! dating show spoof series Burning Love, both of which feature different members of The State ‘s cast. And if it’s a bookend that happens to be haunted by demons, so be it.
Hell Baby, which premiered to a serviceable amount of fanfare at the Sundance Film Festival in January, is now as possessed as its central location, as Millennium Entertainment has acquired all of the U.S. rights for the film, with plans on releasing Hell Baby on all VOD platforms at some point this fall, with a theatrical run to follow 30 days later. Lennon and Garant also co-wrote, and co-produced with Darko Entertainment. The last features the duo brought to audiences were the two Night at the Museum films and 2007’s ping-pong comedy Balls of Fury.
In the film, Rob Corddry (Warm Bodies) and Leslie Bibb (A Good Old Fashioned Orgy) play an expectant couple who relocate into the most haunted old fixer-upper in New Orleans. Once the demonic possession become too much for the couple to stand, a crack team of elite exorcists from the Vatican are called upon to save the day. The film also stars the comedy all-star squad including Garant, Lennon, Paul Scheer (The League), Keegan Michael Key (Key and Peele), Rob Huebel (Childrens Hospital), Michael Ian Black (Burning Love) and Riki Lindhome (Last House on the Left).
