Portal To Hell
Woody Bess’ outstanding horror-comedy Portal to Hell is a Faustian deal wrapped in an emotional redemption arc I didn’t see coming. The film follows a lonely debt collector who discovers a portal to hell in this local laundromat. After following the tracks of a demon into the back alley, Dunn is presented with a deal: three souls for the life of his cancer-stricken neighbor. But as the saying goes, “No good deed goes unpunished.”
Roping in Weir, the laundromat’s manager, the two devise a plan to lure terrible people into the porta to fulfill the deal. But nothing is easy. Killing people, good or bad, is complicated.
Richard Kind plays Chip the demon. An absolutely genius casting; it’s like letting Kind play the live-action versions of the Hormone Monsters from Big Mouth. Keith David plays Mr Bobshank, with an IDGAF aura, which plays perfectly off of Holland’s Dunn, who cares way too much.Romina D’Ugo gives Weir a hilarious indifference and self-preservation. She and Holland are like some bizarre, like-minded vigilante pair. She is a star. Give her more leading roles, immediately.
Trey Holland is deliciously awkward playing Dunn. His weirdly accepting attitude makes for comedy gold. Dunn’s rehearsals for future conversations are both relatable and laugh-out-loud funny. Holland effortlessly owns the screen. He has a magnetic presence and comic timing of the gods.
The dialogue is riotous. The cast’s deadpan delivery is hysterical. Every actor commits 100% to the absurdity as if it’s just another day in their existence. But it is Bess’ unexpected unresolved trauma in Dunn’s backstory that takes the audience off guard. Dunn’s desire to help people might be his ultimate downfall. The script shifts distinctly with each act, the stakes getting higher, weirder, and more intense. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and Bess understands how fragile human behavior is.
Fans of Shawn of the Dead, Cabin in the Woods, Bloody Hell, and Werewolves Within will love Portal to Hell. The film’s potential to be a franchise is so ripe. It’s a genre fan’s dream. It’s a morally complex, undeniably hilarious study in free will and forgiveness. Portal To Hell is to die for.
A Portal Emerges In A Local Laundromat In Upcoming Horror-Comedy Portal To Hell on VOD 9/8 From Cineverse.
Trey Holland, Romina D’ugo, Richard Kind, and Keith David Star in The New Genre Bending Film From Writer/Director Woody Bess
Portal To Hell stars Trey Holland (Battleship, John Carter), Romina D’ugo (12 Monkeys, Law & Order: SVU), Keith David (The Thing, Armageddon) and Richard Kind (Inside Out, Argo). The film is written and directed by Woody Bess. The film is produced by Trey Holland, Lucas Ford, Tom Watts, and Woody Bess and executive produced by Dionne Lea, Keith David, George Loucas, Matthew Dean Russell, John Frederick and Christina Jobe.
The official synopsis is as follows: A routine debt collector’s life is turned upside down when a portal to hell opens in his local laundromat followed by a demon who offers him a deal – three souls to save his neighbor from being dragged to hell.
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