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Film: HeBGB TV
Year: 2022
Director: Eric Griffin, Adam Lenhart and Jack Mcclellan
Writers: Eric Griffin, Adam Lenhart and Jake Mcclellan
Starring: Zenobia Decoteau, Josh Dorsheimer and Michael Garland
Review:
This is one that looked interesting to me. It was another anthology film that was showing at the Nightmares Film Festival. I got to see this for its Midwest premiere and I also believe that the filmmakers were in attendance or at least some of them. Other than that, I figured this was going to be influenced by WNUF Halloween Special.
Synopsis: goofy horror hijinks and high camp queer shenanigans ensue when some siblings get transmitted into an unsuspecting household via a retro-horror TV cable box.
Now for this one, we have a couple of kids who are watching TV. They are waiting on a pizza when a strange person shows up at their house. They are credited as Knucklehead and they want the kids to check out this new television box called HeBGB TV. They are leery but agree to watch. One of the co-writers/co-directors is this person as well, just something that I wanted to include.
It is from here that we get a bit different take on the anthology film. Knucklehead takes on a few different roles here like a news broadcaster on F U news. We also see that this new cable box is taking the world by storm and everyone wants one. The weird thing is that businesses are selling out of them and more appear. They aren’t even sure who stocked them there. It also has different shows and movies, but the scary thing is that they aren’t sure who is the viewer and who is being watched as the lines of reality are blurred.
That is where I’m going to leave my recap. What is interesting is that we have a good handful of characters, but from the Internet Movie Database, there aren’t character names. Plus, we have a good number of actors who take on different roles throughout as well. This isn’t a traditional anthology either. I’d say that this would be closer to Trick ‘r Treat. We will leave a story and then come back to it. We have characters we see in one story appearing in another. There could be considered a wraparound with the two children and Knucklehead, but that only seems to be due to it starting and ending this. It does pop in once around the middle as well.
To get a deeper into this, we are getting a comedy first and foremost. There are horror elements with it. This did make me chuckle quite a bit. The humor is both crude and tongue in cheek. I would put this akin to a movie you’d watch as a kid, laugh at some of the jokes, but seeing it as an adult there is more to pull from it. There are puns and plays on words that we get here. I did enjoy this. What I will say though is that it does get a bit repetitive for me as well though. It drug a bit which is a bummer to say since this does have a runtime under an hour and half or close to it. I’m not sure if they had enough ideas as they thought.
There is social commentary here though that impressed me. It isn’t something that is new though. This is pointing out about how watching television rots your brain. Now I don’t fully believe this, but if you take everything you see at face value, this is poking fun at that. This new box’s full intention is to take over and make everyone mindless zombies. It is looking at America there, especially the idea of following whatever the TV tells you. There is something with the two children in the beginning though that makes me wonder what they are trying to say there. I can appreciate this concept it is pushing even if it doesn’t fully stick the landing.
Where I’ll go then is with the filmmaking. This one is low budget, but I like what they do with it. The cinematography is fine. They make this feel outdated. I think that is done strategically though since cable boxes are a thing of the past. This does go heavy with the CGI, but it is what it is. There is a bit of a charm to it if I’m honest. There are practical effects, especially with the different make-up jobs for Knucklehead. I’ll include his performance here. He was good. The rest of the cast was fine in support. There is overacting, but that is by design for the comedy so I’m not going to harp on it. Other than that, I’d say that the soundtrack was also fine for what they needed.
In conclusion, I don’t have much more to say about this. We are getting a fun take on an anthology film. This is comedy first with elements of horror in there and even a bit of social commentary. The acting fits for what they needed. I’d say that overall, the filmmaking was solid as well. This won’t be for everyone. If you like cheesy, dumb films that don’t take themselves too seriously, give this one a go.
My Rating: 6 out of 10