A few years back, I owned a house in a growing Tennessee town, but I didn’t really know my neighbors. That changed when my daughter wanted to play with their kids, giving me a reason to walk over and introduce myself. Turns out, I’d been living next to one of the best people I’ve ever met. Anytime I needed help, he was there. If they had a party, I was invited. When I needed help digging something up in my yard, he showed up with a shovel in hand. My only regret was that I hadn’t met him sooner.
Having a neighbor like that makes you want to return the favor. I’d like to think I would have grabbed a shovel for him just as quickly. But if a demon wanted his soul, and saving him meant handing over three other people? I might need a minute to think that one through.
That’s the predicament at the center of the horror comedy Portal to Hell.
Written and directed by Woody Bess, Portal to Hell follows Dunn (Trey Holland), a debt collector whose days rarely stray from the same routine. His next-door neighbor, Mr. Bobshank (Keith David), has terminal cancer and is one of the few people Dunn considers a friend.
One night at the laundromat, Dunn and Ed (Romina D’Ugo) discover a portal to hell. Neither knows what to do about it, along with Chip (Richard Kind), the demon who comes through.
When Dunn learns that Chip has come for Mr. Bobshank’s life and soul, he refuses to accept it. Chip offers him a bargain: deliver three other souls and he’ll spare Dunn’s neighbor. But a deal with a demon is bound to come with some very fine print.
I thought the mix of horror and comedy worked fairly well. Nothing about the humor felt especially new, but it helped break up the horror and kept things from getting too heavy. With a setup this strange, there’s room to have some fun, and I appreciated that the film gave itself permission to do that. I wouldn’t call the balance anything special, but it did enough to keep me interested in where this odd situation was heading.
What surprised me more were the heartfelt moments. I went into a movie about a portal to hell in a laundromat expecting demons and a few laughs, so I wasn’t really prepared for it to get to me in other ways. Those scenes added another layer to the story and gave me more to care about beyond the bargain, itself. Dunn becomes a very layered character over the course of the film, moving from a one-dimensional debt collector to a guy with lots of heart.
I also have to give the film credit for Chip. For a low-budget indie, he’s a pretty impressive looking demon. Trevor Newlin wears the costume, with Richard Kind providing the voice, and I appreciated the work that went into bringing him to life. There’s something fun about seeing an actual performer in a creature costume, especially when the results look this good. Chip was one of the pieces where the film made the most of what it had.
As much as I appreciated the comedy breaking up the horror, a lot of the jokes didn’t land for me. There’s plenty of dry humor delivered with a deadpan expression, and sometimes that works. Other times, it feels like the film is trying a little too hard to make an awkward exchange funny. I could see what it was going for, but I found myself waiting for a laugh that never came.
The pacing was a bigger problem. Around 90 minutes is usually just right for me, especially for a horror comedy, but this one started to drag. The story goes off the rails at times, and I found myself wondering how we had gotten so far from the setup that interested me in the first place. For a movie with a fairly straightforward bargain at its center, it sometimes struggles to stay focused.
Strangely enough, at the same time, I also felt like there was more story here that needed room to breathe. Some ideas could have used more attention, even while other stretches felt longer than necessary. I don’t know what actually ended up on the cutting room floor, but parts of the film left me feeling like I had missed something. That frustrated me: I wanted it to pick up the pace, but I also wanted it to slow down long enough to explore what it had introduced.
I give Portal to Hell three out of five stars.
It’s a good watch with its share of flaws, including jokes that don’t always land and a story that wanders more than it should. Still, the heartfelt moments and an impressive demon give it enough personality to make the trip worthwhile.
As for my old neighbor, I’d gladly show up with a shovel if he needed me. If he needed three souls, I’d probably start by asking whether we could just try a different laundromat.