#FIRSTLOOK: “GONE TO HELL” COMING TO BANGERTV

Gone to Hell, the new Canadian adult animated comedy co-created by Brian Peco and Craig Mailman, will make its BangerTV premiere Friday, October 30, with all eight episodes rolling out weekly. The series is also streaming on Tubi through Animation+.

Set in 2001, the eight-episode series follows Demon Destroyer, a world-famous rock band whose members are crushed by their own stage mascot during a live performance and sent straight to Hell. There’s just one complication: they aren’t actually dead.

Back on Earth, the members of Demon Destroyer remain comatose. Their predicament triggers an obscure rule of the underworld known as the Coma Clause, which keeps the Gates of Hell open to them for as long as their bodies remain alive. If the band can reach the gates before their record label pulls the plug, they can return to Earth. If they escape, however, the Devil responsible for Hell faces eternal banishment, giving him every reason to make sure Demon Destroyer never leaves.

“Craig and I wanted to make something that captured the feeling of the cartoons we grew up watching every Saturday morning,” said Brian Peco, co-creator, writer, director and producer. “We created these hilarious characters, then we literally made Hell. The world is

made up of miniature sets that I made and they became such an important part of the identity of the show. There’s an imperfection to it that makes this strange world feel real.”

“Gone to Hell started with this very simple idea of a rock band trying to escape Hell, but the more we developed it, the more it became a story about people who are never quite satisfied with what they have,” said Craig Mailman, co-creator and producer. “It gave us a really funny foundation for the characters, but also a world that can keep getting bigger and stranger.”

The voice cast includes Paul Spence (FUBAR, Deaner 89’) as Demon Destroyer frontman Rick Fashun, Chris Locke as Dev Devilio, Derrick Beckles (Adult Swim’s Hot Package, The Eric Andre Show) as drummer Donnie, Jackie Pirico as bassist Jojo and Kevin Morgan as Derek and Deva.

Part supernatural adventure, part rock-and-roll satire, Gone to Hell draws on the visual language and anarchic energy of the Saturday morning cartoons its creators grew up watching, reimagined for an adult audience. Its underworld is not particularly frightening. Instead, Hell is populated by self-absorbed oddballs consumed by status, recognition and their own competing agendas.

At the centre of it all is Dev, Hell’s egomaniacal ruler, who has ambitions of fame of his own; his sister Deva, who would prefer to be running the place herself; and Derek, Dev’s shamelessly opportunistic assistant. Against them is a band desperate to get back to Earth — in no small part because they would very much like to be famous again.

The series’ distinctive visual style combines 2D character animation with physical, handcrafted miniature environments, creating a tactile sense of depth inspired by the cartoons, practical effects and toy-commercial aesthetics of the 1980s and 1990s. Peco also served as a miniature set builder on the production, with the physical environments filmed separately before being combined with the animated characters and visual effects.

Original music for the series was composed by Robin Hatch, whose score draws inspiration from John Carpenter, 1980s science fiction and the music of Saturday morning cartoons, bringing synth, tension and momentum to Demon Destroyer’s journey through the underworld.

The series also airs on the Animation+ live channel, available on Samsung TV Plus, Sony Live TV on PS5, The Roku Channel, Prime Video, LG Channels, VIZIO WatchFree+, Plex, VIDAA and Fire TV, with distribution continuing to expand.

Produced in Canada, Gone to Hell received support from the Independent Production Fund, Canada Media Fund and Ontario Creates.

The series is produced by Banger Films and marks the company’s first fully animated project.

ABOUT BANGER FILMS

Founded in 2004, Banger Films is an award-winning Canadian production company known for exploring music and pop culture through documentary storytelling. Its credits include the Peabody and Emmy Award-winning Hip-Hop Evolution, Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage, Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, This Is Pop, Metal Evolution, ZZ Top: That Little Ol’ Band from Texas, Long Time Running, Super Duper Alice Cooper, K-Pop Evolution and Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too?