Hazbin Hotel S1 E1 “Overture”: Review
Score — 7/10
Before we start, I should probably fill in the blanks.
Hi, I’m Rory. I’m a big fan of film, TV, literature, and theatre, and I’m also an aspiring writer. In the last year or so, I have fallen deeply in love with writing film reviews, which I publish on my Letterboxd account, the link of which is at time of writing in my bio. I’ve decided 2024 is the year I branch out, and Medium seems to be the best place for it. I originally intended to use this as a place to publish occasional short stories, poems and general musings, but the more I thought about it, I realised this platform gave me a lot of freedom. So, I’m going to be writing some review stuff here as well now, starting with reviews of the eight episodes of Hazbin Hotel Season 1, and later in the year hopefully reviews of Ncuti Gatwa’s first series of Doctor Who.
It’s been a long wait, but it’s finally here. Vivienne Medrano, AKA Vivziepop’s passion project has finally landed. On Prime, no less. I, along with many other passionate fan’s of Vivzie’s work, have been waiting for Hazbin Hotel to make good on the potential from its celebrated 2019 pilot, and now we have eight episodes of Charlie, Vaggie and all the others engaged in shenanigans, hijinks and quality musical numbers.
For those of you who don’t know, Hazbin Hotel started life as a 33-minute independent animated musical online pilot that follows Charlie, the princess of Hell, attempting to save her people from the annual extermination carried out by the Angels of Heaven as a way to combat Hell’s overpopulation. Her plan involves giving sinners a chance at rehabilitation and redeeming them via a stay at the “Happy Hotel”. However, her circumstances aren’t great: Her only help is her devoted girlfriend Vaggie, their sole guest is the troublesome pornstar Angel Dust who keeps making them look bad, and her idea is laughed at on national broadcast, because who in hell would want to be better? That all changes when she ends up attracting the attention of the mysterious Radio Demon, Alastor, who sports a slasher smile and generally sinister air. However, Alastor’s interest is in the spirit of aid, as he offers to help run the hotel. Not out of genuine belief in Charlie’s ideals, but a wish for entertainment, as he thinks watching souls fail to be redeemed would be fun. He enlists the help of Nifty, a hyperactive clean freak who resembles a child with one eye, and Husk, a winged cat and gambling man who owes Alastor big time, to work at the Hotel, and bam, you’ve got a great premise, great cast, oh and of course, great songs, because this is a musical series.
Okay, that’s the pilot. How about the first proper episode, ‘Overture’? We start off a little while after, with Charlie (Erika Henningsen) being given a chance to present her idea to the head of the Angel exterminators, Adam (Alex Brightman), in an attempt to get Heaven to sanction her plan. Meanwhile, Vaggie (Stephanie Beatriz) and Alastor (Amir Talai) put their differences aside and attempt to corral Angel (Blake Roman), Husk (Keith David) and Nifty (Kimiko Glenn) into making a commercial for the hotel.
As far as series premieres go, ‘Overture’ is solid, enjoyable, and efficient. The writing is light, breezy and keeps the audience engaged whilst getting them up to speed. Maybe some of the early dialogue is a little clumsy, but there’s enough charming moments to compensate. The comedy is also exquisite, with a great many gags executed in a tight 20-minute timespan. The best part of the entire series is undoubtedly the characters, from Charlie and her endearing and unwieldy optimism, to Alastor and his mysterious creepy aura, to Vaggie and her alternating of soft towards Charlie and angry towards anyone who gives her crap.
In terms of visual style, this series continues Vivizie’s track record for ambition, flourish and detail. The animation is beautiful and expressive, and every single character design is sharp, memorable and lovingly crafted. I have to single out Alastor’s design for its sheer creepiness and staying power, but every design has something unique and compelling about it. The backgrounds are soaked in vibrant red, except Charlie’s opening storybook narration, which is accompanied by gorgeous abstract 2D animation, reminiscent of the pilot’s opening scene, and when we enter the Heaven embassy building, where everything is gold, white and shining. Hazbin’s aesthetics are top-notch, unsurprising given the budget and talent behind the camera.
I would be remiss not to single out some of the vocal performances for praise. Erika Henningsen is fantastic, bringing so much heart, energy and comedic spark to her portrayal of Charlie. Stephanie Beatriz is also giving it her all, capturing that mix of devotion and exasperation that makes Vaggie such a compelling character. Amir Talai imbues Alastor with a sort of sadistic playfulness underlied with unimaginable danger that’s perfect for the character. And Alex Brightman’s voicing of Adam is hilarious, leaning into the character’s douchebag-rocker vibe very well.
Next on the list of topics are songs, as this is a musical (have I mentioned this is a musical? I feel like I’ve forgotten to mention that). There are two songs in this episode (a pattern that has so far lasted through the series), and both are decent. ‘Happy Day in Hell’ sees Charlie expressing optimism about the Angels’ potentially backing the Hotel, whilst Vaggie warns her to be careful and the residents of Hell go about their horrific everyday lives. It’s a great use of juxtaposition, with Charlie’s sunny and upbeat attitude being shown against a backdrop of utter carnage, but I do have to admit I prefer the episode’s latter number “Hell is Forever”, where Adam emphatically rejects and mocks Charlie’s plan, just because it makes me laugh a lot, sounds fantastic, and combines over-the-top presentation with a harsh reality check for Charlie that the exterminators aren’t just impartial and ruthless, they’re sadistic motherf*ckers, openly stating that “for those of us with divine ordainment, extermination is entertainment!” Chilling stuff, delivered in a funny and flippant manner. That’s a lot of this show’s charm.
If I had one final note, the use of sound effects in this first episode is, like the pilot, a little hit-and-miss; they’re sometimes being used to great comedic effect, but occasionally feel a bit random and distracting.
Overall, “Overture” is an entertaining, well put-together first episode that maybe doesn’t hit every ball out of the park, but keeps the audience engaged and packs in some great musical numbers. More like this, please.
Hazbin Hotel is currently streaming on Prime Video.
