Hell's Bells

In my only review of the day, I discuss how The Skeleton Dance and Skeleton Frolic weren’t the only horror cartoons that Ub Iwerks animated. Like Dance, Hell’s Bells is now in public domain… no braindead hack better touch either of those for their new horror films!

This 6-minute effort is entirely set in Hell. Music is heard throughout as we see a variety of spooky creatures… bats, a giant spider, a huge snake, Cerberus. The song is Funeral March of a Marionette, by Charles Gounod. It’s a song you likely know if not by name—that’s the theme to the TV show Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

The demons perform the song and to their credit, are pretty darn good. They also dance and… ahem, milk a demon cow after Satan literally rings a bell in Hell! Ultimately, they are doomed to be food for Cerberus, but one demon refuses that fate. As some might say, Satan won’t take no prisoners, won’t spare no lives.

This contained demonic delights between the black-and-white animation bringing Hell to life (fire, pools of lava, etc.), the music, the demons themselves. While not as gleefully macabre as The Skeleton Dance-and it may not give you black sensations up and down your spine-that does not mean it isn’t wild for a Disney cartoon, or that it shouldn’t be watched during this time of year.