‘The Bondsman’ Review: Kevin Bacon Horror-Comedy Series Is A Breath of Fresh Air
In the opening minutes of Prime’s new horror-comedy series The Bondsman, Hub Halloran (Kevin Bacon) gets himself killed by a man he was set up to capture. With his throat slit and his body now residing in the depths of hell, it doesn’t look like Hub will be continuing his work as a bounty hunter any time son. That is, until his eyes snap open and his throat heals shut as he’s resurrected and placed back on earth.
Hub doesn’t know how he was revived or why. But as he takes a night-time drive and passes a church, he sees the lights flickering inside and a shadowy figure dressed as a pastor lingering out front. When the figure turns towards Hub, it exposes its glowing yellow eyes and hisses at him like a wild animal. It’s clear his resurrection is not the only strange thing happening here. When Midge (Jolene Purdy), an agent working for a mysterious company, shows up on his doorstep claiming to be his handler, Hub is forced to reckon with a new career in hunting demons for the devil.
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Enlisting the help of his church-going mother, Kitty (Beth Grant), Hub attempts to understand the new life he’s been forced into. While her devotion to her son preoccupies most of her concerns, the same can’t be said about Hub’s ex-wife, Maryanne (Jennifer Nettles), and his son, Cade (Maxwell Jenkins). Despite their shared love for country music and songwriting, his pessimism has left him at a crossroads with his family. But, with a new lease on his undead life, he seeks to reconnect with them. This reconnection also put his family in danger, intensified by Maryanne’s new love interest, Lucky (Damon Harriman), who Hub believes to be the man who set him up to be killed.
While hunting demons is a pressing job, Hub’s personal demons may outweigh the sins of the townspeople who keep getting possessed. When his loved ones discover the supernatural reality of his new job, they all ask the same question: Why would a man like Hub be sent to hell? He shrugs his shoulders and claims he doesn’t have a clue, but the visions he has of a job gone wrong prove he knows more than he’s letting on. It keeps the audience on their toes while also forcing the show’s characters into dangerous situations. Most of the time, these hijinks are fun to watch, but sometimes it feels as if the series isn’t ready to allow its characters to truly feel the weight of the situations they’re in.
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Each episode of The Bondsman is named after a different demon and takes the form of the classic “villain of the week” trope. This, paired with every episode’s quick-paced 30-minute runtime, makes the show fly by like the winged figures it features. With each demon comes the unlikely vessel they decide to possess: a priest, a cheerleader, a young child, etc. Their souls are taken within the first few minutes of each episode, aiding the show’s light-hearted aura. The series can get serious when it wants to, although sometimes it feels like The Bondsman is afraid of allowing its actors to reach their full potential.
Although there are shows like AMC’s Interview with the Vampire that’ll withstand the test of time, horror is often solely found on the big screen. Compared to the 2010s, which featured an abundance of horror television, we live in an unprecedented era where horror shows are few and far between. Now, with The Bondsman, it finally feels there’s a show tailor-made for fans of Santa Clarita Diet and Ash Vs. The Evil Dead. With season one ending on a thrilling cliffhanger, the lives of Hub and his family hang in the balance between life and death. Hopefully, The Bondsman will find the audience it deserves and get a few more seasons filled with scares, country music, and Kevin Bacon slaying monsters.
All eight episodes of The Bondsman are streaming now on Prime Video.
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The Bondsman
Summary
With The Bondsman, it finally feels there’s a show tailor-made for fans of Santa Clarita Diet and Ash Vs. The Evil Dead.
Categorized: Reviews
