''Hell to Pay'' is a 2011 black-and-white neo-noir film written and directed by

Jay Jennings Jay Robert Jennings (born August 23, 1965) is an American independent filmmaker and author. He has directed two feature films, '' Loanshark'' (1999) and ''Hell to Pay'' (2014), as well as, an assortment of short films and documentaries. Jennin ...

. The film pays homage to 1950s

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...

and 1970s

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

Plot

"The Money Collector" (Charles Santore) is a

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

debt collector Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The de ...

with a short fuse who burns too many bridges and now must leave town before he gets himself killed. The film's narrative revolves around his life and the low-life scum that he encounters in his everyday life. When he is not collecting money, threatening people in broad daylight, or getting blowjobs from hookers, he is often being scolded by the

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

crime boss that he works for. His family life is not much better. His estranged wife and deadbeat father only come around when they need money and the only person in his life that he trusts is his mentor, a former collector who gives him a chance to get out of the

racket Racket may refer to: * Racket (crime), a systematised element of organized crime ** Protection racket, a scheme whereby a group provides protection to businesses or other groups through violence outside the sanction of the law * Racket (sports equ ...

before things take a turn for the worse. Of course he does not take his mentor's advice, which leads to the most stable person in his world being murdered on the direct orders of his own boss. This act of betrayal sets in motion the film's climatic showdown.

Production

Produced for $15,000, ''Hell to Pay'' is a loose remake of Jennings' ''

Loanshark A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high interest rates, has strict terms of collection upon failure, and generally operates outside the law. Description Because loan sharks operate mostly illegally, they cannot reasonably ...

'' (1999). The film was shot on location, all around Los Angeles,

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

Silver Lake Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

, Santa Monica, and

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...

, using actual buildings, apartments, offices, streets, alleys, parks, shopping centers, and dive bars which added to the film's realistic look and feel.

Reception

"Fast-paced and hilariously foul, ''Hell to Pay'' is a tribute to such hard-boiled, 1970s crime films as ''

Mean Streets ''Mean Streets'' is a 1973 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese and co-written by Scorsese and Mardik Martin. The film stars Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro. It was released by Warner Bros. on October 2, 1973. De Niro won the National ...

'' and '' The Outfit''. Lead actor Charles Santore does a fine job of carrying the entire film, letting loose with violent outbursts of both verbal and physical abuse but becoming increasingly vulnerable as the story spins to its revengeful climax." --- Mondo Digital.

Films In Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...

columnist

David Del Valle David Del Valle is a journalist, columnist, film historian, and radio and television commentator on horror, science-fiction, cult and fantasy films. Described by ''Entertainment Weekly'' as "Something of a cult celebrity himself," he was inducted i ...

in his review wrote: "In ''Hell to Pay'', writer-director Jay Jennings has given us a relentless ride through the city of angels with nods to such film noir classics as '' Out of the Past'' and '' On Dangerous Ground'', as well as, the gritty realism of Guy Ritchie’s films, using the same archetypes of film noir, choosing his leads as anti-heroes, with dark agents collecting their fees from the doomed folks that owe them their lives."

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 1861344, Hell to Pay 2011 films 2011 crime drama films American independent films Films set in Los Angeles American black-and-white films American neo-noir films American crime drama films 2011 independent films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films