Now Streaming: THE BONDSMAN, Diabolical Comedy Goes for the Gore with Gusto

Splatter ahoy!

The Bondsman
All eight episodes are now streaming on Prime Video.

"The Devil went down to Georgia," according to a song by the Charlie Daniels Band, released in 1979. The song, with its distinctive fiddle riffs, kept playing in my mind as I watched the first two episodes of The Bondsman, which is set in the fictional town of Landry, Georgia, U.S., deep in the South, where Hub Halloran (Kevin Bacon) plies his trade as a bounty hunter.

In the early going, Hub gets his throat cut -- which feels like a nod to the actor's early departure from Friday the 13th (1980) -- but blithely carries on as usual. He is a bit puzzled when the wound heals up completely, yet doesn't give it much thought.

Created by Grainger David, The Bondman reflects its titular character's casual disregard for problems that arise. We might call it a 'devil may care' attitude, except that's exactly the point of the comic series: The Devil does care, and has decided to employ Hub Halloran, who is destined for Hell, as a temporary bondsman.

Hub is charged with collecting a stray demon who has escaped Hell to the earthly realm and possessed a human body as a hiding place, because that's what escaping demons do, according to Midge (Jolene Purdy), who is also destined for Hell, but is employed temporarily as a sort of office manager / Chief Explainer. Her arrival on the scene comes at the end of the first episode and carries on into the beginning of Episode 2, which feels a bit excessive, which fits perfectly with all the other excesses of the first two episodes.

Primarily, the series exists as a horror comedy for gorehounds. It certainly is filled with much bloodshed and many severed limbs, though the comedy is rarely clever, instead relying on obvious jokes and jibes.

Kevin Bacon's star presence and jaunty delivery reinforces the show's comic intentions. Two episodes were more than enough for me, but I'm not a gorehound. Those with a greater tolerance may enjoy wallowing in the broad humor and splatter aplenty.