I'm not up on my steampunk web series just now, but there's one --- The League of S.T.E.A.M. --- that's been entertaining viewers for three seasons. They've got a healthy YouTube following, but I've never seen any of their adventures until director Paul Hough (The Human Race) sent one my way. The film just played Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival with screenings to come at Sci-Fi-London, Haapsalu Horror & Fantasy Film Festival, Crypticon Seattle Horror Film Festival, and Phoenix Comicon Film Festival.
Entitled The Invitation To Armageddon, Hough's episode is a comedic musical that delivers a very special invite to The League of S.T.E.A.M. Mr. Lucien Morningstar, aka the Devil himself, is played with a deliciously droll panache by Carlos Larkin. I'd watch this character in his own series in a heartbeat. Larkin plays the type of grand villain that belongs to the ranks of Vincent Price and Alan Rickman. The rest of the cast is adequate, but Larkin seriously steals the show.
The League is summoned to "the hell-mouth of Hoboken, New Jersey" (apt) by the Devil to play a game --- a singing challenge. At first, they don't know who the invitation has come from or of its true intentions, and begin singing about what to wear. Then the invitation erupts into flames, and the members of the League know that something nefarious is about to go down. (Well, as nefarious as a family friendly film can get.) And so the League travels to the New Jersey "hell hole" and finds the Devil in waiting with his proposition. If the League wins the sing-off, the Devil postpones the apocalypse. However, since we are talking about the Father of Lies, this story won't end without some serious complications.
The Invitation To Armageddon sports impressive visual special effects for a web series short film, Hough's direction is on point, and the songs aren't bad. While some singers (or most, really) aren't pitch perfect, the verses are catchy and filled with joy. The cast is definitely having fun here; The League appears to be a passion project for those involved, especially since they appear at events and conventions. The costumes are most likely made by one or more of the cast members, and while none of them would fool you into think that they are straight from an alternate historical period, the threads and accessories are pretty decent.
The film itself is the sort of G-rated, fun creepshow that children inclined to enjoy the darker side of things would be drawn to, like moths to a flame. I can say this because having been a spooky kid, Hough's short film conjured up memories of attending Disney's Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean attractions and of watching films like The Nightmare Before Christmas and How The Grinch Stole Christmas! For genre film festivals with kids' programming, I'm willing to bet that would be The Invitation To Armageddon received well. That sentence sounds hilarious when taken out of context.
Anyway... If you want to learn more about The League of S.T.E.A.M. and their paranormal exploits, grab the kids (of just feel like a kid again) and head on over to their website. Watch the short in its entirety below.