“Beef in Hell” -- which recently played at the Cinequest Film Festival -- is an episode of the web show The Beef Sumo Show, a cartoon with a complicated origin. It’s interesting in a way an alien autopsy would be interesting. You’re not sure what you’re looking at, where it came from, or how certain elements came together, but there it is.
Beef Sumo is the titular superhero star of the show. Voiced by cartoon veteran John DiMagio, he’s an alcoholic cow wearing a sumo fundoshi (that diaper-looking thing sumo wrestlers wear) with an Eastern European bat as a sidekick. It’s a random smattering of ideas and makes for a good foundation for a wacky cartoon, but execution is poor here.
The artistic style is similar to Ren and Stimpy, mixed with early web cartoons. It has that “ugly on purpose” look going on, which works for a cynical, raunchy show like this. The issue is that the animation is poor; the characters don’t emote in creative ways; and it makes the whole thing look cheap and without charm.
The writing certainly doesn’t help either, and it’s the weakest element of the show. The idea here is that Beef Sumo can’t get any money as a hero, so he has his agent get him any gigs that are available. He signs on to be in a cigarette commercial; the smoking kills him; and he’s sent to hell. Again, on paper that sounds like an idea that could have legs, yet any potential is cut down by writing that’s dated and dull.
This is where the weird origins of the show come in. Apparently, this show was kickstarted online in 2014, and it appears that the creators have been trying to get it off the ground ever since. Even by 2014 standards, these jokes feel old, and in 2025, they’re two decades behind the times. References to Oprah, Doctor Phil, and Hollywood socialites make it feel like this was written by someone's uncle.
Beyond that, the dialogue is basically bland. Most of the decent jokes in this seven-minute episode are visual gags. Good visual gags are one thing, but compared with other shows that do this with good animation and clever writing, I can’t imagine what kind of an audience is even left for this to call its own.
The landscape of animated comedy has become fragmented in the last decade. From mainstream hits to niche shows with cult followings, there are plenty of ways to break out and find an audience as long as a show excels at one thing. This show doesn’t excel in anything.
The impression I got from “Beef in Hell” is that it’s made by a group of people who wanted to create a throwback cartoon that harkens back to the wacky, irreverent classics that thrived in the 1990s. Without the writing, style, or charm of those shows, however, such a wish will not come true.
Author Bio:
Ulises Duenas is a senior writer and film critic at Highbrow Magazine.
For Highbrow Magazine