- Who Can Direct? Anyone
In a world where angels and demons serve as the enforcers of justice, the souls of recently departed humans are ripe for the harvest. A newly appointed demon named Mallory, 21 and eager to begin collecting souls, receives her first assignment, to drag an evil soul to hell. Her boss, Lucifuge, reminds her of the rules, but she doesn’t listen closely. She flies up to earth and tosses the soul into hell, lingering and reading a book. Then an angel floats from the heavens, asking for Bently, a child’s soul. Mallory looks at her assignment and realizes she got the wrong address. She sees Lucifuge at the address she was meant to go to. He shakes his head at her, and drags the soul that she was assigned into hell. The angel tells her to have Bently’s soul at heaven’s gate by the end of the day, or he will go to her boss’s boss(Satan) and there will be hell to pay. And so Mallory wanted to get the soul to heaven before the end of the day. If she could, then she would not be in trouble with her boss, if not, she would be in trouble with her boss. Mallory returns to hell in search of the soul. When she lands in Hell, however, Lucifuge has sent the soul to Heaven with Dagon, another demon. Then Dagon, the victim of a wedgie, hands in his resignation, saying that he doesn’t have to work with kids because of a clause in his contract. After Dagon hands in his resignation, many other demons get in line to follow suit. Lucifuge is about to “fire” all of them, when Mallory tells him about the angel’s warning. He reluctantly agrees, appointing Mallory as the demon for the job and giving her instructions about a trial Bently will face between earth and heaven. Mallory beams and accepts the task, not fully hearing Lucifuge’s instructions and warnings. Her face falls when she sees Bently, 12, mischievous smile playing across his lips as he sneaks up on an unsuspecting demon and jump- scares her. Bently recognizes Mallory as the demon that sent him to Hell, and says he wants to stay in Hell. Mallory sets off to deliver the reluctant boy to heaven. They arrive at the platform leading to Heaven’s Gate and discover via an angelic accountant, Ridwan, that the trial is a basic question: What are the first three words in the Bible? Mallory says she will just “Google” it as she creates demonic symbols, and thunderclouds begin to gather around the demon. She apologizes and makes her first guess, which is nowhere close to the answer. Bently distracts and argues with Ridwan as Mallory continues to try and answer the question. She looks at the setting sun and panics, throwing out random guesses, and breaking down when she realizes that she doesn’t know the answer. Bently, who has finally stopped pestering Ridwan, laughs at her, calling her dumb, and proceeds to tell her that he knows the answer. Ridwan explains that the trial was for Bently, and that Mallory just wouldn’t listen. As the sun touches the earth, Bently smugly gives the correct answer. Afriel appears, leading a hesitant Bently toward Heaven’s Gate. He thanks Mallory, but she says not to thank her as she begins to walk back down the golden staircase to earth. Bently blows a raspberry at her, and Afriel pauses. He asks what happened before he arrived, and Ridwan explains, saying Bently is a menace. Afriel tells Bently there is a job opening in Hell is he is up for it, and Bently accepts on the condition that Mallory can be his second- in- command. Mallory sits in Hell next to Bently, miserable. She wishes a new demon good luck.