History Main / AHellOfATime

* ''VideoGame/GuitarHero 3'''s final stage has you [[spoiler:learning that your manager Lou is actually the devil in disguise, after you try to get out of your contract.]] He drags you to hell... Where you rock out a ridiculous concert with [[HornyDevils demon dancing girls]] on stage and in cages. You're doing so well he thinks you'll be able to get out of his arrangement, so he challenges you to a guitar duel. Over a heavy-metal version of Devil Went Down To Georgia.

* In the ''Literature/IncarnationsOfImmortality'' series, Hell is definitely a bad place, but the current Satan has instituted various "reforms" to make it more efficient, and has also visited Heaven and found it to be dreadfully dull. More literally, he's set up a special annex of Hell for the souls that properly belong in Heaven but were misclassified. This annex is ''really'' nice, the way Heaven is supposed to be, and HilarityEnsues when he does finally manage to get an exchange program set up, as most of the souls don't want to leave. This also gets a playful nod in earlier books, where Hell is actively ''advertising'' how much more fun it is than Heaven, complete with a pair of comical devil mascots.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': SCP-6167 is an abandoned dimension that once was a hell that didn't go as its creator intended. The prisoners were a group of immortal beings that suffered from HorrorHunger, and the only thing available to eat was each other. They were expected to spend eternity fighting and eating each other in an endless war, but instead they figured out a way to cooperate with each other by having one prisoner act as a food source for everyone else and they would all take turns until they eventually escaped.

* In ''Literature/ParadiseLost'', Mammon suggests making {{Hell}} look like Heaven by applying "Gemms and Gold" to the realm as the demons grow accustomed to their tortures. The trope is [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] when Beelzebub points out that God didn't put the demons in the Inferno to great a happy empire, but to imprison them in a dungeon still under the rule of his iron scepter. Whatever they design, Hell will always be Hell.

* Played with in ''WebAnimation/HazbinHotel''. On one hand, Hell's denizens are seemingly allowed to do whatever they like, and [[PrincessClassic Princess]] [[AntiAntiChrist Charlie]] wants to redeem everyone. On the other hand, "whatever they like" usually means all kinds of mayhem, and the overpopulation is so bad that Heaven sends death squads once a year. In fact, it actually seems like the characters who are most miserable in hell are the ones who are good such as Charlie, who was born in Hell instead of being sent there.

[[caption-width-right:301:That's one hell of a luau!]]

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* In Jacques Offenbach's operetta ''Orphee aux Enfers'' (Orpheus in the Underworld), the gods hold a massive party in Hell and dance to ''the'' most well-known can-can tune. (Though its not the same thing as the Christian hell, in ancient Myth/ClassicalMythology, ''hell'' is practically a portmanteau synonym of afterlife.)

** Subverted in ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF''. Frieza is shown in his own personal IronicHell: a TastesLikeDiabetes fairy land where angels, fairies, and living stuffed animals happily sing, dance, and play around him, while he's strung from a cocoon in a tree and ForcedToWatch.

* {{Invoked}} in the 1920s short film ''The Devil's Cabaret''. TheDevil is concerned about the fact that there are not enough people going to hell, so he puts on a show with singing and dancing to show people that hell can be fun and entice more people to go there.

* Used in ''Literature/GoodOmens'', where an angel and a demon discuss who gets the better entertainment (Hell wins, as all Heaven has is Elgar and The Sound Of Music for all eternity). ''Overall'', however, Hell is said to be extremely unpleasant. The ''real'' point of the argument is that the Earth, possessing the best of both worlds, should be saved.

* A fan animation for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ltx-pmjdAAI "Land of the Dead"]] by Music/{{Voltaire}} stars the vampire Duke singing about how great it is for him in Hell since he's apparently it's ''ruler''.
** This is the second in a series of videos called WebAnimation/TheVampair Series

* Music/{{ACDC}} would also like to remind you that "Hell Ain't A Bad Place ''to Be''". Notably, the song isn't a literal depiction of hell - the narrator is in a hellishly tumultuous relationship, and compares his girlfriend to a "demon" for doing things like cheating and spending all his money, but concludes "hell ain't a bad place to be" as long as she keeps making love to him.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}} 11: Subterranean Animism'', the most hated youkai in Gensokyo and nearly all of the oni were once banished to the Underworld. When you meet Yuugi, she tells you the Underworld has become an oni's paradise-- they can drink and fight as much as they want, and nobody will stop or smite them.

*** ''WebAnimation/HFIL'' continues this with the reveal that due to Raditz breaking the soul-scrubber used to cleanse evil souls, the evilest souls are now sent to the Home for Infinite Losers. This turns out to be an average suburban cul-de-sac where the "morally-compromised malefactors" undergo group therapy while complaining about getting crap soda instead of beer.

* In [[Creator/DanteAlighieri Dante's]] ''[[Literature/TheDivineComedy Inferno]], the virtuous pagans live in the uppermost and least bad level of Hell, which isn't bad at all. Their only real punishment is that they'll never get to Heaven proper.

* In ''Literature/TheWishList'', more evil people get luxury apartments, complete with lava hottubs.

* In ''Literature/ParadiseLost'', Mammon suggests making {{Hell}} look like Heaven by applying "Gemms and Gold" to the realm as the demons grow accustomed to their tortures. The trope is [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] when Beelzebub points out that God didn't put the demons in the Inferno to great a happy empire, but to imprison them in a dungeon still under the rule of his iron scepter. Whatever they design, Hell will always be Hell.

* The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' book ''Literature/{{Eric}}'' features the Disc's version of Hell and the description of how it used to be before the book's [[BigBad villain]] took charge doesn't sound that bad - people did get [[ColdBloodedTorture tortured]], but since they didn't have physical bodies this wasn't a problem and the demons were quite friendly. But the new management has switched to ''psychological'' torture by [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment boring the souls of the damned out of their minds]].
* In the novel ''Waiting On The Galactic Bus'' by Parke Godwin, Heaven and Hell (or "Topside" and "Downstairs" as the characters refer to it) are pretty much the same, shaped only by the minds of the souls ("post-life energy") who inhabit it. Also, people tend to end up in the version they expect to. In the sequel, ''The Snake Oil Wars'' Topside is run by one of the two immortal alien brothers accidentally responsible for human evolution, and Downstairs is turned over to Jesus (Yeshua) and Judas (Yes, ''that'' Judas).
* In the story "Gilgamesh in the Outback", Hell is the only known afterlife. However, Gilgamesh observes, it's not really that bad. People can eat real food but have a hard time passing it, and there's no climax when having sex. It gets worse when Christians came with their ideas of eternal punishment, as Satan merely set up Torture Towns aplenty. The Old Dead think the Christians are silly for this.

* In Ted Chiang's short story "Hell is the Absence of God" Hell is exactly like Earth except God is absent. His absence is immediately noticable because God's angels frequently make random appearances on Earth that are accompanied by destructive weather patterns. The only people this bothers are the really religious, who fear eternal separation from their Lord if they fail to love him enough.

* The entire ''Heroes In Hell'' shared universe book series. Everybody who was anybody ends up in hell. Each person is dealing with their own personal level of torment or contentment. Julius Caesar is in hell, but his attitude is 'It's just afterlife, and not a bad one".
* In the ''Literature/IncarnationsOfImmortality'' series, Hell is definitely a bad place, but the current Satan has instituted various "reforms" to make it more efficient, and has also visited Heaven and found it to be dreadfully dull. More literally, he's set up a special annex of Hell for the souls that properly belong in Heaven but were misclassified. This annex is ''really'' nice, the way Heaven is supposed to be, and HilarityEnsues when he does finally manage to get an exchange program set up, as most of the souls don't want to leave.
** This also gets a playful nod in earlier books, where Hell is actively ''advertising'' how much more fun it is than Heaven, complete with a pair of comical devil mascots.
* In the novel ''Jitterbug Perfume'', the afterlife is briefly explored by one character. Most people seem to just get shuttled off on some boats to have their souls reincarnated/"return to the source" or something. But those who pass the test (heart lighter than a feather) are sent to the eternal party boat full of philosophers, artists, interesting people, etc. One side of the boat has the word "Heaven" painted on it, the otherside says "Hell"; it's all a matter of perspective I guess (some people would see lingering around forever instead of "moving on" as a punishment I guess?)
* In the French play Aucassin and Nicolette (said to date back to the 1200s!), Aucassin basically says that he'd rather to go to Hell (with Nicolette) than to Heaven, because in Hell reside "the fine churchmen, and the fine knights, killed in the tourney or in some grand war, the brave soldiers and the gallant gentlemen".
* In Dante Alighieri's Inferno, sodomites run on burning hot sand in great pack of naked sweating men. In other words, they spend all eternity on Fire Island in summer.
** In a straighter (ha!) example, the virtuous pagans live in the uppermost and least bad level of Hell, which isn't bad at all. Their only real punishment is that they'll never get to Heaven proper.
* In the ''Literature/WorldOfTheFiveGods'' series, the Bastard is the lord of demons and carries unrepentant monsters to his hells. His dedicated clergy also get taken there, but it's implied to be a much nicer place for them.

* This is a DownplayedTrope in C.S. Lewis's ''Literature/TheGreatDivorce''. The Grey Town doesn't contain the expected sights associated with Hell: devils with pitchforks, sinners being tortured on flaming racks, etc. It's just a depressing, rainy place where constant squabbling causes residents to spread out from everyone else and become TheAloner. However, it's hinted that this is just the antechamber to Hell -- things are about to get much worse once full darkness sets in.
** Conversely, Heaven is really unpleasant to the souls who try to get there -- yes, it's a pre-dawn meadow and some virtuous souls are there to talk to, but it's so much more real than the wandering spirits that blades of grass cut right through their feet instead of bending for them.
* ''Literature/DrGretaHelsing'': What's shown of Hell is a mixture of this and a MundaneAfterlife -- the Lake of Fire has a fantastic health spa (staffed by one Dr. Myth/{{Faust}}), the City of Dis has plenty of good restaurants, and existence there is fairly normal except for the residents' assorted horns and tails. Visitors tend to enjoy themselves after the initial SupernaturalAngst at being escorted to Hell by demons.

** In the third act of ''Man and Superman'', referred to as ''Don Juan in Hell'' when performed separately, Dona finds Don Juan and the Devil discussing philosophy, and is horrified that her guardian, the Commendatore killed by Don Juan, is present as well. He has quit heaven due to boredom and moved downstairs.

* On ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'', Miseryville is implied to be Hell (and was explicitly Hell [[WhatCouldHaveBeen during development]]). Despite being run by [[LouisCypher Lucius Heinous VII]], who is absolutely determined to make everyone miserable, Miseryville looks pretty tolerable. Probably because A) Lucius is [[HarmlessVillain incredibly incompetent]] (at least compared to [[EvilerThanThou his predecessors]]); and B) the [[ThePollyanna Jimmy]] is endlessly positive and aims to make everyone in Miseryville joyful. And that's without mentioning Lucius' top inventor and one of Jimmy's best friends, [[EnfantTerrible Heloise]], who, while very competent at her job of making machines to spread misery, also enjoys giving Lucius a hard time, and the best way to ruin his day is to make things fun for everyone else. This includes the time she pranked him to think he lived in Smilesville, where everyone was happy, or when she tricked him into running a funfair by [[AccentuateTheNegative making it sound like something people would hate]].

* In the Eoin Colfer book ''Literature/TheWishList'', more evil people get luxury apartments, complete with lava hottubs.

* Music/{{ACDC}} would also like to remind you that "Hell Ain't A Bad Place ''to Be''". Notably, the song isn't a literal depiction of hell - the narrator is in a hellishly tumultuous relationship, and compares his girlfriend to a "demon", but concludes "hell ain't a bad place to be" as long as she keeps making love to him.

* Music/{{ACDC}} would also like to remind you that "Hell Ain't A Bad Place ''to Be''". Notably, the song isn't a literal depiction of hell - the narrator is in a hellishly tumultuous relationship, and compares his girlfriend to a "demon", but conclucdes "hell ain't a bad place to be" as long as she keeps making love to him.

* Music/{{ACDC}} would also like to remind you that "Hell Ain't A Bad Place ''to Be''"

* ''Series/KeyAndPeele'' take it UpToEleven with Music/{{LMFAO}}. Their IronicHell is a great party, but the party doesn't stop...''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxWzsrj8bZE ever.]]''

* On ''WesternAnimation/JimmyTwoShoes'', Miseryville is implied to be Hell (and was explicitly Hell [[WhatCouldHaveBeen during development]]). Despite being run by [[LouisCypher Lucius Heinous VII]], who is absolutely determined to make everyone miserable, Miseryville looks pretty tolerable. Probably because A) Lucius is [[HarmlessVillain incredibly incompetent]] (at least compared to [[EvilerThanThou his predecessors]]); and B) the [[ThePollyanna titular character]]'s life goal is to make everyone in Miseryville happy. And that's without mentioning Lucius' top inventor and one of Jimmy's best friends, [[EnfantTerrible Heloise]], who, while competent at and loving to spread misery, probably has her boss as her favorite target - and the best way to ruin Lucius' day is to make things fun for everyone else. Such as the time she pranked him to think he lived in Smilesville, where everyone was happy...or tricked him into running a funfair by [[AccentuateTheNegative making it sound like something people would hate]].