Hell House (film)

Hell House
Hell House
Directed by	George Ratliff
Produced by	Zachary Mortensen, Devorah DeVries
Starring	Trinity Church Youth Group
Cinematography	Jawad Metni
Edited by	Michael LaHaie
Music by
Release date	October 1, 2002;
Running time	85 min
Country	United States
Language	English

Hell House is a 2002 documentary that was directed by George Ratliff that focuses on the idea of a hell house, a Christian-themed haunted attraction, in Cedar Hill, Texas. The film follows the youth group of the Cedar Hill Trinity Church, documenting the work involved in creating the hell house, the performances themselves, and the personal lives of some of the participants.

Reception[]

The film holds a rating of 94% "certified fresh" on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on 34 reviews.^[1] A reviewer for the New York Times "Through such generalizations are destructive stereotypes born, on both the left and the right."^[2]

Motivation for film[]

NPR interviewed Ratliff, the director, who said the motivation for making the documentary was to display the Christian right in the United States. The documentary films the annual Halloween show at the Assemblies of God church. Ratliff said the "Hell House" was invented by this church and it has been franchised, with "Hell Houses" now all over the world. The Assemblies of God, annual Halloween "Hell House", on which the documentary film is based on, is a "fire and brimstone" show with a death scene, followed by a trip to hell, immediately followed by an invitation to viewers to accept Christ and save their soul. Aside from an HIV death scene, and an abortion scene, there are school shooting, date rape, suicide, and drunk driving accident death scenes.^[3]

References[]

^ "Hell House". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
^ "FILM IN REVIEW; 'Hell House". NY Times. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
^ "Documentary Focuses on Dallas 'Hell House'". NPR. 17 August 2002. Retrieved 21 April 2010.

External links[]

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[1] "Hell House". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 13 April 2013.

[2] "FILM IN REVIEW; 'Hell House". NY Times. Retrieved 13 April 2013.

[NPR-3] "Documentary Focuses on Dallas 'Hell House'". NPR. 17 August 2002. Retrieved 21 April 2010.

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