Hell House LLC

Hell House LLC
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Stephen Cognetti
Written by	Stephen Cognetti
Produced by	Joe Bandelli Matt DePaola
Starring	Ryan Jennifer Danny Bellini Gore Abrams Jared Hacker Adam Schneider Alice Bahlke
Cinematography	Brian C. Harnick
Release dates	October 16, 2015 (2015-10-16) (Telluride Horror Show) November 1, 2016 (2016-11-01)
Running time	83 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Hell House LLC is a 2015 American found-footage horror film written and directed by and produced by . The film, shot as a documentary, follows a group of Halloween haunted house creators as they prepare for the 2009 opening of their popular haunted attraction, Hell House. Tragedy strikes on opening night when an unknown "malfunction" causes the death of fifteen tour-goers and staff. The film reveals the lead-up to the tragedy and documenting what exactly went wrong that night which has been a mystery to the public. The film was released on a number of video on-demand platforms, including Amazon Video, Shudder, YouTube, Vudu, and iTunes, on November 1, 2016.^[1]

A sequel, Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel, was released exclusively on Shudder on September 20, 2018.^[2] A second sequel, Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire was released in September 2019.

Plot[]

On October 8, 2009, Hell House LLC opened its doors to the public for their inaugural Halloween haunted tour, taking place in the small town of Abaddon in Rockland County, New York. The Hell House crew picked the abandoned Abaddon Hotel for their attraction. The following morning, fifteen tour-goers and staff were confirmed dead. What happened was unclear. Authorities have only said that an "unknown malfunction" occurred on that night.

Five years later, a documentary crew led by producer Diane Graves decides to investigate the tragedy further. They interview people familiar with the case, including a journalist who had broken into the abandoned hotel a few years after the incident and snapped controversial photos that led people to believe something more mysterious happened that night than what had been made public. The crew lands a break when the only surviving member of the Hell House staff, Sara Havel, agrees to be interviewed and provides them with never-before-seen footage shot by the members of Hell House themselves leading up to the tragedy.

The Hell House tapes document the full crew and their arrival at the abandoned Abaddon Hotel, where they go to work setting it up for their haunted attraction. Unexplainable paranormal events begin to happen to them but Alex, the CEO of the company, is determined to press on. Despite bitter disagreements between the other members, Alex convinces the group to stay and opening night goes on as planned. The footage reveals in eerie detail exactly how the tragedy took place and the paranormal forces behind the deaths of all fifteen tour-goers and staff. Clues imply that a satanic cult is behind the activity in the house.

Sara asks for a break from filming and tells Diane she will be in her hotel room should the team have more questions for her. She says Diane should break into the Abaddon to see for herself what happened inside the hotel. Mitchell stays behind to catalogue the footage provided to them by Sara, in which he finds something deeply disturbing. He tries to call Diane to no avail. At the Abaddon hotel, Diane and her cameraman break in and see the aftermath of what unfolded that night, all left as is. They go to the second floor, where they see a room labeled '2C', the same room Sara said she was staying in. When they enter the room, they find Sara sitting with her back to them. Diane and her cameraman try to flee but are attacked by Sara and other ghostly cult followers.

It is revealed that what Mitchell saw while cataloguing the tapes was a possessed member of the Hell House staff killing Sara, revealing she has been dead this entire time, and there were in fact no survivors.

Production[]

In 2011, the film's executive producers asked for a script revolving around a haunted attraction gone wrong. After many rewrites, the script was locked by late 2013. Casting took place in New York City in February 2014, and production took place shortly after, in May. Initially, the filmmakers were in search of an abandoned house to shoot the film in, as the original script had the events taking place in a house. As early as 2012, the director had been visiting many abandoned buildings and homes, including two in the New York county where the story takes place, Rockland County, New York. After not finding anything suitable, they instead began searching for real haunted house attractions to shoot in. They found the haunted attraction called the Haunting at the Waldorf Hotel in Lehighton, Pennsylvania, run by Angie Moyer, who served as the film's set designer. The script had to be changed in a few areas to reflect the change in setting.

After filming wrapped within Lehighton in May, the production then moved to New York City, where most of the interviews were filmed. In mid-June, filming was complete, and the movie went to post-production, where it would be edited for the next five months, before the first private screening of a rough cut would be seen in the Rose Studio at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

After a few more rounds of re-cuts, the film was locked just before its first public screening at the Telluride Horror Show in October 2015. The film would also screen at Fear Fete Film Festival the same week, where it won the best paranormal film award. The worldwide distribution rights for Hell House LLC were acquired by Terror Films, with a North American VOD release date of November 1, 2016.

Cast[]

• Ryan Jennifer Jones as Sara Havel
• Danny Bellini as Alex Taylor
• Gore Abrams as Paul O'Keefe
• Jared Hacker as Tony Prescott
• Adam Schneider as Andrew McNamara
• Alice Bahlke as Diane Graves
• Phil Hess as Joey
• Lauren A Kennedy as Melissa
• Jeb Kreager as Martin Cliver

Reception[]

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives Hell House LLC a 89% positive rating based on nine critic reviews, with an average rating of 7.75/10.^[3] Dread Central gave the film a positive review, awarding it a score of 3.4/5.^[4] Found Footage Critic praised the cast, premise, and cinematography, giving the film a rating of 7.8 of 10.^[5] The Horror Society gave a score of 8.75 out of 10 and saying the mystery and suspense works for this film.^[6] Luke Rodriguez of Modern Horror was more critical of the film, saying that "it doesn't quite stick the landing", but otherwise enjoyed the film.^[7]

Sequels[]

In an interview with Geeks of Doom Cognetti has stated that he sees the Hell House LLC trilogy as "one movie just divided into three acts and each movie is its own act". He further commented that he found it easy to write the second and third parts, as he knew "where I wanted to go with it from the get-go".^[8]

Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel[]

Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel was released on Shudder on September 20, 2018.^[9][10] The film's plot centers around a group of journalists who have gathered to explore the Abaddon Hotel, which has once again been abandoned following the events of the prior film. The movie further fleshes out the character of Andrew Tully, a character introduced in the first film, and his goal of opening a gate to hell. None of the journalists leave the abandoned hotel alive. The sole survivor found by the police is revealed to have been dead all along and sent out to intrigue people into visiting the hotel.

Bloody Disgusting reviewed the film, criticizing it as a "well-intentioned misstep".^[11]

Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire[]

Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire was released as a Shudder exclusive on September 19, 2019.^[12] The film is styled as a documentary following Russell Wynn, a wealthy and mysterious entrepreneur who wants the Abaddon Hotel to serve as the location for an immersive theater experience called "Insomnia" based on Faust. Although aware of the location's history, he is keen to proceed with the venture despite others warning him of ongoing and frightening supernatural events. This prompts the documentary team to investigate Russell's past and the prior two events, uncovering new footage that implies Russell was involved with or was monitoring events. When opening night arrives chaos ensues, however Russell manages to wrestle Tully and overcome him before he can kill or take any other innocent lives. The following day one of the documentary crew muses that Russell was likely an angel sent back to defeat Tully and bring an end to his evil plans. Before the film ends, Russell manages to bring back the spirits of the original crew who died in the house, telling them that they are free from the evil but that the house still holds them captive.

Film School Rejects was critical of the movie, stating that it was "an ambitious stab at closing out a horror trilogy, but as much as that’s an accomplishment worth celebrating the end result is an unfortunate disappointment. Still, fans of the first two — or even the first one — might find some worthwhile closure in the final swan song of the Abaddon Hotel."^[13] The film holds a rating of 14% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 7 reviews.^[14]

References[]

External links[]

• Hell House LLC at IMDb
• Hell House LLC at Rotten Tomatoes