Hell House LLC is a 2016 Horror "Documentary" about a women trying to find out what happened at a Haunt one fateful October night. It seems to possibly be trying to ride on the fame of The Houses October Built, especially since when I first heard about it the first thing that came to mind were those movies. However, Hell House is a completely different movie experience the only true similarities being the news clips, interviews, the time frame around Halloween, and the fact that haunts are involved. While The Houses October Built is about a group of friends going from Haunt to Haunt to find the most extreme one, Hell House is nothing close to that.
I am enjoying the use of a documentary type movie as apposed to just straight found footage. The interviews and news clips give it a sense of reality, unlike other movies such as Paranormal Activity and As Above So Below. While I am very much aware that Hell House is by far not the first one to use this method, I still enjoy it very much. Especially towards the end when we get to kind of see what happened in the basement all those years ago through the many different videos, some from the people running the haunt, one from a YouTube video, and some from recovered footage. It was fun to watch it cut around and slowly put the pieces together. Too bad the movie failed to deliver on any actual terror. There was maybe one well placed jump scare. I will, however, give the movie props for not putting a cheap end-of-the-movie jump scare, which I was expecting, considering the camera having been dropped on the floor. Other than that all of the scares felt cheap and over used.
Other then the lack of fear the movie could make me feel it was still a generally good movie. It kept me captivated the entire time and wanting to know what happened in the cellar. I am quite upset that when we find out it is very lackluster and not as scary as I would have hoped for. It was also hard to understand what was going on due to the shake camera and flashing lights. A decent scene is when Paul sees the clown and he's locked in a hallway with a strobe, you get to watch as the clown slowly moves closer as the strobe flashes, and it was the only time any true fear was felt by me. Sadly, for all you gore lovers out there there is no gore.
The acting in the movie was impeccable, everyone felt as though they were truly terrified and that is one of my favorite things. I love movies that could almost seem real and since you never saw the "monster" fully there was no way for them too mess up with the special effects. Every scene had me captivated and curious about what was coming, and that is so important. Again I just only wish the climax wasn't so dull.
Overall, I generally enjoyed the film and hope to see more like it. Thank you so much for reading and don't forget to share the blog with your fellow horror lovers! Stay spooky!
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