I was looking forward to doing another group review with my friends Terry and Dawn this month, but it wasn't meant to be this time around. Terry has been very busy taking care of some personal things so Dawn and I talked and we asked Terry if he would like this month off so he can take care of what he needs to. Meanwhile, Dawn and I still wanted to do something, so we found a movie on Amazon Prime to check out! After throwing around some suggestions, we decided on Hell House LLC (2015). This is a film I had been hearing some good things about, so this was the perfect excuse to give it a watch sooner than I was planning on.
Back in 2009, Alex (Danny Bellini) sets up a haunted house attraction in a small town. He sets up what he calls Hell House at a different location each year. He finds an abandoned motel that he can transform into a haunted house along with his crew. Unknown to any of them so very bad things have happened there in the past. On opening night, something goes wrong and many people are injured and a few people were even found dead. The investigation into what happened has been kept quiet though, so a documentary crew is trying to get to the bottom of what actually happened inside this motel.
Hell House LLC was written and directed by Stephen Cognetti. I really liked this one. It is considered to be a found footage style film. It does fit into the genre because much of the film shows what the crew filmed while they were planning and setting up the haunted attraction. The story is actually presented as a documentary though. The style of this movie actually reminded me a lot of the movie Lake Mungo, which is an all-time favorite film. I wouldn't put Hell House LLC in that same group, but it is still a very good film. The documentary style fits well here because Cognetti limits the number of people that are interviewed, and he does a pretty good job of telling the story from start to finish. By that, I just mean that the story doesn't jump around all that much. I did have some problems with the story, especially towards the end. I could be wrong, but I don't think they ever said how many people were killed in the house. The synopsis on IMDb mentions that 15 were killed, but I'm pretty sure that they never mentioned it in the narrative or interviews in the film itself. It is also never mentioned who died in the house, which is rather convenient for the ending. I suppose that the whole coverup for what happened is the reason that this information was never released, which doesn't make complete sense to me. They might, a big might but it is still a might, be able to keep the truth of what happened out of the public eye, but I can't see how they can keep 15 deaths so secret. I thought all of that could have been worked on a bit more to make it better. I also didn't care too much for the way the film ended, but none of these things really took me out of the story that much. What I did like about Hell House LLC was how tense it could get at times. I can't say that any of it scared me, but it did pull my attention to what was going on in a big way. I couldn't wait to see what would happen next. The story about what happens in the motel builds up over time. It just isn't about what happens on opening night, but also tells the story about what happened while they are staying in the motel to get it ready. This isn't the typical haunted house type stuff. It doesn't deal with hearing footsteps or object suddenly moving. Not to say those things can't be scary, but that isn't what Cognetti was looking for here and I'm glad of that. Because it is different it made it more tense to me since I wasn't sure where things were going to go next.
There isn't much going on for special effects here. Nothing gory even though someone cuts open their own throat at one point. Just see some blood is about it and we see another character get beaten up pretty bad before being dragged off. Even so, I didn't feel that Hell House LLC needed anything gory to happen. The acting was pretty good even though no one really made me get into their character a lot. While not a big cast, there wasn't really a main character here. Danny Bellini played the part of the leader/owner of his own crew and company, but the story wasn't really about him. Ryan Jennifer Jones plays the part of Sara, the only woman of the crew and apparently the only survivor. She ends up providing most of the information that we learn over the course of the film. Gore Abrams also has a somewhat important role to play in what happens.
Hell House LLC was a fun film for me. I really enjoyed trying to figure out what was going to happen. I was a bit off for what I thought would happen, but that didn't affect how I thought of the film. Not everything gets explained, in fact, very little actually does. There is enough here though that I think most people can put a general idea together which is enough for this story. If they ever make a sequel, it would be nice if they got into the details a bit more. Considering this is a documentary-style film, I understood that not everything would probably get explained. A good documentary doesn't try to be one-sided after all. I don't know what Dawn thinks of this movie yet, but as soon as she posts her review, I will be sure to add a link for it here. Meanwhile, if you haven't watched this movie yet, you might consider doing so. Of course, not everyone loved it as much as I did, but I still see a lot of people saying that this is one of the better found footage type films out there. Check it out when you get the chance to do so.
4 out of 5 Guess I will never go to a haunted House on opening night
Back in 2009, Alex (Danny Bellini) sets up a haunted house attraction in a small town. He sets up what he calls Hell House at a different location each year. He finds an abandoned motel that he can transform into a haunted house along with his crew. Unknown to any of them so very bad things have happened there in the past. On opening night, something goes wrong and many people are injured and a few people were even found dead. The investigation into what happened has been kept quiet though, so a documentary crew is trying to get to the bottom of what actually happened inside this motel.
Hell House LLC was written and directed by Stephen Cognetti. I really liked this one. It is considered to be a found footage style film. It does fit into the genre because much of the film shows what the crew filmed while they were planning and setting up the haunted attraction. The story is actually presented as a documentary though. The style of this movie actually reminded me a lot of the movie Lake Mungo, which is an all-time favorite film. I wouldn't put Hell House LLC in that same group, but it is still a very good film. The documentary style fits well here because Cognetti limits the number of people that are interviewed, and he does a pretty good job of telling the story from start to finish. By that, I just mean that the story doesn't jump around all that much. I did have some problems with the story, especially towards the end. I could be wrong, but I don't think they ever said how many people were killed in the house. The synopsis on IMDb mentions that 15 were killed, but I'm pretty sure that they never mentioned it in the narrative or interviews in the film itself. It is also never mentioned who died in the house, which is rather convenient for the ending. I suppose that the whole coverup for what happened is the reason that this information was never released, which doesn't make complete sense to me. They might, a big might but it is still a might, be able to keep the truth of what happened out of the public eye, but I can't see how they can keep 15 deaths so secret. I thought all of that could have been worked on a bit more to make it better. I also didn't care too much for the way the film ended, but none of these things really took me out of the story that much. What I did like about Hell House LLC was how tense it could get at times. I can't say that any of it scared me, but it did pull my attention to what was going on in a big way. I couldn't wait to see what would happen next. The story about what happens in the motel builds up over time. It just isn't about what happens on opening night, but also tells the story about what happened while they are staying in the motel to get it ready. This isn't the typical haunted house type stuff. It doesn't deal with hearing footsteps or object suddenly moving. Not to say those things can't be scary, but that isn't what Cognetti was looking for here and I'm glad of that. Because it is different it made it more tense to me since I wasn't sure where things were going to go next.
There isn't much going on for special effects here. Nothing gory even though someone cuts open their own throat at one point. Just see some blood is about it and we see another character get beaten up pretty bad before being dragged off. Even so, I didn't feel that Hell House LLC needed anything gory to happen. The acting was pretty good even though no one really made me get into their character a lot. While not a big cast, there wasn't really a main character here. Danny Bellini played the part of the leader/owner of his own crew and company, but the story wasn't really about him. Ryan Jennifer Jones plays the part of Sara, the only woman of the crew and apparently the only survivor. She ends up providing most of the information that we learn over the course of the film. Gore Abrams also has a somewhat important role to play in what happens.
Hell House LLC was a fun film for me. I really enjoyed trying to figure out what was going to happen. I was a bit off for what I thought would happen, but that didn't affect how I thought of the film. Not everything gets explained, in fact, very little actually does. There is enough here though that I think most people can put a general idea together which is enough for this story. If they ever make a sequel, it would be nice if they got into the details a bit more. Considering this is a documentary-style film, I understood that not everything would probably get explained. A good documentary doesn't try to be one-sided after all. I don't know what Dawn thinks of this movie yet, but as soon as she posts her review, I will be sure to add a link for it here. Meanwhile, if you haven't watched this movie yet, you might consider doing so. Of course, not everyone loved it as much as I did, but I still see a lot of people saying that this is one of the better found footage type films out there. Check it out when you get the chance to do so.
4 out of 5 Guess I will never go to a haunted House on opening night
