I enjoyed the first movie so much that when I discovered it was actually a trilogy, I sought out the sequel. Luckily someone recently (at the time of this post) uploaded the entire movie to YouTube. I looks like this movie was exclusive to the movie service, Shudder, so I'm not sure if it'll stay on YouTube or not.
This movie is basically a re-tread of the first Hell House LLC. Some may think that is a good thing, but for me it wasn't. The movie isn't bad, but it's not as good as the first movie. In the original, the producer/writer, Stephen Cognetti, did a good job at leaving bread crumbs for the viewer to figure out what was going on in the movie. He didn't give too much away (well the ending did) which left me and I'm sure others scratching their head at the end of the movie.
This sequel gives away a little too much for my tastes. While I like that it expands upon the story in regards to the original hotel owner, Andrew Tully, and what happened in the hotel before it became the Halloween haunt, there are other parts that just show too much. Like in the first movie however, you really have to pay attention to catch some of the more subtle details.
When I said this movie is more of the same it's because the premise of this movie is another documentary investigation. This time it's a group of people lead by Jessica Fox after she is mysteriously given information there is proof stored in the hotel of what really happened with Andrew Tully. Jessica recruits Mitchell, the guy who organized the documentary footage from the first movie. His co-worker and friend, Diane was the one seen entering the house after interviewing the sole survivor from the Hell House cast. It turns out Mitchell is just as curious as to what really happened to Diane as Jessica is to find this supposed proof in the house. They decide that they'll work together and enter the house to find the answers they seek. Oh yeah, the proof is stored in refrigerators and of course not in the kitchen but in the...you guessed it, the basement.
With just about every horror movie the viewer puts themselves in the shoes of one of the victims and starts yelling at the screen not to go upstairs, open the door or in this case go down into the basement. Through out the movie you see various clips from social media of young people entering the house to fulfil a bet or a dare, only for them to go missing afterwards. Combine that with all of the footage from the first movie and why on earth would anyone want to go inside that damned house?!
I know the first movie had a relatively low budget and I imagine the sequel had a bigger budget, but there were times where the movie felt cheaper. For the most part, I found the acting to be worse. Vasile Flutur who plays Mitchell did a good job, but Joy Shatz' character, Molly was so annoying. I was rooting for her to die just so I didn't have to hear her annoying voice!
After viewing the movie I found it to be entertaining, but not without it's flaws. If you've seen the first movie you might as well watch this one too. If nothing else it may confirm what you thought happened in the first movie...or it may leave you with more questions than answers. Your mileage may vary. As long as you can view the movie for free, I still give it my recommendation.
After viewing the movie I found it to be entertaining, but not without it's flaws. If you've seen the first movie you might as well watch this one too. If nothing else it may confirm what you thought happened in the first movie...or it may leave you with more questions than answers. Your mileage may vary. As long as you can view the movie for free, I still give it my recommendation.
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