Hell House LLC

With October upon us I felt the desire to revisit the horror movie genre and seek out some new films. While my normal go to is either Netflix or Redbox, I recently stumbled upon Tubi TV and their massive library of free movies. I immediately started to browse their horror movies and added several to my que. The first one I fired up was Hell House LLC.

Directed by Stephen Cognetti and released in 2015, this horror "documentary" found footage movie caught my eye as I was browsing the listings. The movie's description reminded me of another well known documentary style movie called The Houses October Built. While I need to revisit that movie, what I remember from it I didn't particularly care for. While there may be similarities between these two movies, Hell House LLC I believe separates itself from the competition with it's story telling.

The movie revolves around a ground of friends that set out to create a haunted attraction inside an old abandoned hotel in upstate New York in 2009. As the team starts to create their venue inside the old Abaddon Hotel, things aren't what they seem as the group of friends become on edge as opening night gets closer and closer. On opening night, 15 people, including most of the crew are killed. But why are the police and the town essentially covering up what really happened?

I know the found footage type movies aren't for everyone, but the directer did a great job at using multiple camera view points to help set the stage and tell the story. In addition to the main story, you have a story happening in current time as well. The story is told via flashbacks of the footage from the group of friends, a leaked YouTube video, interviews with the media and even a 911 call. Most of the movie is done in a way where if you are sensitive to movement you shouldn't get motion sick. Towards the end of the movie however I can't say the same thing.

While I knew this was a movie, there were times while I was viewing it that I could have sworn this was real. The acting was good and the aforementioned uses of various media used to tell the story was great. While I personally don't care to attend haunted attractions, I love the idea of them and I've always wondered what kind of work goes into these type of things. Perhaps this is another reason why I enjoyed this movie because you get to see this group first visit the old hotel and then slowly have their vision come to life.

The setting of the hotel is creepy enough, but you really don't get a lot of history on the hotel itself and why it was closed. Not at first at least. Slowly but surely pieces of the story are revealed, leaving the viewer the opportunity to piece things together. The group stays in the hotel while they work on transitioning it into the haunted attraction and this is where things begin to pick up. While there are some jump scares, most of what makes this movie so spooky what you don't necessarily see. You see the effects of things, but not always what (or who?) is behind them. I know that may sound a little cliche, but the noises and weird things that occur are done in a way that aren't cheesy. Just like you get bits and pieces of the back story and are left putting what is happen together, the same thing can be said with what is happening.

Alfred Hitchcock did a great job at cutting the camera away as tragedy would strike, knowing what the viewer could and would imagine what was happening was more frightening than what he could actually show. While special effects have come a long way since then, I can't help but to agree with that mindset. The director must have had that on his mind at times as you never really see who is behind the murders.

Apparently there is an extended cut of this movie as well that delves into a little bit more of the story. I've seen a few still images and I've read reviews, but I've not actually viewed this extended cut. It appears the few extra minutes that were cut from the version I viewed contained some crucial info as it pertains to the story. I'm really puzzled as to why they cut it. Perhaps it gave away too much information and took away from the intentional gaps in the story?

The movie obviously had a low budget, but they did a great job at stretching their dollar. The hotel used in the movie was great, very creepy. The acting was pretty good and the special effects were equally as good. The one main gripe viewers tend to have with this movie is the ending. While I'm not going to spoil it because I highly recommend watching this movie, most people either love the ending or down right hate it. I'll just say I could take it either way.

Apparently there have been two additional sequels made, which caught me by surprise. I've yet to watch them, but I do intend on trying to track them down as I enjoyed Hell House LLC. Thankfully this one is easy to view (if you don't mind a few commercial interruptions) as you can stream it for free at TubiTV. Just use this link to jump straight to the fun.