Monday, September 24, 2018

Hell House LLC


Runtime: 93 minutes

Directed by: Stephen Cognetti

Starring: Ryan Jennifer Jones, Danny Bellini, Gore Abrams, Jared Hacker, Adam Schneider

From: Cognetti Films

Yep, another found footage movie... but this one wasn't bad: 

As the sequel to this film just debuted on Shudder, I figured it was about time I saw the first movie, as some people I know have given this found footage effort rave reviews. While the film is not revolutionary in what it does, at least I can say HH LLC is good overall.

The focus of the film is a mysterious incident that happens when a haunted house in a rural town about an hour outside of New York City where many people are injured or killed. A few years later a documentary crew is trying to figure out what happened and they get to view tapes filmed by the quintet that ran this haunted house attraction, set at a mysterious abandoned hotel. Naturally, there are reasons why it was abandoned and spooky events occur. Of course, this group argues with each other even before they get to the hotel but thankfully none of them were irritating, at least to me. Paul is the most memorable person, as he not only has a pornstache, but is also incredibly horny and obsesses over a girl who is hired to work there.

This is a typical found footage movie in every way; they do explain why they keep on filming, as “it helps them prepare for future houses”, as they've been creating these events for years now. Thankfully this was not filled with jumpscares like too much horror is in recent times. Instead, such simple things as creepy mannequins are used to make the characters and the audience incredibly uneasy. Another decision I am thankful for is that this is not filled with CG that probably would have looked pretty bad and instead practical effects are used, even during the finale when we find out what exactly happened on that fateful night. Furthermore, some moments were incredibly obvious but I was glad there were plenty of subtle “did I really see that” moments too.

It was interesting seeing this crew turn an abandoned hotel into a haunted house (incidentally, this was filmed at an actual haunted house in Lehighton, Pennsylvania known as Haunting at the Waldorf Hotel) and various fascinating elements were included in the house; it probably would be a fun house to go through. YMMV on this depending on your opinion of found footage. For me, this was a genre effort which I wasn't annoyed or irritated by, for the most part. Sure, some bits are kind of dumb but overall I can say this was good.

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