The film follows the youth group of the cedar hill trinity church, documenting the work involved in creating the hell house, the performances themselves, and the personal lives of some of the participants. Its murder, mayhem, and mating when a group of horny, wannabe ghost hunters breaks into a haunted asylum in hell house, an overallgood production from sin city. According to our visitors these are the most valuable works in our vast library of nonfiction films. Such is the reasoning of the designers of the hell house, a highconcept haunted house that has been scaring people into church since 1990. Hell house is a 2001 documentary that was directed by george ratliff that focuses on the idea of a hell house, a christianthemed haunted attraction, in cedar hill, texas. Paco and george talk with mtv writerpodcaster molly lambert. This fourpart documentary series was released in 2001 and aired on channel4 in the uk. Hell house 2001 documentary this church wants to scare the hell out of you. This documentary chronicles a season in the life of texas famed hell house, a haunted house designed by a texas pentacostal church to literally scare the devil and santorum out of christian teenagers by graphically recreating such horrors as botched abortions, aids death, rape, school shootings, suicide, and drunk driving accidents. The documentary hell house by director george ratliff who also directed the 1995 documentary plutonium circus depicts one season of the house from concept, through building and rehearsals, climaxing with a tour through the end result. Five years after an unexplained malfunction causes the death of 15 tourgoers and staff on the opening night of a halloween haunted house tour, a documentary crew travels back to the scene of the tragedy to find out what really happened. A look at the hell house performed annually in october by the youth. Director george ratliff whose 1995 documentary plutonium circus explores the hometown of an atomic bomb factory has created a compelling documentary about the hell house at trinity church of cedar hill, texas. Ratliff, 2001, while being safely objective in and.
Tragedy strikes on opening night when an unknown malfunction causes the death of fifteen tour. With full access to the behindthescenes action, hell house follows the process from scripting to showtime. A hell house, like a conventional hauntedhouse attraction, is a space set aside for actors to frighten patrons with gruesome exhibits and scenes, presented as a series of short vignettes with a narrated guide. Hell houses are a distinctly american phenomenon which began in 1990 just outside of dallas, texas at the trinity assembly of god church. Instead, they recreate scenes that graphically depict such modernday evils as botched abortions, aidsrelated deaths, fatal drunk driving crashes, date. Thanks to an anonymous tip, an investigative journalist is convinced that key evidence is hidden inside the abandoned abaddon hotel evidence that will shed light on the hotels mysteries and many unsolved deaths and disappearances. The film, shot as a documentary, follows a group of halloween haunted house creators as they prepare for the 2009 opening of their popular haunted attraction, hell house. With full behindthescenes access, this documentary examines why this small town church has resorted to such graphic means of saving souls and allows us a. Trinty assembly of god church invented hell houses.
Hell house 2001 plot summary 1 a look at the hell house performed annually in october by the youth members of trinity church assemblies of god in cedar hill, texas a dallas suburb seen by over 10,000 visitors each year. Five years after an unexplained malfunction causes the death of 15 tourgoers and staff on the opening night of a halloween haunted house tour, a. Documentary that makes you glad you arent these people netflix summary. Shot at the trinity assembly of god church in texas, the film chronicles the entire process from initial script meeting to lavish stage production. The awardwinning, mustsee documentary by director george ratliff. The original hell house was conceived as a modernday. Documents a hightech fireandbrimstone sermon that a dallas pentecostal church puts on every halloween to scare kids into coming to services. Five years later, a documentary crew returns to the scene of the tragedy. Presentation mode open print download current view.
My pathetic addiction to mockumentary horror recently steered me toward writerdirector stephen cognettis 2015 lowbudgeter hell house llc, now available under the auspices of amazon primes streaming service and apparently coming on dvd at some unspecified future date, a surprisingly beyondcompetent number that should go some way toward convincing even the most. Hell house 2001 dvd planet store latest movie releases. The boogeyman is real and youll learn how and why thats possible in this documentary thatll. I supplement this discussion with reference to the 2001 documentary hell house and by a comparison to a hell house staged by a secular. In this foundfootage gem, a documentary crew visit the site of a haunted house attraction whose opening night ended with 15 unexplained deaths. Five years after the deadly opening night of a halloween attraction, a documentary film crew investigates the haunted house where it all took place. These houses of horror dont rely on the traditional gimmicks of ghosts and goblins. The film hell house is mostly a portrait of the good pentacostal churchgoing folks who put the show on every year. The movie gives a window into the whole outrageous process of. They get into ghosts, the black dahlia, music, christianity, and dig deep into the doc hell house. With aria adloo, ashley adloo, amy allred, gabriel allred.
George ratliffs documentary follows the conception, construction, and performance of the halloween 2000 edition of hell house, titled hell house x. Hell house 2001 a fascinating documentary about a christian themed haunted house in cedar hill, texas. Ratliff doesnt tell the story of how they came up with the idea of making a hell house. Instead, he mainly concerns himself with the actual hell house machinations of the church and the personal lives of the believers within the church. On october 8th, 2009, a mysterious malfunction kills nearly every member of the hell house crew during a haunted house tours opening night. This attraction was immortalized in the 2002 documentary hell house. Eventually the crew come across a surviving employee who has footage that shines a scary light on what really went down that night. The cedar hill trinity church hell house is the 10th annual hell house theyve held. Each year, the house gets over 10,000 people who watch seven morality plays. Inside the hell house, tour guides dressed as demons take visitors from room to room to view depictions of deviant and destructive behavior. Though this documentary was released in 2003, the christian brainwashing of highly impressionable children and lesser intelligent adults continues to this day, and the ridiculous message of the church in charge of the titular hell house puts that well into perspective. This documentary chronicles a full performance season at the original hell house in dallas which boasts an annual audience of more than 10,000 people and investigates whether its organizers.
Despite a flimsy story, hell house, llc 2016 delivers on the. Hell houses typically emphasize the belief that those who do not repent of their sins and choose to follow christ are condemned to hell. They are earnest in their quest to save souls they claim of the over 75,000 people who have gone through hell house over the years, that 15,000 have converted or recommitted to the church, and the film never mocks them. There have been a few diamonds in the rough, though, and thankfully stephen cognettis hell house llc is one of those rare gems. These questions are brought together through a critical rhetorical analysis of the documentary hell house 2001. The sequel picks up eight years since the opening night tragedy of hell house llc and still many unanswered questions remain. Hell houses are the evangelical christian churchs answer to a haunted house, a fundamentalist fight night meant to scare the bejesus out of any nonbeliever. In his documentary, ratliff offers an objective view of the people involved with creating a hell house. Hell house is a 2002 documentary that was directed by george ratliff that focuses on the idea of a hell house, a christianthemed haunted attraction, in cedar.
Hell in the pacific 2001 the best wwii documentary you. The hell house is a yearly show designed to give its audiences a glimpse of what awaits those who stray from the path of a strict christian life. At first glance a soupedup halloween haunted house, hell houses are. From hell 2001 tt0120681 frederick abberline is an opiumhuffing inspector from scotland yard who falls for one of jack the rippers prostitute targets in this hughes brothers adaption of a graphic novel that posits the rippers true identity. Inside the hell house, tour guides dressed as demons take visitors from room to room to. Within the halloween haunted hell house, the murder spree at columbine high school in colorado is. The film follows the youth group of the cedar hill trinity. Ep 43 hell house with mtv writer molly lambert sup doc. This is the same church that received media attention because of a previous hell house that had a columbine massacre room display.
The specificity and complicated histories of local memory, spirituality. We see the organization and planning of the event including auditions, construction, scripting and rehearsals. In this case, it is also worthwhile to discuss george ratliffs 2001 documentary on hell houses in parallel with pellegrini, in order to have a broader view on what a hell house is, what its purpose is, how it achieves that purpose, and whether or not it is an effective practice. George ratliff, 2001, while being safely objective in and of itself, would unwittingly serve to. Such productions typically invoke and alter hauntedhouse conventions. Hell house llc is a 2015 american foundfootage horror film written and directed by stephen cognetti and produced by fbi films. Hell house trinity 27 is a christian haunted house with the agenda of presenting shocking real life scenes designed to scare you and make you aware of the devil making you make the.
767 872 564 815 1106 369 237 1495 1389 1114 1302 1331 690 377 802 502 1193 1389 849 154 290 784 404 778 167 608 1123 725 1180 926 586 300