Creeptober Day 13: Hell House LLC

Day thirteen of Creeptober begins a back-to-back mini-marathon of “house” movies. First up is Hell House LLC, an acclaimed found footage film that has lots of Halloween-season goodness. It has a haunted attraction that is actually haunted, satanic references, and spooky clowns, all wrapped up with a nice twist at the end. What more could you want?

Read on for our thoughts on Hell House LLC as well as a recap of the movie, and join the conversation on our Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram!

Reacting to Hell House LLC

Hell House LLC is a movie that I heard a lot about before I ever sat down to watch it. The praise for the movie is high, and that can be a bad thing when going into any movie for the first time. Not that praise is bad. It isn’t. But too much hype can sometimes set expectations too high which can lead to a disappointing first-time watch even if the movie is excellent. I’ve avoided movies because of hype like that. Thankfully, when I finally watched Hell House LLC—my first watch was surprisingly recent—the hype didn’t diminish the experience. It’s a great movie, and the praise is spot-on.

Like many of the better found footage movies, Hell House LLC does a superb job of building up to its scares. There’s some mild spookiness in the first half, but the first truly scary moment doesn’t happen until about 40 minutes in. By that time we have a good grasp on the characters, and their reactions all feel natural. I don’t have any specific phobias about clowns, but the clown stuff in this movie is incredibly creepy. The creepiness for me is largely thanks to the overall mood set by the movie, and by the way the first clown-scare plays out.

What I really enjoy about Hell House LLC is that it mixes up its scares. Sometimes it’s a blatant jump scare. Other times it’s a slight movement, or a flash of something that might go unnoticed. There are even possession-style scares where characters act strangely for no discernible reason. Having so many different types of scary moments, and knowing how and when to use them, is what makes Hell House LLC so good. Nothing gets repetitive, because the tactics keep changing. That goes for the dreaded found-footage shaky cam too, which is used sparingly.

I also love how many of the scarier moments are set up. At first we see things that we know will have a huge impact later, but they aren’t scary when we first encounter them. I’m referring to things like the pentacles on the walls of the basement, the clown mannequins, and even stuff like Paul playing piano. These are obviously being set up for a payoff later, and knowing that scares are coming from these makes it even more tense as we watch the plot unfold.

For me, the best scare in the movie happens at around the 52-minute mark. [Don’t read the rest of this paragraph if you don’t want a spoiler!] It’s when Paul wakes up in the middle of the night. He’s done this previously in the movie, so when the scene begins, there’s nothing to be nervous about. Then, a girl appears in the background. Paul doesn’t see her at first, but we do. When Paul finally picks up the camera, he sees her. At first I thought it was funny that he was trying to hide from the girl by pulling his sheets over his head. It is a little silly when you think about it, but it helps make the scene work. As Paul repeatedly peeks out from under the sheet, the girl gets closer. The final peek happens after an excruciating wait, and it ends the scene beautifully. I love this kind of scare. It’s not a quick glance followed by a disappearance, it is about having the unnatural element stay there with you whether you can see it or not. That’s what is creepy to me.

I also enjoy the ending of the movie. I think most people will see the twist coming a long time before it happens, but that doesn’t diminish its impact. Just like showing us the pentacles and clowns early in the movie, knowing something is going to happen can build suspense extremely well. The ending is extremely well done, just like the rest of the movie. The praise for Hell House LLC is absolutely justified.

Hell House LLC – A Recap

Hell House LLC is a pseudo-documentary made up predominantly of found footage. The beginning of the film begins by establishing the subject of the documentary: a tragedy at a haunted house attraction that ended with the mysterious deaths of multiple people. Through news footage, expert testimony, and eyewitness accounts, it is explained that on October 8, 2009, the opening night of a haunt attraction called Hell House ended in chaos. Footage captured by someone attending Hell House that night shows pandemonium breaking out as people flee from the basement of the building.

In the years since the event, exactly what happened on October 8th is not public knowledge. If anyone does know what happened, they haven’t come forward to talk about it. Then one day, a member of the staff of Hell House, Sara Havel, agrees to be interviewed by documentarian Diane Graves. Even better, Sara provides Diane with tapes which were recorded by another member of the Hell House staff. The tapes, which document the days leading up to and including October 8th, make up the majority of what is shown throughout Hell House LLC. Brief interruptions from experts occur occasionally to give additional context for the footage.

The footage shows the five members of the crew as they live in the Abaddon Hotel—the physical location of Hell House—while setting up their haunted house attraction. On the first day, they discover pentacles drawn on the walls of the hotel’s basement. As the days go by, they experience inexplicable and unsettling events. Sara starts acting strangely, perhaps sleepwalking, perhaps not. Paul, the person usually carrying the camera, has a disturbing encounter with a dummy made up like a clown. Paul also disappears for a while, and Tony, another member of the crew, has a terrifying experience when Paul is later found. Despite everything, the staff all stay in the hotel because of a reason that is never made explicit (though hints point toward financial reasons).

When the footage reaches the fateful night of the tragedy, it shows increasing confusion among the staff as Paul acts strangely. Meanwhile, hooded figures appear in the basement. The actors hired by Hell House are terrified (one in the basement flees, the other can’t), and that leads to the attendees freaking out. Some of the attendees become trapped in the basement. Others run to the attic where more hooded figures appear. The footage ends when everyone still inside the Abaddon Hotel apparently dies.

During the documentary interview, Sara Havel suggests that Diane Graves should break into the Abaddon Hotel to see it for herself. Diane takes one member of her team with her and enters the building. Meanwhile, another member of her team is still going through Sara’s footage. He sees that Sara died on October 8th, 2009. He tries calling Diane, but she ignores the call. Diane finds “Sara” inside the Abaddon Hotel. She also finds a couple of hooded figures. The movie ends with screaming, then silence.

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