Hell House (2001)

Abortions gone wrong make good people seek forgiveness, it's true...

Genre: Documentary

Starring: Trinity Church Haunted House Organizers

Directed By: George Ratcliffe

Overview: Every year the Trinity Church in Cedar Hill, Texas puts on a haunted house event that draws over 10,000 people. This is the story of those Christians getting ready to put on the 10th Annual Hell House, where they do skits on alcohol and drug abuse, abortion, homosexuality, and violence, all to save your soul.

Acting: I'll do this in two parts. First, the organizers are so off and weird that they have to be real. Their emotions are honest and I must say that as documentaries go, you are left knowing that you got who they really were really fast: inarticulate, cause-and-effect touting religious fanatics who do all they can for what they believe in. As for their acting skills when the show goes on? Eeesh...
Rating: 9

Cinematography: The documentary style was typical, but they also shoot the construction and final showing of the Hell House event itself. To say that the sets weren't the cheapest pieces of junk you've ever seen would be flat out wrong, but art imitates truth in this case. You'll get a nice kick out of what you see, trust me.
Rating: 8

Script: The script of the actual play / event was often laughable, clearly black and white forced down your throat imagery and all that, but when we see the people behind the scenes, they're serious about their cause and there are some genuine telling moments. Their words speak such volumes! Really good. Or really bad, however you want to put it.
Rating: 9

Plot: The story itself could have gone a bit better. I wanted more of the House, the actual event. I wanted to be taken through it and see everything, rather than simply the highlights. There's too much pre-show commentary and set-up, and not nearly enough actual 'final event'. That sucks, but as a story it's pretty decent.
Rating: 6

Mood: I'd say go to the House itself, but it's too low budget to be horrific, the event kind of sucks actually. It's more religious lessons than Horror. Did the filmmakers capture the mood of fanatical Christians to a tee? Damn straight. Scary straight. That's more the Horror show you'll get. *Shiver*
Rating: 8

Devils whispers that God sucks. Homo believes him. Homo burns in Hell.

Overall Rating: 80% (A Real True-To-Life Nightmare Ride!)

Aftertaste: This is one of those weird love it because I hate it things. The filmmakers don't actively go out of their way to mock these Hell House organizers, but they don't hold back when they are ignorant, for example: rather than a pentagram, they spray paint a huge Star of David for their Satanic worship set. Yeah, that bad... You might get angry watching this, but I think that's the point. You know, I WOULD recommend this to anyone, it's so... Surreal!