Hell House LLC

Hell House LLC is a 2015 American found-footage supernatural horror film written and directed by Stephen Cognetti and produced by Joe Bandelli. It is the first installment in the Hell House LLC franchise. 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. Tragedy strikes on opening night when an unknown "malfunction" causes the death of 15 tour-goers and staff. The film reveals the lead-up to the tragedy and what really went wrong that night, the details of which have remained a mystery to the public. The film was released on a number of video on-demand platforms, including Amazon Video, Shudder, YouTube, Vudu, and iTunes, on November 1, 2016.
A sequel, Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel, was released on September 20, 2018. A second sequel, Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire was released in September 2019, and a fourth, Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor was released in October 2023. All were released exclusively on Shudder. A fifth film, Hell House LLC: Lineage is set to release in October 2025.
The film is presented as a documentary investigating the unexplained 2009 tragedy at "Hell House", a haunted house attraction in the town of Abaddon, Upstate New York, in which fifteen people, including nearly all the staff, died in what authorities declared a "severe malfunction".
The documentary crew, led by producer Diane Graves, interview people familiar with the case and find rumors of something supernatural behind the tragedy. The crew tracks down the sole surviving Hell House staff member, Sara Havel, who provides them with uncut, behind-the-scenes footage Hell House staff shot in the lead up to the tragedy.
Sara's tapes document the company's arrival at the dilapidated Hotel Abaddon in Rockland County, New York as they set it up for Halloween. CEO Alex plans the layout of the attraction to culminating in a scene in the basement of an actress chained up about to be sacrificed to a cult.
They hire several local scare actors including Melissa, who shares with Alex and cameraman Paul that the hotel is rumored to be haunted. The documentary crew is given further context by their expert interviews. The Hotel was originally constructed by alleged cultist Andrew Tully, who chose the location based on the town sharing the name Abaddon with a demon who guarded the gateway to hell. In the Eighties, two guests went missing while staying at the hotel, a young girl and her mother. Though Tully was cleared of their disappearance, the hotel's reputation was ruined and Tully hanged himself shortly after.
As they set up the house, the Hell House team begins capturing supernatural events on camera, such as a clown mannequin moving on its own, shadowy figures appearing and disappearing during a strobe light tests, and Paul and Sara both being possessed. Despite this, Alex is determined to open the attraction on schedule.
As the haunting escalate, Paul considers quitting despite his loyalty to Alex. Later that night, Paul goes missing after being assaulted by a ghost girl. The next day, the crew finds Paul in a fugue state in the basement. Tony, the staff technician, quits after an increasingly delusional Alex continues to push forward. However, he's convinced to stay for Alex's sake, by Mack.
Hell House opens to a large turn out. However, things quickly go awry as we learn the origin of the 2009 accident. In the basement scene, Melissa is suddenly and brutally killed by a shadowy ghost cultist causing a stampede of guests.
In the chaos, Tony is killed trying to save Melissa. Mack and Sara find each other in the panic and flee to the attic where they find Alex hanged. Sara flees as Mack is surrounded and killed by shadowy ghost cultists, cutting out the footage from 2009.
In the present, Sara asks for a break from the interview. She tells Diane she will be in her hotel room- Room 2C. She also suggests the crew break into the Abaddon Hotel to see for the crime scene themselves. Soon after, Diane and her cameraman attempt to leave a message at the hotel reception desk at their hotel for Sara, but reception informs her that no one under Sara’s name is registered as a guest and there is no room 2C at that hotel.
Diane and her cameraman decide to visit the Abaddon Hotel site. Mitchell, a member of the documentary film crew, stays behind to catalogue Sara's footage. He discovers footage after Mack is killed, a possessed Paul kills Sara before slitting his own throat.
Diane and her cameraman break in and see the aftermath of what unfolded that night. They go to the second floor, where they see a room labeled '2C'. When they enter the room, they find Sara sitting with her back to them. Diane and her cameraman try to flee but are attacked by a ghoulish Sara and two other shadow cultists.
In 2011, the film's executive producers asked for a script revolving around a haunted attraction gone wrong. After many rewrites, the script was finalized by late 2013. Casting took place in New York City in February 2014, and production took place shortly after, in May. Initially, the filmmakers were in search of an abandoned house to shoot the film in, as the original script had the events taking place in a house. As early as 2012, the director had been visiting many abandoned buildings and homes, including two in the New York county where the story takes place, Rockland County, New York. After not finding anything suitable, they instead began searching for real haunted house attractions to shoot in. They found the haunted attraction called the Haunting at the Waldorf Hotel in Towamensing, Pennsylvania, run by Angie Moyer, who served as the film's set designer. The script had to be changed in a few areas to reflect the change in setting.
After filming wrapped within Towamensing, Pennsylvania in May, the production then moved to New York City, where most of the interviews were filmed. In mid-June, filming was complete, and the movie went to post-production, where it would be edited for the next five months, before the first private screening of a rough cut would be seen in the Rose Studio at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
After a few more rounds of re-cuts, the film was locked just before its first public screening at the Telluride Horror Show in October 2015. The film would also screen at Fear Fete Film Festival the same week, where it won the best paranormal film award. The worldwide distribution rights for Hell House LLC were acquired by Terror Films, with a North American VOD release date of November 1, 2016.
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives Hell House LLC a 73% positive rating based on eleven critic reviews, with an average rating of 6.50/10. Dread Central gave the film a positive review, awarding it a score of 3.4/5. Found Footage Critic praised the cast, premise, and cinematography, giving the film a rating of 7.8 of 10. The Horror Society gave a score of 8.75 out of 10 and saying the mystery and suspense works for this film. SlashFilm also gave the film a positive review writing that "Stephen Cognetti's Halloween chiller marries found footage with haunted attractions, channeling a popular and rational fear." Luke Rodriguez of Modern Horror was more critical of the film, saying that "it doesn't quite stick the landing", but otherwise enjoyed the film.
In an interview with Geeks of Doom, Cognetti has stated that he sees the Hell House LLC trilogy as "one movie just divided into three acts and each movie is its own act". He further commented that he found it easy to write the second and third parts, as he knew "where I wanted to go with it from the get-go".
Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel was released on Shudder on September 20, 2018. The film's plot centers around a group of journalists who have gathered to explore the Abaddon Hotel, which has once again been abandoned following the events of the prior film. The movie further fleshes out the character of Andrew Tully, a character introduced in the first film, and his goal of opening a gate to hell. None of the journalists leave the abandoned hotel alive. The sole survivor found by the police is revealed to have been dead all along and sent out to intrigue people into visiting the hotel.
Bloody Disgusting reviewed the film, criticizing it as a "well-intentioned misstep".
Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire was released as a Shudder exclusive on September 19, 2019. The film is the third installment of the series. The film is styled as a documentary following Russell Wynn, a wealthy and mysterious entrepreneur who wants the Abaddon Hotel to serve as the location for an immersive theater experience called "Insomnia" based on Faust. Although aware of the location's history, he is keen to proceed with the venture despite others warning him of ongoing and frightening supernatural events. This prompts the documentary team to investigate Russell's past and the prior two events, uncovering new footage that implies Russell was involved with or was monitoring events. When opening night arrives chaos ensues. However, Russell manages to wrestle Tully and overcome him before he can kill or take any other innocent lives. The following day one of the documentary crew muses that Russell was likely an angel sent back to defeat Tully and bring an end to his evil plans. Before the film ends, Russell manages to bring back the spirits of the original crew who died in the house, telling them that they are free from the evil but that the house still holds them captive. The song "Running Away" by the Pittsburgh based band "Post Traumatik" was used during the bar scene.
Film School Rejects was critical of the movie, stating that it was "an ambitious stab at closing out a horror trilogy, but as much as that’s an accomplishment worth celebrating the end result is an unfortunate disappointment. Still, fans of the first two — or even the first one — might find some worthwhile closure in the final swan song of the Abaddon Hotel." The film holds a rating of 14% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 7 reviews.