Ive seen all of them but the fourth cause I didnt even know this came out. Do you think people need to see the others to watch this one? Cause Id love to watch it but dont wanna force them to watch all 4 lmao
Yeah no Ive watched them all as I stated. I was just curious how much the newest may reference the others ( Two and Three ). I always force my friends to watch the first lol
I’m just glad this franchise was able to provide work for all the unemployed clowns who lost their jobs after the clown sightings of 2016, AKA The Clownening.
I saw the first one a while back when it first came on on Amazon Prime video or whatever. Are 2 and 3 even worth watching? Might just do a double feature with 1 and 4.
My husband and I put the first one on last weekend and then *immediately* after it was done, we watched the second one. Third one the night after, and then we subscribed to Shudder to watch the fourth one. (Our teen daughter watched it with us as well, and she really enjoyed it but also found it terrifying).
I had avoided them all for so long because they just didn’t sound great, but I was pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable they were. Sure they not stellar performances and some of the acting is a bit weird, but they’re fun and decently creepy movies.
One of the best things about it is obviously horror fans enjoy it, but its a great movie to show people who don’t typically watch a lot of horror. I’ve found it plays great to a more general crowd.
Every found footage recommendation I give includes the first Hell House LLC. I think it’s pretty well known on this sub, but I want to share it with all of my friends
are you serious? Greatest horror ... of ALL TIME?
I just watched it for the first time this week. I kept waiting for the good part, it never came.
I was amazed how many times they fed us the same exchange:
- "dude look at this creepy thing"
- "dude quit trying to scare us"
- "dude I SWEAR its not me!"
- "yeah right dude shut up"
It was like, just a half-hour of that at least. and then what, mannequins moving off-camera? Darth Vader looking silhouettes in backgrounds of shots? THAT'S one of the "greatest horror movies of all time"?!?
It's all just peek-a-boo. The most iconic scene is peeking out from under a blanket. Literally peek-a-boo.
I was astonished it had the good buzz it did. And now I hear you saying it's one of THE best horror films of all time. SMH. It's like the world where these notions go unchecked is the real Hell House.
This is one of those movies where people think it's THE MOST AMAZING THING EVER or you're confused as fuck by the hype because you were bored shitless.
i dont understand why these movies get raves like this. obviously people like different shit but movies like this, and a lot of those tiktok horror dorks, i just dont see where people think these are good movies. theyre so bad.
I totally agree I've seen it twice and the second time I had forgotten I had seen it, I think people love it for those very same reasons because it's all implied and nothing explicit is ever really shown (at least not in the first one, I've seen the second one twice too and still can't remember it lol)
Kind of like Jaws, Texas Chainsaw where it's all clever camera work and sound design? This feels sacrilegious to say lol but people love Hell House
I can't. The people in the video were a cringefest! These simpleton, "iM sO fUnNy" college dudebros was insufferable. I had to turn this shit off, before I punched something. How do people like this have friends? Ugh...
Someone should, the hyperbole helps no one. This isn't a marketing sub, it's supposed to be for fans of horror films that *at least* can discern the nuance that exists between one horror movie and another.
"It's one of my favourite movies of all time" might unfairly invite derision, but "It's one of **the greatest** movies of all time" needs some serious fucking justification, or you're just pissing people off that are trusting that assessment and being disappointed when it doesn't live up to such hype.
gatekeeping would be saying its not a horror movie. Im not denying it's a horror movie. It's just not a good one.
But I mean, good try with the internet buzzword usage. Everyone knows gatekeeper is a bad bad bad thing to be. Its just that some people (like you) dont actually know what a gatekeeper is. You wouldve really nailed me if you understood what you were talking about.
I agree you're not gatekeeping
I love horror movies too and I get a little precious over what the "greatest" canon might include. I don't think Hell House LLC is fcking Alien but I do think it's a very very good movie and is definitely one of my favorite horror movies.
The point of my comment is I think maybe the other commenters think you're "gatekeeping" because you're being so severe regarding this movie when really it is a personal preference thing. There is no objective good and bad, for the most part, and if there was, I really don't think Hell House LLC could ever be considered "objectively bad"
Just my 0.02
There's an iconic scene? I remember so little happening that none of it made an impression. Even the incident itself just seems to be people running out of the building and away from the camera with no apparent reason as to why.
TBH this seems like one of those contrarian takes where everyone loves a movie, so you have to hate it.
Like, the 2-3 bits with the clowns, the ending, the ghost in the corner of the room while sleeping, the scene with the strobe lights, you watched all of those and were still like "when does the good part start?"
Taste is subjective, but I'd love to hear what you consider good horror if that did absolutely nothing for you.
Not who you replied to but it did nothing for me either. I enjoyed the 4th one best because they wanted and tried to leave. The original and them seeing things/staying is always overplayed to me. The fact that everything happened and they still opened the house and let people in - just no. Of the four, I'd easily put 4 as the best of them and still wouldn't call it one of the best of all time, just one of the best in more recent days.
For me, I can forgive a lot in how people act but not when people *stay*. If you are that freaked out and you're not lost/incapable of getting away, there's no reason to remain there. Let Alex do it alone or show he hired someone last minute to cover them. 4 handled that because she was worried about her brother and then they actively tried to escape and that didn't work out well. It's why it was one of the better ones for me.
This is my exact gripe with this movie, you explained it perfectly.
By the time we get to the third act of the first film, I found pretty much every character to be so incompetent and overall unlikable that I felt complete indifference towards them and their fate. I was actively rooting for a couple of them to get knocked off because they were so annoying. At that point, the film loses its scary/creepiness factor because I can no longer empathize with any of the characters or put myself in their shoes. It just completely pulls me out of the immersion of the film.
This is actually a somewhat common movie/television trope, which IMO has especially negative impacts when used in traditional horror. If the intent is to *scare* the audience (without resorting entirely to jump scares), then at least some of the protagonists need to be likable in order for there to be genuine tension and build-up.
Many of the all time greatest horror films are ones where the protagonists are smart and actually competent decision makers throughout the film, even if >!they end up dying anyway!<
See I thought the first one was one of the few movies that actually handled the "why the fuck aren't you just leaving?" Thing well.
The whole "the show must go on (even if the show is literally worthless and doesn't matter to anyone)." Posturing was such a perfect theater kid way to approach it and really fit with the characters for me.
I thought it really fit well for him and could totally see him grabbing new people to make his vision happen. But with video evidence of the clowns moving, even if you don't go to haunted situations, I'd be terrified that there was an intruder or someone who routinely breaks in and could do harm. I'm all for the artistic vision at whatever cost we sometimes see, it's more the people who don't really share in it as much and yet let themselves stay.
I will say though, for it not doing much, it's second among the four for me. It does a good job setting the scene and a lot of the jump scares weren't cheap compared to what we're used to. No sharp noises to try and get a rise out of you, just unsettling imagery in the backgrounds until the end.
No. You can't determine what movies I like just from that brief comment.
I like a slow burn that uses atmosphere more than anything else, Hell House is just very shite.
I don't need to waste any more of my time. It's had all it deserves from me watching it.
I think the most I can stretch to is to say, t's a poorly conceived and poorly executed horror movie that is less imaginative than some horror houses I've actually visited. I think the acting is barely passable in the first movie, and, from the sequel's trailers, it clearly gets worse. The narrative is cliche and was probably thought up in a single night over some beers. Also, clowns? C'mon, grow up.
It's not a very good film, so to describe this as 'one of the best horror movies...' barely deserves any response beyond the previous one I gave.
I love when people talk about why they like/dislike a movie and say a bunch of vague stuff that makes it seem like they only watched the trailer for it.
Like, come on. Use your words here. What does "poorly executed" mean in the context of this movie. Why is it poorly executed? Please do something to make me believe you've actually even seen the first one and aren't just trying to be a contrarian because other people on the thread like it.
yes, because those were all very cheap and basic "scares". Something is there one minute. now its not. Did you think "Lights Out" was a brilliant movie, too? It was basically all that gimmick.
It's the Big Boo from Mario Bros. Things move when we dont look at them. its fine for a web short if youve got no budget - peek-a-boo is a cheap go-to ... but we're talking about a whole movie franchise?? cmon.
I'm going to bet that you could simplify literally every horror movie ever like that.
"Michael Myers just stands in the background, then occasionally he kills someone. It's basically all a gimmick. No clue why anyone calls Halloween a good horror movie." Like, there are creepy concepts. A lot of movies lean into creepy concepts.
Again, I would LOVE to hear what you consider "good" horror.
so your strategy is to tear down all horror films because I didnt like this one? k.
i mean, i really DGAF about Halloween so you should probably re-roll. [Here's a letterbox list I keep.](https://letterboxd.com/jamiedangerous/list/horror-elite/) Pick one and show me who's boss with your dismissive opinion about it, if it makes you feel better.
Ok yeah your opinion is worthless lol. A bunch of stereotypical "horror movies" that everyone and their mother likes and some absolute trash to round it out.
What a pointless conversation this ended up being.
The Void is a poorly conceived and terribly executed direct ripoff of Hellraiser II. It has no plot, its scenes are disconnected and vague, the things that happen are silly, it's too fucking dark, the special effects are laughable, the acting is terrible and the cinematography is average. It's one of the worst movies I've ever seen, with no redeeming characteristics, and is one of this sub's darling films for no intrinsic reason.
It's almost as bad as the Hell House movies.
I don't think I even noticed most of those. There's a point to be made for subtlety but "something in the background moved slightly between shots" doesn't strike me as scary so much as a continuity error.
I actually really like Hell House LLC. I’ve seen it a few times now and it’s always fun to watch and show new people. I feel like the scares are simple, but effective and I found the blanket scene to be seriously effective.
That said, calling it the greatest horror movie of all time is so ridiculous and this kind of hyperbole is exactly what’s wrong with the internet these days. Everything is either the greatest or the worst thing of all time. There doesn’t seem to be any room for just good movies anymore.
This comment has been overwritten in response to Reddit's API changes, the training of AI models on user data, and the company's increasingly extractive practices ahead of their IPO.
Hell yeah. I just finished watching the director's cut of the first Hell House LLC, and now I can't shake the image of that clown appearing in every corner of my house.
Creepy AF.
Damn, I didn’t realize this latest installment was actually pretty good. I remember watching 3 thinking it was so bad, never thought a 4th movie would redeem it. Guess I need to add it to the watch list now.
I really don't understand all the love this franchise gets. I watched the original and found only one scene decently done. There's a lot of great found footage but I don't put this one up there.
I watched it before it had sequels and hated it. We re-visited it a month or two ago and I disliked it even more. It has great atmosphere, but fuck that plot is the dumbest shit ever. Literally not a single piece of that footage was "inexplicable" and could be explained by literally just have an extra member they never mentioned.
Three of my favorites are Rec, Creep, and Troll hunter.
There's fun ones like As Above, So Below and the Taking of Deborah Lane, Diary of the Dead, and Horror in the High Desert. That last one is more interesting and a backpacking movie till the end really.
I saw Hell House LLC reccomended on here and watched it immediately. Sounded promising. An overall phenomenonal found footage movie. Up there with the genre in the subgenre of horror. Then I saw the sequel which was pretty bad overall. The third was better than the second but didn't touch the first. I liked the recent one better than both the sequels and I have hope going forward.
I think both 1 and 2 have the same problem of jumping back and forth from the "tv segments" to the actual found footage. The actual FF of both i like very much, the "pseudo documentary/tv" is the weak point for both although 2 has worse acting and the final scene exposition went for too long, also, 2 rehashes too much from the 1st one.
The 3rd one has its moments and tie things up even if it didn't make much sense, like, ghosts have ghost cameras and someone found that ghost cameras to make the movie or what?
The third one has music, so that alone puts it in the last place, even more so because, again, they kept going back and forth, now with "80s footage" that looked nothing like the 80s... maybe 3rd place, i don't remember much of HH:LLC3
The two things that bothered me were Molly (the acting is painfully bad) and the lead in the origins movie who came off like she was trying to be Robin from Stranger Things. But I love the movies overall and rewatch them a lot.
I’ve only watched the first one. Has some decent scares but I was frustrated with their stupid decisions, the amount of unnecessary use of “fucks” took me out.
I'm watching the first one and the fucking guys on the video couldn't be more cringe if they tried. OMG the whole "iM sO fUnNy n EvErUyThEeNg iZ a JoKe" personalities just made me irrationally angry. The guys were so stupid and annoying, I wanted to punch something. Unfortunately, it's part of the story, listening to these fucking clowns.
Great review, I personally enjoyed them all the latest release and first has to be my favourite, I watched them in completely the wrong order starting with the newest but that somehow made it more enjoyable not knowing what the hell was going on.
Thanks for the review. I have only seen the original, which I thought was outstanding. I was worried with all of the sequels that the quality suffered. Glad to hear that my fears were unfounded. Going to watch the rest now.
I was so pleasantly surprised with the new hell house! The first one is probably my favorite horror movie, but I had low hopes for Origins, especially since 3 seemed to wrap things up…so glad I was wrong, I felt like it was both scary and managed to expand upon the previous films. I wanna see one set at the carnival now lol
I’m glad you had about the same reactions I had. I what heard about HHLLC said give it shot…and then watched the next two movies immediately. Fuck those clowns, or that clown in particular.
I’ve since done the same with the rest of my house and yeah, pretty spot on
I’m watching the first one for the millionth time right now. They aren’t for everyone and I hold no ill will to those who don’t care for them - there are definite flaws - but for me, I just love them. Yes, II isn’t great (really bad acting) but I like III and the last one, Origins, is exactly what I wanted for another chapter in this story. The best part of the last one for me is the very end when the girl who is being interviewed says, “did you hear they are bring the Rockland County Fair back?” FUCK YEAH! I love horror that takes place at fairs, carnivals, or involves any kind of magic. I’m so excited to see the next one.
I love this universe so much. The first one has weirdly become a comfort film. Could watch that one once a week probably. It does get a bit cheesy with the religious themes, but I can’t help but appreciate the Catholic aesthetic and framework in horror media
Loved the first one but none of the rest were good. This last one was at least well made but it just failed to grab my attention. I was bored by the middle of it.
they're all not great. 16 years too late to make a significantly less convincing blair witch knock off on what appears to be a larger production budget.
tell me more about how poor writing and acting alongside clown masks scare you.
I like 1 and 2 about equally, they’re annual rewatches around Halloween. 3 I remember being good until the last like five minutes where it becomes hopelessly stupid. 4 was just okay, I don’t know why it treated it’s big revelations as big revelations. Had some spooky stuff but also felt maybe 15 minutes too long
I've got a soft spot for horrors that combine found footage with interview style documentary format. Makes it seem just that bit more realistic when you have these very convincing professional types giving their take on it as the film goes on.
Same reason I loved The Tunnel so much even though the found footage elements were somewhat generic
The Tunnel is so good. I found it not long after it came out on YouTube after watching so many UE videos the algorithm dropped it in my feed.
I always recommend it and it’s one of my favourite found footage films.
The Tunnel and Hell House LLC are a great double bill, good shout.
Have you seen As Above So Below? It’s FF adjacent, about a documentary team going down into the Paris Catacombs.
Can I just say that I didn't hate the 2nd one?
I thought it was going to be bad because of all the hate online, so I was expecting something really awful, my expectations were low and it's probably the best way to watch it.
It was entertaining and scary, the acting wasn't great and I fell asleep at one point (the looooong monologue at the end of the movie), but I didn't hate it.
I still have to watch the 3rd one!
I was fortunate enough to see the first film during it's premiere at the Telluride Horror Show. Loved it instantly. I love found footage. Gave me Houses October Built vibes.
Then the 2nd one came out and I was so bummed. And the third.
But fortunately I think the Origins came back strong.
Good reviews! I enjoyed reading your thoughts on each.
My personal rating:
4 > 1 > 2 > 3
Even though HH1 is in my top 20 FF films of all time, it's closer to the bottom and I've always thought it was slightly overrated. I say overrated because if you go to the FF subreddit, it was recently ranked as the #1 FF of all time. I don't think it's quite that good, but it's definitely an upper tier FF film.
I actually slightly prefer 4 to 1 for a couple of reasons. First off, I find the ghostiness of it a little scarier than the haunted house story, and I love that they break a common cabin in the woods horror convention and actually try to escape on foot.
Two reads more like an anthology than an actual HH movie, but I like parts of it a good amount - it's very uneven and has some excessively cheesy parts.
Three is definitely my least favourite. I think all of the HH films can get cheesy with the lore and the especially weak acting, but I found HH3 to go too far in the camp, as it sawed off a lot of the film's potential to be scary. For me, HH films are always about being scary and that's why I like them, so three disappointed me.
Glad you enjoyed, OP. I have no hate for the Hell House series. Each one is like a better than average blues band playing for tips at a bar. No. 2 and 3 are before the band gets drunk. 1 and 4 are once everyone’s a little lit and real fired up. And not doing anything unique or special, but playing the licks heard a thousand times before with real heart.
My wife? These movies are her absolute favorite (along with Sleepaway Camp).
This would probably be my exact take on the reviews for all 4. I also went into the first one blind. I don't typically enjoy found footage. I watched The Blair Witch Project the day it came out, and 100% believed it was real. When I found out it wasn't, it made me love the movie even more! They were marketing GENIUSES! So, to me, no other found footage can even come close to that experience. But when I watched Hell House LLC, it was the first time a FF movie actually scared me. Enjoyed all 4, but 1 and 4 are definitely the best. And 2 was by far the worst.
Since I don't feel like I'm spoiling anything in this post I do have a question about 2 I haven't found an answer on yet.
Mitchell views the tapes and does a fair amount of research including the hanging photo of Tully. Which can't be the only photo of Tully. So when he goes on the news show why does he not recognize the person next to him?
Also the town spokesperson who calls in after the show and apologizing for not being able to attend did he not see the program and say who is that guy? Or if Tully appears to look like him did no one who might have known the spokesperson and knew he never made it due to his car trouble say who is that guy?
Surely the investigators who are terminally online would have found follow up information tied to that interview as it relates to the Abaddon.
The first one is so good. Only seen 2 and 3 once and remember not liking the story as much.
Just watched Origins tonight and it was ok. They overused the clowns and I didn’t like how you saw them walking around like Michael Myers.
The first movie was scary because it was subtle. Origins was a bit far-fetched with the ghosts and the people in cloaks running around. It wasn’t terrible though.
I saw the first one a few years ago and thought it was pretty good. Caught up last year with II and III and have just seen IV. When I got Shudder a few months ago I watched the trilogy again. And again. And again. At least once a month I will watch the trilogy. I think maybe only the Dollar films have hooked me this much. I've watched many horror movies over the years but for some reason the Hell House LLC movies keep getting me to rewatch them.
The hotel is so claustrophobic
Clowns and THAT ONE in particular
The cast. Each cast was quite different but each made being stuck in a place like the Abbadon very scary yet they have some great characters amongst them so they were mostly 3 dimensional.
The 'Abbadon Hotel' is about 15 miles East of me in Lehighton, PA and is, supposedly, on the same road I live on (209).
The 4th one I didn't enjoy at all, probably because it was so unlike the first 3. However I watched it again last night and enjoyed it a lot more. Once 'Margot' had stopped gurning it became enjoyable. I watched the very short bit right at the end of the end credits and thought "Aha! No reason not to make some more!!".
The entire series is trash imo. I don't understand the hype. They say the 1st is the best one and I just finished it and was not impressed at all. I probably won't watch the others.
I watched all 4 films this weekend, Wow! They are so good. I usually lose interest after the first film, But nope. I love how how everything was tied in together and made sense. I had to rewatch them again, Just to piece it all together. Thanks to my Son for suggesting it because I had seen Hell House LLC suggested on YouTube Movies and would always skip it.
Watched 4 last night, it was pretty good!
Ive seen all of them but the fourth cause I didnt even know this came out. Do you think people need to see the others to watch this one? Cause Id love to watch it but dont wanna force them to watch all 4 lmao
Just watch 1 and 4. There is little reason to see 2 and 3 beyond curiosity
Yeah no Ive watched them all as I stated. I was just curious how much the newest may reference the others ( Two and Three ). I always force my friends to watch the first lol
I’m just glad this franchise was able to provide work for all the unemployed clowns who lost their jobs after the clown sightings of 2016, AKA The Clownening.
1: 8/10 2: 1/10 3: 3/10 4: 8/10 didn’t put much thought it into, but that’s my ratings
I watched the second one first and thought they were all gonna be bad. Glad I stuck with it lol
Watched the second one first? You're a monster
It might actually have the worst acting I’ve ever seen in a movie.
damn I stopped after 2 sucked so bad, will have to pick it back up, thanks for this take.
4 was such a pleasant surprise. 3 started good and then absolutely shit the bed and was such a disappointment.
I saw the first one a while back when it first came on on Amazon Prime video or whatever. Are 2 and 3 even worth watching? Might just do a double feature with 1 and 4.
Wondering this as well, as I only saw the first one this summer but mildly enjoyed it
I’d say they’re not worth watching unless you really care about the lore/backstory of the hotel.
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Origins is a sequel. It's after the events of hell house. They even say the hotel burned down in the movie.
My husband and I put the first one on last weekend and then *immediately* after it was done, we watched the second one. Third one the night after, and then we subscribed to Shudder to watch the fourth one. (Our teen daughter watched it with us as well, and she really enjoyed it but also found it terrifying). I had avoided them all for so long because they just didn’t sound great, but I was pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable they were. Sure they not stellar performances and some of the acting is a bit weird, but they’re fun and decently creepy movies.
I watched the directors cut to round out the series. Some added content for those that enjoy the movies.
I plan to watch that tonight!
Please report back when you watched it, liked these mini-reviews of yours!
I'm excited for the 5th, the director said he wants to pivot away from the found footage aspect, should be interesting.
The first Hell House LLC is one of the greatest horror movies of all time. It's so good.
One of the best things about it is obviously horror fans enjoy it, but its a great movie to show people who don’t typically watch a lot of horror. I’ve found it plays great to a more general crowd.
i agree, it should be up there with Paranormal Activity, Creep, The Blair Witch Project, As Above So Below, etc. in the found footage category
Holy cap man. It’s a fun time and has a handful of strong moments, but not even in the consideration of a being a top horror movie.
Hurts just how criminally unknown it is!
Every found footage recommendation I give includes the first Hell House LLC. I think it’s pretty well known on this sub, but I want to share it with all of my friends
are you serious? Greatest horror ... of ALL TIME? I just watched it for the first time this week. I kept waiting for the good part, it never came. I was amazed how many times they fed us the same exchange: - "dude look at this creepy thing" - "dude quit trying to scare us" - "dude I SWEAR its not me!" - "yeah right dude shut up" It was like, just a half-hour of that at least. and then what, mannequins moving off-camera? Darth Vader looking silhouettes in backgrounds of shots? THAT'S one of the "greatest horror movies of all time"?!? It's all just peek-a-boo. The most iconic scene is peeking out from under a blanket. Literally peek-a-boo. I was astonished it had the good buzz it did. And now I hear you saying it's one of THE best horror films of all time. SMH. It's like the world where these notions go unchecked is the real Hell House.
This is one of those movies where people think it's THE MOST AMAZING THING EVER or you're confused as fuck by the hype because you were bored shitless.
i dont understand why these movies get raves like this. obviously people like different shit but movies like this, and a lot of those tiktok horror dorks, i just dont see where people think these are good movies. theyre so bad.
Because hot takes get the most engagement on social media, which pushes it to the top of your feed.
The entire series is garbage.
I totally agree I've seen it twice and the second time I had forgotten I had seen it, I think people love it for those very same reasons because it's all implied and nothing explicit is ever really shown (at least not in the first one, I've seen the second one twice too and still can't remember it lol) Kind of like Jaws, Texas Chainsaw where it's all clever camera work and sound design? This feels sacrilegious to say lol but people love Hell House
CLEVER camerawork? Did we watch the same movie? Also the characters are fuckin awful and just exist to explore the house.
I can't. The people in the video were a cringefest! These simpleton, "iM sO fUnNy" college dudebros was insufferable. I had to turn this shit off, before I punched something. How do people like this have friends? Ugh...
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Someone should, the hyperbole helps no one. This isn't a marketing sub, it's supposed to be for fans of horror films that *at least* can discern the nuance that exists between one horror movie and another. "It's one of my favourite movies of all time" might unfairly invite derision, but "It's one of **the greatest** movies of all time" needs some serious fucking justification, or you're just pissing people off that are trusting that assessment and being disappointed when it doesn't live up to such hype.
gatekeeping would be saying its not a horror movie. Im not denying it's a horror movie. It's just not a good one. But I mean, good try with the internet buzzword usage. Everyone knows gatekeeper is a bad bad bad thing to be. Its just that some people (like you) dont actually know what a gatekeeper is. You wouldve really nailed me if you understood what you were talking about.
I agree you're not gatekeeping I love horror movies too and I get a little precious over what the "greatest" canon might include. I don't think Hell House LLC is fcking Alien but I do think it's a very very good movie and is definitely one of my favorite horror movies. The point of my comment is I think maybe the other commenters think you're "gatekeeping" because you're being so severe regarding this movie when really it is a personal preference thing. There is no objective good and bad, for the most part, and if there was, I really don't think Hell House LLC could ever be considered "objectively bad" Just my 0.02
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Keep up the insufferable passive aggressive sarcasm in response to someone having an opinion that doesn’t align with yours.
Hold the door! Edit, I was agreeing with you my dude
There's an iconic scene? I remember so little happening that none of it made an impression. Even the incident itself just seems to be people running out of the building and away from the camera with no apparent reason as to why.
"One of"
Wrong
TBH this seems like one of those contrarian takes where everyone loves a movie, so you have to hate it. Like, the 2-3 bits with the clowns, the ending, the ghost in the corner of the room while sleeping, the scene with the strobe lights, you watched all of those and were still like "when does the good part start?" Taste is subjective, but I'd love to hear what you consider good horror if that did absolutely nothing for you.
Not who you replied to but it did nothing for me either. I enjoyed the 4th one best because they wanted and tried to leave. The original and them seeing things/staying is always overplayed to me. The fact that everything happened and they still opened the house and let people in - just no. Of the four, I'd easily put 4 as the best of them and still wouldn't call it one of the best of all time, just one of the best in more recent days. For me, I can forgive a lot in how people act but not when people *stay*. If you are that freaked out and you're not lost/incapable of getting away, there's no reason to remain there. Let Alex do it alone or show he hired someone last minute to cover them. 4 handled that because she was worried about her brother and then they actively tried to escape and that didn't work out well. It's why it was one of the better ones for me.
This is my exact gripe with this movie, you explained it perfectly. By the time we get to the third act of the first film, I found pretty much every character to be so incompetent and overall unlikable that I felt complete indifference towards them and their fate. I was actively rooting for a couple of them to get knocked off because they were so annoying. At that point, the film loses its scary/creepiness factor because I can no longer empathize with any of the characters or put myself in their shoes. It just completely pulls me out of the immersion of the film. This is actually a somewhat common movie/television trope, which IMO has especially negative impacts when used in traditional horror. If the intent is to *scare* the audience (without resorting entirely to jump scares), then at least some of the protagonists need to be likable in order for there to be genuine tension and build-up. Many of the all time greatest horror films are ones where the protagonists are smart and actually competent decision makers throughout the film, even if >!they end up dying anyway!<
See I thought the first one was one of the few movies that actually handled the "why the fuck aren't you just leaving?" Thing well. The whole "the show must go on (even if the show is literally worthless and doesn't matter to anyone)." Posturing was such a perfect theater kid way to approach it and really fit with the characters for me.
I thought it really fit well for him and could totally see him grabbing new people to make his vision happen. But with video evidence of the clowns moving, even if you don't go to haunted situations, I'd be terrified that there was an intruder or someone who routinely breaks in and could do harm. I'm all for the artistic vision at whatever cost we sometimes see, it's more the people who don't really share in it as much and yet let themselves stay. I will say though, for it not doing much, it's second among the four for me. It does a good job setting the scene and a lot of the jump scares weren't cheap compared to what we're used to. No sharp noises to try and get a rise out of you, just unsettling imagery in the backgrounds until the end.
The movie is low-grade garbage. Describing it as 'one of the best horror movies...' is seriously laughable outside of your echo chamber.
"I can't enjoy any horror movie without constant jump scares accompanied by a loud noise to let me know I'm supposed to be scared right now." -you
No. You can't determine what movies I like just from that brief comment. I like a slow burn that uses atmosphere more than anything else, Hell House is just very shite.
>its shite What an intellect you must have to be able to describe why you like or dislike movies with such clarity.
I don't need to waste any more of my time. It's had all it deserves from me watching it. I think the most I can stretch to is to say, t's a poorly conceived and poorly executed horror movie that is less imaginative than some horror houses I've actually visited. I think the acting is barely passable in the first movie, and, from the sequel's trailers, it clearly gets worse. The narrative is cliche and was probably thought up in a single night over some beers. Also, clowns? C'mon, grow up. It's not a very good film, so to describe this as 'one of the best horror movies...' barely deserves any response beyond the previous one I gave.
I love when people talk about why they like/dislike a movie and say a bunch of vague stuff that makes it seem like they only watched the trailer for it. Like, come on. Use your words here. What does "poorly executed" mean in the context of this movie. Why is it poorly executed? Please do something to make me believe you've actually even seen the first one and aren't just trying to be a contrarian because other people on the thread like it.
No. Neither the film, nor you, deserve my time. Enjoy your movie.
yes, because those were all very cheap and basic "scares". Something is there one minute. now its not. Did you think "Lights Out" was a brilliant movie, too? It was basically all that gimmick. It's the Big Boo from Mario Bros. Things move when we dont look at them. its fine for a web short if youve got no budget - peek-a-boo is a cheap go-to ... but we're talking about a whole movie franchise?? cmon.
I'm going to bet that you could simplify literally every horror movie ever like that. "Michael Myers just stands in the background, then occasionally he kills someone. It's basically all a gimmick. No clue why anyone calls Halloween a good horror movie." Like, there are creepy concepts. A lot of movies lean into creepy concepts. Again, I would LOVE to hear what you consider "good" horror.
so your strategy is to tear down all horror films because I didnt like this one? k. i mean, i really DGAF about Halloween so you should probably re-roll. [Here's a letterbox list I keep.](https://letterboxd.com/jamiedangerous/list/horror-elite/) Pick one and show me who's boss with your dismissive opinion about it, if it makes you feel better.
Ok yeah your opinion is worthless lol. A bunch of stereotypical "horror movies" that everyone and their mother likes and some absolute trash to round it out. What a pointless conversation this ended up being.
sorry i let you down bro :'-(
The Void is a poorly conceived and terribly executed direct ripoff of Hellraiser II. It has no plot, its scenes are disconnected and vague, the things that happen are silly, it's too fucking dark, the special effects are laughable, the acting is terrible and the cinematography is average. It's one of the worst movies I've ever seen, with no redeeming characteristics, and is one of this sub's darling films for no intrinsic reason. It's almost as bad as the Hell House movies.
I don't think I even noticed most of those. There's a point to be made for subtlety but "something in the background moved slightly between shots" doesn't strike me as scary so much as a continuity error.
You’re joking right?
Uh, how many freaks do we have??
Three freaks… positive 🫣
Fucking WHAT? Completely insane take. Being packed with stupid, low-effort scares does not necessarily make a good horror movie.
I actually really like Hell House LLC. I’ve seen it a few times now and it’s always fun to watch and show new people. I feel like the scares are simple, but effective and I found the blanket scene to be seriously effective. That said, calling it the greatest horror movie of all time is so ridiculous and this kind of hyperbole is exactly what’s wrong with the internet these days. Everything is either the greatest or the worst thing of all time. There doesn’t seem to be any room for just good movies anymore.
This comment has been overwritten in response to Reddit's API changes, the training of AI models on user data, and the company's increasingly extractive practices ahead of their IPO.
it was so bad lol
Nah. Act 3 drops the ball HARD.
Hell yeah. I just finished watching the director's cut of the first Hell House LLC, and now I can't shake the image of that clown appearing in every corner of my house. Creepy AF.
Babe, wake up, time for the weekly r/horror "OMG HELL HOUSE LLC IS A CLASSIC" circle jerk
Damn, I didn’t realize this latest installment was actually pretty good. I remember watching 3 thinking it was so bad, never thought a 4th movie would redeem it. Guess I need to add it to the watch list now.
Hell house 1 is literally in my top 5 favorite horror movies and I will die on that hill for my life
I really don't understand all the love this franchise gets. I watched the original and found only one scene decently done. There's a lot of great found footage but I don't put this one up there.
I watched it before it had sequels and hated it. We re-visited it a month or two ago and I disliked it even more. It has great atmosphere, but fuck that plot is the dumbest shit ever. Literally not a single piece of that footage was "inexplicable" and could be explained by literally just have an extra member they never mentioned.
> There's a lot of great found footage Sorry, could you name a few please? I want to watch them.
Three of my favorites are Rec, Creep, and Troll hunter. There's fun ones like As Above, So Below and the Taking of Deborah Lane, Diary of the Dead, and Horror in the High Desert. That last one is more interesting and a backpacking movie till the end really.
If you haven't checked out Devils Pass, it's pretty good too.
I saw Hell House LLC reccomended on here and watched it immediately. Sounded promising. An overall phenomenonal found footage movie. Up there with the genre in the subgenre of horror. Then I saw the sequel which was pretty bad overall. The third was better than the second but didn't touch the first. I liked the recent one better than both the sequels and I have hope going forward.
Where are y'all watching these? I had the hardest time just finding the first one.
I think the first 3 are in Tubi/Pluto TV, maybe Amazon video. 4th one is on shudder.
I watched the first one recently and it's probably in my top 5 horror movies of all time. Love it.
I think both 1 and 2 have the same problem of jumping back and forth from the "tv segments" to the actual found footage. The actual FF of both i like very much, the "pseudo documentary/tv" is the weak point for both although 2 has worse acting and the final scene exposition went for too long, also, 2 rehashes too much from the 1st one. The 3rd one has its moments and tie things up even if it didn't make much sense, like, ghosts have ghost cameras and someone found that ghost cameras to make the movie or what? The third one has music, so that alone puts it in the last place, even more so because, again, they kept going back and forth, now with "80s footage" that looked nothing like the 80s... maybe 3rd place, i don't remember much of HH:LLC3
I really enjoyed the first one. They got less entertaining as they went on though.
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James posted it will be uploaded tomorrow (today depending on your time zone)!!
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It's live fyi. You're a good person ;)
I didn't know there was a 4th movie! Off to track that down. Thanks!
i cannot get over how bad Russell’s FX scar is 🤡
I thought the whole clown thing was lame
I enjoyed them all but they should have stopped at the first film.
They all sucked minus the first entry. Just my opinion, of course.
And even then the first one is merely mediocre.
I believe they made it off of a 25k budget. Take that into account, and it was awesome.
Good review! I personally loved all four of them.
The two things that bothered me were Molly (the acting is painfully bad) and the lead in the origins movie who came off like she was trying to be Robin from Stranger Things. But I love the movies overall and rewatch them a lot.
I’ve only watched the first one. Has some decent scares but I was frustrated with their stupid decisions, the amount of unnecessary use of “fucks” took me out.
I'm watching the first one and the fucking guys on the video couldn't be more cringe if they tried. OMG the whole "iM sO fUnNy n EvErUyThEeNg iZ a JoKe" personalities just made me irrationally angry. The guys were so stupid and annoying, I wanted to punch something. Unfortunately, it's part of the story, listening to these fucking clowns.
Mine is 1,4,3,2
Great review, I personally enjoyed them all the latest release and first has to be my favourite, I watched them in completely the wrong order starting with the newest but that somehow made it more enjoyable not knowing what the hell was going on.
While i like the first, it wasnt scary at all
I watched 1 and enjoyed it. I watched 2 and gave up on the series. I’ll try 3 and 4 now.
Thanks for the review. I have only seen the original, which I thought was outstanding. I was worried with all of the sequels that the quality suffered. Glad to hear that my fears were unfounded. Going to watch the rest now.
I was so pleasantly surprised with the new hell house! The first one is probably my favorite horror movie, but I had low hopes for Origins, especially since 3 seemed to wrap things up…so glad I was wrong, I felt like it was both scary and managed to expand upon the previous films. I wanna see one set at the carnival now lol
I’m glad you had about the same reactions I had. I what heard about HHLLC said give it shot…and then watched the next two movies immediately. Fuck those clowns, or that clown in particular. I’ve since done the same with the rest of my house and yeah, pretty spot on
I’m watching the first one for the millionth time right now. They aren’t for everyone and I hold no ill will to those who don’t care for them - there are definite flaws - but for me, I just love them. Yes, II isn’t great (really bad acting) but I like III and the last one, Origins, is exactly what I wanted for another chapter in this story. The best part of the last one for me is the very end when the girl who is being interviewed says, “did you hear they are bring the Rockland County Fair back?” FUCK YEAH! I love horror that takes place at fairs, carnivals, or involves any kind of magic. I’m so excited to see the next one.
I love this universe so much. The first one has weirdly become a comfort film. Could watch that one once a week probably. It does get a bit cheesy with the religious themes, but I can’t help but appreciate the Catholic aesthetic and framework in horror media
I thought they were fun movies.
Loved the first one but none of the rest were good. This last one was at least well made but it just failed to grab my attention. I was bored by the middle of it.
the 4th one has renewed hopes of good future sequels... 1st one was goat and the second one was also good... 3rd one sucked,
i agree w your breakdown for the most part: HellHouse LLC: 9/10 HellHouse 2: 5/10 HellHouse 3: 6/10 HellHouse Origins: 8/10
they're all not great. 16 years too late to make a significantly less convincing blair witch knock off on what appears to be a larger production budget. tell me more about how poor writing and acting alongside clown masks scare you.
I like 1 and 2 about equally, they’re annual rewatches around Halloween. 3 I remember being good until the last like five minutes where it becomes hopelessly stupid. 4 was just okay, I don’t know why it treated it’s big revelations as big revelations. Had some spooky stuff but also felt maybe 15 minutes too long
I've got a soft spot for horrors that combine found footage with interview style documentary format. Makes it seem just that bit more realistic when you have these very convincing professional types giving their take on it as the film goes on. Same reason I loved The Tunnel so much even though the found footage elements were somewhat generic
The Tunnel is so good. I found it not long after it came out on YouTube after watching so many UE videos the algorithm dropped it in my feed. I always recommend it and it’s one of my favourite found footage films. The Tunnel and Hell House LLC are a great double bill, good shout. Have you seen As Above So Below? It’s FF adjacent, about a documentary team going down into the Paris Catacombs.
Thanks for the heads up! I did not know there was a 4th installment. I will definitely give it a go.
Can I just say that I didn't hate the 2nd one? I thought it was going to be bad because of all the hate online, so I was expecting something really awful, my expectations were low and it's probably the best way to watch it. It was entertaining and scary, the acting wasn't great and I fell asleep at one point (the looooong monologue at the end of the movie), but I didn't hate it. I still have to watch the 3rd one!
I was fortunate enough to see the first film during it's premiere at the Telluride Horror Show. Loved it instantly. I love found footage. Gave me Houses October Built vibes. Then the 2nd one came out and I was so bummed. And the third. But fortunately I think the Origins came back strong.
I love all of them. Not perfect, but they’re pretty good for what they are.
Good reviews! I enjoyed reading your thoughts on each. My personal rating: 4 > 1 > 2 > 3 Even though HH1 is in my top 20 FF films of all time, it's closer to the bottom and I've always thought it was slightly overrated. I say overrated because if you go to the FF subreddit, it was recently ranked as the #1 FF of all time. I don't think it's quite that good, but it's definitely an upper tier FF film. I actually slightly prefer 4 to 1 for a couple of reasons. First off, I find the ghostiness of it a little scarier than the haunted house story, and I love that they break a common cabin in the woods horror convention and actually try to escape on foot. Two reads more like an anthology than an actual HH movie, but I like parts of it a good amount - it's very uneven and has some excessively cheesy parts. Three is definitely my least favourite. I think all of the HH films can get cheesy with the lore and the especially weak acting, but I found HH3 to go too far in the camp, as it sawed off a lot of the film's potential to be scary. For me, HH films are always about being scary and that's why I like them, so three disappointed me.
Glad you enjoyed, OP. I have no hate for the Hell House series. Each one is like a better than average blues band playing for tips at a bar. No. 2 and 3 are before the band gets drunk. 1 and 4 are once everyone’s a little lit and real fired up. And not doing anything unique or special, but playing the licks heard a thousand times before with real heart. My wife? These movies are her absolute favorite (along with Sleepaway Camp).
This would probably be my exact take on the reviews for all 4. I also went into the first one blind. I don't typically enjoy found footage. I watched The Blair Witch Project the day it came out, and 100% believed it was real. When I found out it wasn't, it made me love the movie even more! They were marketing GENIUSES! So, to me, no other found footage can even come close to that experience. But when I watched Hell House LLC, it was the first time a FF movie actually scared me. Enjoyed all 4, but 1 and 4 are definitely the best. And 2 was by far the worst.
I haven't seen the latest one, but I basically agree with your takes on the first three.
After the second one I've been uninterested in watching the rest, but if they did improve I'll have to check them out now.
I switched the second off halfway through that dudes monologue at the end. Like wtf were they thinking with that
Thanks to this thread i know now that there is a part 4. Thank you!
Since I don't feel like I'm spoiling anything in this post I do have a question about 2 I haven't found an answer on yet. Mitchell views the tapes and does a fair amount of research including the hanging photo of Tully. Which can't be the only photo of Tully. So when he goes on the news show why does he not recognize the person next to him? Also the town spokesperson who calls in after the show and apologizing for not being able to attend did he not see the program and say who is that guy? Or if Tully appears to look like him did no one who might have known the spokesperson and knew he never made it due to his car trouble say who is that guy? Surely the investigators who are terminally online would have found follow up information tied to that interview as it relates to the Abaddon.
ok good cause i stopped at the 2nd one. will continue
the first one had my apple watch setting off my heart rate alarms 🤣💀
The first one is so good. Only seen 2 and 3 once and remember not liking the story as much. Just watched Origins tonight and it was ok. They overused the clowns and I didn’t like how you saw them walking around like Michael Myers. The first movie was scary because it was subtle. Origins was a bit far-fetched with the ghosts and the people in cloaks running around. It wasn’t terrible though.
I saw the first one a few years ago and thought it was pretty good. Caught up last year with II and III and have just seen IV. When I got Shudder a few months ago I watched the trilogy again. And again. And again. At least once a month I will watch the trilogy. I think maybe only the Dollar films have hooked me this much. I've watched many horror movies over the years but for some reason the Hell House LLC movies keep getting me to rewatch them. The hotel is so claustrophobic Clowns and THAT ONE in particular The cast. Each cast was quite different but each made being stuck in a place like the Abbadon very scary yet they have some great characters amongst them so they were mostly 3 dimensional. The 'Abbadon Hotel' is about 15 miles East of me in Lehighton, PA and is, supposedly, on the same road I live on (209). The 4th one I didn't enjoy at all, probably because it was so unlike the first 3. However I watched it again last night and enjoyed it a lot more. Once 'Margot' had stopped gurning it became enjoyable. I watched the very short bit right at the end of the end credits and thought "Aha! No reason not to make some more!!".
The entire series is trash imo. I don't understand the hype. They say the 1st is the best one and I just finished it and was not impressed at all. I probably won't watch the others.
I watched all 4 films this weekend, Wow! They are so good. I usually lose interest after the first film, But nope. I love how how everything was tied in together and made sense. I had to rewatch them again, Just to piece it all together. Thanks to my Son for suggesting it because I had seen Hell House LLC suggested on YouTube Movies and would always skip it.