kinseydude I found this to be effective filmmaking: a straight forward documentary about the families and youth ministers who put together a haunted house meant to reinforce Christian dogma and scare people into repenting of their supposed moral lapses. We follow one family, several youth leaders, and multiple actors and directors of the Hell House show, as the film makers refrain from open or ironic commentary, and mostly just watch as one October's casting, planning, and performing of the "Hell House" unfolds.I was impressed that the documentary could reveal so much about this particular sect and its annual show, without going out of its way to cast a particular light on their production: the youth group's own attitudes and occasional extremes speak for themselves. I was also moved by the length they went to to humanize these individuals: the father of four, who's raising a baby with cerebral palsy and who recently separated from his wife, seemed to me an especially sympathetic figure. I could understand what the church did for him and his family, and empathize with his and his daughters' struggles, and even wanted, albeit briefly, for them to get what they wanted out of the Hell House.That said, the show totally revealed this denomination's recruitment moves as scare tactics, frightening vulnerable children, out on Halloween, into accepting denominational dogma. It showed that their little scenes in the Hell House admitted of no shades of gray, but culminated in someone dying and going to hell in each case, with spectators eventually seeing them suffering in hell, supposedly for good measure. The crowds going through the show all looked appropriately spooked; I kept waiting for someone in one of the tour groups to burst out laughing. It's what I would have done.They interviewed a young woman who had played a rape victim during a previous year's production, and they had her say that her real-life rapist had been in the audience as she's acted the scene. It was a powerful and poignant moment for her, but she said over the course of it, that she had forgiven her rapist. Then, we watch another young woman cast into the current year's date-rape scene, and see her character kill herself and (guess what?) go to hell, when it seems Jesus had abandoned her. Both of these scenes bothered me in that they seemed to show Pentecostal Christan tradition blaming the victim: the first woman actually forgave her rapist?? The second kills herself because she's inconsolable after a gang rape, and she's supposed to burn in hell for that? Why weren't we told her _rapists_ were in hell? Why wouldn't someone say rape victims do sometimes, understandably, choose suicide? A Christian tendency to blame the victim in sexual matters, and come down especially hard on women, came through for me in these especially troubling scenes.. . . But then, I cared a great deal about these kids and the production they were undertaking, more so than I would have without seeing this powerful film. I never plan to set foot in such a church in my life, I have not accepted any fairy-tale figure as my savior, and I'll never spend Halloween at Hell House. Still, I have a clearer idea of what goes on in such places, thanks to brave film making like this.

tonymurphylee The Trinity Church in Cedar Hill, Texas has crafted a unique idea of warning of the dangers of sin by depicting it in their church on Halloween. They call these the Hell Houses. They involve people putting on performances of people in eternal anguish and torment for committing and falling prey to such acts as suicide, domestic abuse incidents, rape, school massacres, botched abortion, the terrible things to come of judging others, and death of AIDS related illness caused by unprotected sexual contact. While I do not condone or admire people who use scare tactics as a form of saying that something isn't alright as it is exploitative, I do admire the hard work and difficulty that these people are faced with in putting these things together. Apparently, over 13,000 people get attracted to these places every year. If I had children, I would certainly not bring them to these sorts of things due to the violent content and would recommend that they only visit these things once they are older. I do not think that the parents who bring their children to these things are being responsible since it is the parents duty to teach the child to listen. I understand where the creators of these things are coming from in their resorting to these kinds of tactics. The world is certainly filled with all sorts of horrible stuff and people are being exposed to extremely violent subject matter on their television and in the media in general. The goal of the creators of Hell House is to top that stuff. Now, do I think that this would actually work? No. I think, for a person to get anything done, they need to be honest and true to themselves and the people around them. People should not lie, cheat, or steal from one another. People need to be able to trust each other more and rely on each other that the people around them care and don't want to hurt them. Sure, some do, but for many people true friends and family will help guide people into being smart, happy, and safe. Nobody deserves to not be smart, happy, and safe. While watching this documentary, HELL HOUSE, I came to the conclusion that these people do not feel safe enough or happy enough to resort to scare tactics. I don't think it has anything to do with religion, politics, or science. I think it has more to do with humanity losing hope and losing their trust in each other. They have good reason to, but they shouldn't let the terrible deeds of others control their lives. They just need to live their lives as honestly and as fully as they can. They should find a way to do this with their church. Instead of decorating it and coloring it in grotesque imagery they should be encouraging more people to go to church and to have faith. They certainly shouldn't be telling people to do this, but nobody ever likes to be told what to do. These people just need to work a little harder to help make life easier in their community. I do not believe in God, and I don't think that the people in this movie aren't bad, they just aren't sure what to do. They are struggling and have been through a lot. After I watched this film, I wanted to stay updated on their activities and see what sorts of things they've had on their calenders. This is a pretty special documentary.

PaulLondon Hell House is an interesting documentary looking at a church's annual performance that demonstrates to people how easy it is to be flung into the screaming maw of Hell. The filmmakers are careful not to be too judgemental of this bizarre phenomena but in doing so miss the chance to look at the moral complexity that the story really offers.The church's Hell House appears to condemn people who are victims of others - in one section a girl, who we discover was abused by her father, has drugs plied upon her, is raped and then in despair commits suicide - for which she is condemned to Hell. Another vignette features a young man, abused as a child by his uncle (is there a theme here?), dying from AIDS - naturally he gets dispatched to Hell too. The church don't actually bother condemning the abusers as much as they do their victims. Presumably the abusers repent and the pearly gates open wide for them whilst their victims languish in a hell of red lights, dry ice and perspex ceilings.The film is fascinating and yet leaves the feeling that it could have been so much more. It also opens for debate the true morality and humanity of the people who organise this ghoulish performance.

wade-baron Wow. What a stunning documentary. I am quite literally stunned. In the stunning realm of all things stunned, I may indeed be King stunned!...or stupefied, or both, heck I don't know! Somebody show me the light, as I'm sure this cast would be more than up to the task of doing...being experts in ignorance and all.Where do I begin?...how about with the actual 'documentary' aspect of it itself: disappointing. I admittedly prefer a documentary that has something of an agenda, or at least a point, and none was to be found here. I understand letting the movie 'speak for itself' to deliver whatever message you choose to take away from it I really do. Unfortunately, even that seemed beyond the scope of this film. The people that were featured did NOTHING to effectively deliver the message of salvation and underscored hypocrisy on so many levels I'm sincerely having a difficult time organizing my thoughts here. As well, strangely enough, the only real intelligence shown by anyone in this film is the person we don't see, you remember her I'm sure, she's the one who met someone on the internet and made it out of the cult! (Hooray!) Perhaps my previous statements aren't quite accurate, maybe there was a clear message and I simply disagree with it...quite likely as I am a disagreeable sort, but the blind and unthinking devotion that is being commanded here is ENTIRELY based on fear...and here I thought all along that religion was based on FAITH! (Yes, me am dumb and naive) These people are going to bully you into believing along the same lines as them or condemn you to HELL (I refuse to even comment on their ultimatum where you have six seconds to decide on praying with them and saving your self or taking your chances, knowing what you know about yourself, aside from noting that it is the most blatant bullying I've witnessed since 3rd grade).Others have already fairly clearly and accurately commented on peoples perverse enthusiasm to be a part of this project. (Oh to be granted the privilege of being the 'rape-girl'! And what a fabulous little rape-girl you were sweety!) So I won't dwell too long on this...but possibly the scariest part of this film is how blind all of its participants are...all of them. Thinking that religion was supposed to be about faith, I suppose I wasn't prepared to see quite so narrow a view of the world. In their little world its reasonable for example that white people wouldn't feel comfortable being led by a black pastor (or priest or father)...and this is stated plainly and matter-of-factly in the film as though 'well you know what I mean' type manner. This type of ignorance continues through several social issues, all of which appear to blame the victims of some mis-deeds or situations they had no control over. The gay-incest-rape-rape victim afflicted with AIDS, the rave-rape girl, the teased-to-suicide boy, and lets not to forget my fave the ETERNALLY evil-'i-made-it-out-of-the-cult' wife. Heathens all!...right? Right.The misguided, heavily skewed, and just plain @ssbackward views that these people ARE frightening. Their hypocrisy is rampant and their position would be hard enough to defend had they showed some intelligence or at least independent thought. Sadly, they only appear as pathetic sheep that cannot cope with the world in which they live. They need the group dynamic that their relig...sorry cult has offered them in order to cope with the world. They need support to make sense of a chaotic and imperfect world, and they will follow their blind and beligerant ignorance regardless of the inconsistency that is displayed. They show no faith in their God or 'religion', only fear...fear of damnation, fear of eternal suffering, fear of the living hell that exists in their minds...and fascinates them.These people need faith...religion, but they are taking the long road going through Hell House to try and find it.