Hell House
George Ratliff
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Plot Summary
Hell Houses are the evangelical Christian church's answer to a haunted house, a fundamentalist fight night meant to scare the bejesus out of any nonbeliever. These houses of horror don't rely on the traditional gimmicks of ghosts and goblins. Instead, they recreate scenes that graphically depict such modern-day evils as botched abortions, AIDS-related deaths, fatal drunk driving crashes, date rapes, and drug-induced suicides. With full behind-the-scenes access, Hell House follows the making of these contemporary fire-and-brimstone sermons. Shot at the Trinity Assembly of God Church in Texas, the film chronicles the entire process from initial script meeting to lavish stage production. Hell House is a verite window into the creative effort and religious zeal behind this over-the-top sermon, while remaining an intimate portrait of the people who fervently believe its message.
Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews
TOMATOMETER
94%- Reviews Counted: 34
- Fresh: 32
- Rotten: 2
- Average Rating: 7.6/10
Top Critics' Reviews
Fresh: As a director, Mr. Ratliff wisely rejects the temptation to make fun of his subjects.
Fresh: Lookin' for sin, American-style? Try Hell House, which documents the cautionary Christian spook-a-rama of the same name.
Fresh: Texan director George Ratliff had unlimited access to families and church meetings, and he delivers fascinating psychological fare.
Fresh: A candid and often fascinating documentary about a Pentecostal church in Dallas that assembles an elaborate haunted house each year to scare teenagers into attending services.
Customer Reviews
EH.
So, we see movies about Christians and the ridiculous things they do…. and then somehow find ourselves thinking they are all the same.
No different than Americans ludicrously thinking that every Muslim… or Middle-eastern person… is a terrorist.
I don't see the whole Hell House thing as a tactic to "scare" nonbelievers. For example (a much milder example), if a man wants to communicate with a woman (which, always seems to fail…) he can't communicate to her the way a "man" would typically communicate (especially the way he communicates with other guys). That wouldn't be effective.
The whole Hell House, is a way to reach out and share a message to a certain audience, who would otherwise be a difficult audience to communicate with in the form of a Sunday morning sermon.
Another example, in business and advertising. Its important to know who your target audience is… you are not going to be able to sell a bunch of cars to middle aged men by throwing in some cute puppies and such…. throw in an attractive female… "if you drive this car… look at who's attention you'll be getting".
Anyways… So I don't really like movies or shows… or even the news for that matter that takes a number… say 2%, and make it look like 80%.
So, about the content of the movie. It makes sense what they do. I mean, of all the horror movies in the world with not point except to "entertain" people with brutal sadistic violence… that serves hardly and point in human lives, is this really so bad?
People choose to go to these things… no one is forcing them to go to the Hell House. But, the are attracted to it because of their interest in horror and gore. Except, the horror of Hell house depicts real life situations. Things in life that have real and lasting effect on peoples lives… no matter where you stand morally.
Of all the horror films I've seen, the ones that were realistic… maiming that sort of thing can and actually happens… or is plausible… those were always the scariest.
Anyways. That's my two sense on the film.
Puritanism
Too much Puritan mentality.
"Jesus Camp" it ain't
When you've just got to see Jesus's loons being loony, you can't find a better movie than "Jesus Camp"--not "Hell House", While "Hell House" shows how fire n' brimstone can be presented in new and ineffective ways and it's funny and certainly entertaining to see these boring zeroes not-be-actors either in a movie or in a half-cocked haunted house, it isn't an objective documentary so you have to take it for what it is and it ain't much. You won't be educated and you won't want to learn more about the content. If you're just hot to see Religious losers make a spectacle of themselves to bump up how many butts are in the pews and then what goes in to the offering plates, give "Hell House" a rent--it's not worth a buy.
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