Hell House (2001)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

George Ratliff

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

This church wants to scare the Hell out of you.

Plot:

A look at the "Hell House" performed annually in October by the youth members of Trinity Church (Assemblies of God) in Cedar Hill...

Plot Keywords:

Audition | Texas | Single Father | Church | Hell

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Aria Adloo	...	Herself
Ashley Adloo	...	Herself
Amy Allred	...	Herself
Gabriel Allred	...	Himself
Cherie Asbjornson	...	Herself
Tim Ferguson	...	Himself
Ben Hennesy	...	Himself
Jim Hennesy	...	Himself - Trinity Church pastor
Kristen Hennesy	...	Herself
Mark Hennesy	...	Himself
Rosanna Hennesy	...	Herself
Ryan Hennesy	...	Himself
J.R. Hernandez	...	Himself
Jennifer Hillman	...	Herself
Dave Hix	...	Himself
Paula Hix	...	Herself
Carol Holt	...	Herself
Howard Holt	...	Himself
Kaleb Holt	...	Himself
Kayce Holt	...	Herself
Bill Humphrey	...	Himself
Nancy Humphrey	...	Herself
Crystal Johnson	...	Herself
Jeremy Johnson	...	Himself
Lori Johnson
Summer Johnston
Natalie Jones
Tacara Jones
Becky Jordan
Jayson Just	...	Himself
Matthew Kaewpradit	...	Himself
Josh Kester	...	Himself
Jane King	...	Herself
Paul Kovarik	...	Himself
Jonathan Wallace	...	Himself
Brad Watts	...	Himself
Stacia Webb	...	Herself
Ben Weiss	...	Himself
Crystal Weiss	...	Herself
Josh Weiss	...	Himself
Nancy Weiss	...	Herself
Amber Wells	...	Herself
April Wells	...	Herself
Jerry Wells	...	Himself
Kristen White	...	Herself
Geoff Whitmore	...	Himself
Alan Wilson	...	Himself
Amy Wilson	...	Herself
Joel Wilson	...	Himself
Dawn Wolfe	...	Herself
Desiree Wright	...	Herself
Aaron Wulff
John Wulff	...	Himself
Josh Wulff
Suzanne Wulff
Ted Wulff

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Filming Locations:

Trinity Church - 1231 E. Pleasant Run Road, Cedar Hill, Texas, USA

Company:

GreenHouse Pictures

Quotes:

Jason: Help me. Please help me.
Giant: You better mind your own business, or you're next!

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XVIII (#19.5)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Heaven

Frightening, Faces of Death-esque look at religion

I'm sure Hell House was intended by the deeply religious people who appear in it as a means of saving "the lost". Instead, what it becomes is a shocking and horrifying look at religious extremism (yes, Islam is not the only religion burdened by extremists).

The one image that kept flashing through my head was of the low-budget cult classic "Faces of Death", in which a phony "Doctor of Death" presents a series of scenes (some authentic, some obviously fake)depicting various ways living things can die, including animal attacks, footage of autopsies, etc. Hell House has the exact same low-budget, creepy feel that Faces of Death had for me.

The most frightening thing is that the participants in the actual Hell House are convinced that they are saving young people by showing them their own extreme Judeo-Christian version of reality: girls who undergo abortions will go to hell, etc. What they are really doing is unnecessarily exposing young people to horrible graphic violence.

The way the people speak to each other is disturbing as well: everything is about "The Church"... the whole thing reeks of brainwashing. The discussions going on during the brainstorming session about what to do in the Hell House this year, as well as those going on during the casting reminded me of the films Bin Laden and his toadies send in to Al Jazeera TV talking about killing the infidels. The message is a little different, but the behavior and absolute mindless devotion to the "cause" is absolutely the same.

But the most horrifying and disgusting part for me was the footage from the "Christian school", where the teacher was talking about how they teach everything from the "Christian viewpoint", while the camera panned over a pile of textbooks with titles like "Spanish for Christian schools" and such. Reality and fact know no religion.

I see little difference between Muslim extremism and Christian extremism, with the exception that Muslim extremists engage in suicide missions. In both cases, the message is "Our way is the only way and if you don't follow it, you are doomed".

Jesus taught acceptance and love for fellow creatures. However, the people who participated in Hell House missed the point and are examples of the extreme right of Christianity, just as Bin Laden and the Taliban are representative of the extreme right of Islam. Unfortunately, too many people lacking direction in their life choose these paths that inevitably lead to their complete brainwashing and, effectively, losing sight of the real and usually very helpful teachings of their prophets and/or messiahs.