Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire

Loved the first Hell House (7/10) and the 2nd was serviceable (5/10). I was expecting more from this one. The story was convoluted and the writing was weak. You've got a location where dozens of people have died or gone missing and everybody just flocks back likes its no big deal, even when similar unexplained things begin to happen again. Sure. Sad way to end the story.

Agreeing to film a documentary, a filmmaker joins an entrepreneur setting up an interactive fear-conquering show at a rumored haunted hotel, but while doing the behind-the-scenes work for the show come to realize that darker secrets are at play within the building and must stop it from happening.

This one wasn't all that bad conclusion to the franchise. When this one works, it's due to the enjoyable atmosphere created here that's quite eerie and creepy. As expected, the location of the hotel is used to fantastic effect with the notion of using the premise of a fear-based haunt opening at the location to bring out some creepy and chilling moments in the various walk-throughs of the darkened corridors. The sharp corners and pitch-black hallways are once again put to good use with several fine jump-scares, especially with the utterly creepy clown props strewn around used as the basis for the scenes, and combined with the slow-moving scenes that build up to something potentially happening before it does. That comes into play with the finale as the chaos of the demons coming free and running wild slaughtering anyone and everyone they come across throughout the building and even outside creates a fun, over-the-top action scene which has a lot to like about it. These here are the films' best aspects that hold it up overall. The film does have some pretty big flaws featured here. The main issue is the complete stupidity featured throughout the film that makes for a pretty jarring and discordant offering. The fact that the previous incidents that took place at the hotel are ignored in favor of bringing an interactive experience designed to take participants into their darkest fears at that location is an utterly lame way of ensuring the hauntings continue there. The stupidity to do that doesn't endear any sympathy to anyone involved here in the proposed show, especially when the film flip-flops between the past experiences both as a warning not to stay there or as motivation to keep the show at the hotel by way of beating the past incidents into the narrative through flashbacks clumsily inserted into the storyline to make the connection. Complete with the usual notion of being completely unwilling to turn the camera off when they're lives are at stake for no real reason, it's all apart of the general stupidity on display in the film. The other problem with this one is that the finale to this one is a completely underwhelming and overall mess that arises here. The attempt to bring together the various plotlines of the previous inhabitants to the hotel grounds in a satisfactory manner keeps this one going through several odd and jarring dialog pieces to try to tie everything together. With the mixture of on-set found-footage shot during the incidents in the past mixed with talking-head interviews of various people attempting to explain what went wrong just like the others at the location, this sets you up to know something's gone wrong even before it happens. The attempted explanations featured here due to that come off so ham-fisted and illogical that despite the use of closing off the storyline the final moments featured here just make no sense whatsoever and have no purpose for being shown, really taking this one down quite heavily.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.

The first movie had so much dread and genuine creepiness to it. It's a shame that couldn't be carried throughout the series. Even the second one, the story was somewhat lacking but still there were moments of dread in it. This third installment just doesn't have that. I give it 6 stars because it kept me interested enough to watch to the end and it was by no means a boring movie. It simply had a lot to live up to...and the first movie in this series will always outshine the two that followed.

A summation of my reviews for the first two entries in the 'Hell House LLC' trilogy would be that writer/director Stephen Cognetti wasn't getting the regular scenes in his movie right, but that his horror scenes were world class. Interestingly 'Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire' serves to prove that the opposite of that is a much worse thing. This film has far better acting than the first two and also the dialogue is much better written, and yet it is the weakest of all three by a significant margin. Why? Because he forgot about the horror this time around.

The film has a tremendous amount of over-lapping shots from the first two films, mostly to show what happened in a certain part of the hotel/house or who a certain character was. At first this is helpful, but then it happens far too often from there on out and becomes very annoying and distracting. I think you just have to have faith that the audience has seen the first two films, and if they haven't then the information they are missing out on isn't hugely critical to the enjoyment of this one.

I think Cognetti was so intent on wrapping everything up into a nice little bundle storywise that he forgot what made the first two films so good, which was the epic horror sequences they featured. This one has little moments here and there, but there is never that big payoff that the first two films achieved. 'Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire' was a little bit of a disappointing way to end an otherwise very good horror trilogy. It's not unwatchable, but it is a big step in the wrong direction.

The first Hell House LLC was so good, an excellent found footage which used limited perspective to its advantage. Part three, like the second, has a handful of good moments and is watchable enough, but falls apart in the last third when it really should be getting going.

I don't mind finding ways to incorporate the actors of the previous films but the film relies far too much on re-using footage from the previous movies as a way to establish this. It totally shoe horned in and the audience doesn't really care, it's just there to make sure the actors all have role in the third (and likely final) installment. I mean, it's nice everybody gets to come back for a cameo or whatever but the whole "now they're ghosts who are trapped in the building" thing kind of feels pointless and by the fifth or sixth time it just seems gratuitous. Wouldn't it have been better to use "unreleased" footage from the previous movies instead of badly incorporating them into the current timeline?

Also, the play or whatever they're showing in the house is terrible. There's barely any set, the "acting" is awful and the story is moronic. Who the hell would be impressed by "Insomnia"? As theater, it's worse than a haunted house and that's saying something. I've seen a play where the audience went from room to room and it was pretty cool. I would be mad, as an audience member if I showed up and it was like the worst version of Faust ever.

The movie has some moments. But they just overuse things from the previous movies too much. Like, why are those clowns still there? I mean the blonde girl going into the basement is pretty much the highlight of the movie, but it just doesn't make sense. And I could not stop thinking about how that guy's scar seemed so fake and not like something someone would get in a car crash. For me, the whole ending just kind of did what the first movie did but worse.

There's a twist, which is ridiculous and... surprisingly Christian? It's sad because I honestly enjoyed a lot of the movie, thinking it better than the second, until it began its downward spiral in the second half.

A good found footage movie is always welcome, and clearly they're harder to get right than you might think. But please, lets let go of all this angels and devils nonsense. And stop re-using footage in your sequels, it wasn't cool in Silent night Deadly Night 2 and its not cool now.