User reviews

I loved the first one! The acting wasn't cringe in any way. Now the second one. It's terrible! The acting is painful. And Molly? Who is she related to? Her acting was worse than the high school production of Cabaret I just saw. Those kids should have Oscar's compared to her! When I was younger I used to think I'd never hack it! And the fact that she has this role, this opportunity to bring someone's story to the camera....and she is SO TERRIBLE AT IT! It upsets me.

Now I never hate oh actor's. But this chick didn't even try. And she made me p-o'd this whole movie. I really thing someone should buy the rights and do it better. This story is so great, it deserves a touch up.

My heart sank when I saw the trailer and heard the poor dialogue. The original had a great cast who delivered their lines in a natural fashion and seemed to really be friends/co-workers. I watched it many times and think it's terrific.

None of this really worked for me and I was bored about 30 minutes into it. And once they are in the hotel, you can't see much so when they run around screaming "WTF?" you have no idea what they are screaming about or running from.

If it's a trilogy, not sure why. When you explain too much, the fears tend to diminish and this film became a lot of talk, a lot of don't show, when it should really be show, don't tell. I sensed a lot of filler and then, no climax. And really, zero scares so jump cuts were added. If a third is made, I hope it mirrors the tone and acting of the first.

'Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel' is my second Stephen Cognetti film, the first being 'Hell House LLC', and already I'm beginning to see some trends in his film-making - some positive, some not so. He seems to really struggle with the beginnings of his films and then tends to find his way as it goes along. Also he writes some terrible dialogue, especially in the non-horror scenes. But what saves all this and makes his films extremely watchable is that he seems to be a master at directing horror.

This house/hotel setting that he has created for these films is truly terrifying. Everything about it just works. The creatures moving about inside it, the maze-like feel it has and the feeling of overwhelming dread when a character is in there are just terrific. Not often do individual scare moments get me but this film has one that really caught me off-guard and had my heart leaping. I didn't see it coming and combine that with the imagery and I'm not afraid to say it got me.

If Cognetti can either fix his dialogue and the clunky non-horror scenes he writes, or get a script-doctor in to do it for him and just let him focus on the horror side of things, then he has a big future ahead of him. He has created something special with The Abandon Hotel and I very much look forward to checking out the third installment now.

First off, I have to say, I LOVED the first "Hell House LLC". I've watched it many, many times and still love it. The characters and character development was fantastic. There wasn't a member of the cast who let down the movie.

I was apprehensive about this one, though. And for good reason. This is the second Found Footage/Mockumentary style movie that from the off we were told it would be a trilogy (Creep 2015) being the other. The second "segment" as I'll put it, failed to live up to its predecessor and that has happened here as well. Don't get me wrong, this was good, but not great. And that is what the original is. Maybe because, without trying to be too harsh, it's a time filler that has to be good enough to keep you engrossed whilst keeping the (what you'd hope) best for last?

Anyway. Up until the first 20 minutes I honestly thought I was in for a dreadful sequel. The "Morning Mysteries" bit just didn't work. I get the payoff (which I won't give away) but it was far too cheesy and forced. The acting was unrealistic and the green-screen thing looked too bad to be true. I know the guys are on a tight budget, but they were on the first too but it wasn't noticeable. It flowed more and you got the feeling these guys were a team, each with their own quirks, but essentially good guys who you could imagine going for a pint with. There was nobody in this one. Not even Mitchell.

A HUGE problem in this one as well is there was no Paul. And I'm not meaning Gore Abrams himself as that's obviously not possible storyline wise, but nobody to take us through on cam who was fun. The girl who played Molly in this so overacted that I can't believe nobody pulled her up about it. She basically came across as fodder for The Abbadon and that was never the case with any characters in the first.

It did get considerably better once we were over the main "Morning Mysteries" segment, but it kept popping back to it now and again and it started to get annoying to be honest.

All in all, I promised myself I'd write a non biased review and here it is. I wasn't completely disappointed, but I just hope Stephen Cognetti has a good script for the 3rd and takes most of the criticism constructively.

It's not a bad effort, but the bar was set by the first and ultimately that can come back ironically and bite you in the ass.

The movie gets a 6 from me and I'll definitely be watching the concluding part.

Everything about this movie was overdone. Especially the actors reactions. You took a perfectly fine movie and ruined it with this.

At random, the announcement that Hell House LLC 2 was coming to Shudder just hours ago popped into my head and I decided to take a look as I enjoyed the very creepy atmosphere of the original.

This one goes on to reveal even more about the Abaddon Hotel, where the Hell House "event" opened during the first film and things get suitable creepy once again. There are a number of moments where I noticed myself tense and almost holding my breath, just as with the first one. But just like the first one, I felt the ending was weak, it feels messy and a bit too exposition heavy, and just not very scary.

That's not to say the film isn't scary as a whole, there are plenty of eerie scenes that really have the ability to just creep you right out. They're so simple too and I think that's why they work, it doesn't feel overdone or over produced (I'm looking at you, The Nun). They let the unnerving moments linger, and all feels like it could be real, which is what you want with found footage. This is a film where it's low budget actually helps in that department.

I think the weakest aspect of the film is the acting, which is noticeably worse the first, where I felt those actors did a fine job, I don't recall ever thinking about their acting skills and everything seems believable. In Hell House LLC 2 the acting gives the production a bit more of an amateur feel. However once things get going the tension takes over and the actors also seem to improve for the most part. Except for one person, who's physical acting and dialogue delivery was just subpar the whole way through.

This one also tends to jump around a lot more than the first and feels a tad messy, but really the tension in this makes up for most shortcomings. It's obvious that writer/director Stephen Cognetti is a talented guy. When he's in the zone with the scary aspects he pretty much nails it, both in the first film and in this one. For fans of the first I would definitely recommend it. It's more of the same really, but still manages to be very creepy when it tries to be. I'd really like to see what Cognetti could do with more resources and a larger budget.

This is the film in the series that introduces the main antagonist. Brian David Tracy does an amazing job at transitioning the screentime from the actors in the first movie to his supporting role in the second film. Whereas the first movie begged us to want to follow the original cast's plight, the second movie gets us rooting for the bad guys at times. Some of the subtle approaches to the horror genre which were staples in the first film remain intact into this movie and the director often shines the light on them stronger. The addition of the newscaster played by Amanda K. Morales adds the same kind of culling of the audience's expectations that goes hand-in-hand with the villain's introduction and she does a good job. The audience will be wanting the clowns to return, after watching their effectiveness in the first film, and this movie uses that position to pivot their material in a very fresh direction.

This is a perfect example of an unwarranted sequel leaving behind a bitter taste in one's mouth. The first Hell House wasn't exactly original: there are hundreds of found footage, paranormal films on the market. What separated it was the execution, the build, the unsettling creepiness and the intense, abrupt ending. The feel of the sequel is filmmaker's going to the well again hoping for a cash cow, but not having enough content to fill time, so they insert needles explanatory angles that ruin the mystique of the first film. Not a terrible film, mind you. Just don't go into watching Hell House LLC 2 with an expectation of it being comparable to the first.

The first Hell House LLC was really good. Yeah, there were things left unanswered, there were questions ... but that's fine. In horror, not everything needs an answer.

This one definitely feels like it has a lower budget than the last one, even if they were the same. I don't know, this definitely felt like a made-for-TV deal, even for a FF horror film.

Anyway, there were too many things that were just implausible here to work. They were trying too hard, I think, to expand the plot and the "terror" of the Abaddon Hotel by making it bigger than it needed to be.

The scare factor just wasn't there in this film. Yeah, there were some creepy moments, but on the whole, this one flopped for me. Like the Abaddon Hotel--and the first film--some things are just better left alone.

What were they thinking? It's like the purposely did the exact opposite of what made the first film work. Acting was atrocious and wasn't believable at all.

Idk why so many hate I love the hell house series it not your crazy blood and gore but good old fashion scares and jumps. I thought all 3 movies were awesome and I'm a horror junkie I even bought all 3 on my Apple TV, it's creepy and with you deff have to watch all 3 in the dark for the best effect. This is why I'm a shudder subscriber and fan they put out some of the best underground horror films

Everything from the actors to script to cinematography is bad, you can really feel how low budget this movie is. Not worth watching.

This one was a decent sequel, however it wasn't nearly as terrifying as the first Hell House. I did enjoy this one and do recommend it

I enjoyed the original Hell House, in the crowded shaky cam world of found footage it was pretty original (although The Houses October Built got there first) and genuinely creepy. I think it worked so well, in part, because it left a lot of things open and unexplained.

After much anticipation, the sequel was just disappointing. It took pains to tie up all the loose ends and create a mythology... and in doing so ended up towards the "hokey mess" end of the found footage spectrum.

The first had decent acting and believable characters, whereas this was just annoying. Also they tried too hard to justify the "why don't you stop filming?" found footage conundrum, in a way that appeared to land initially but if you thought about it for two seconds was just plain silly.

And the mythology they created was explained as going on and on into the future... which I expect is the film makers' plan for this franchise.

Overall, if you are an avid found footage fan then this is perfectly watchable. But if you were a big fan of the original as an a-typical found footage, then this will probably disappoint.

I'm positive the main reason this is getting low scores is that right now horror snobs rip jump scare heavy movies, it's somehow considered cheap and low effort. Hard to believe that the industry this movie is about that is completely based on jump scares and is ridiculously popular and profitable is somehow low effort. Everything that is popular has a group of people who claim to be the enlightened torchbearers that tell us who and what is worthy of attention and unfortunately this and other sites like it are festooned with people who detail every step every scene every performance within a movie and while people must like that it makes no sense to me. All I want from a review is what the person thought and maybe a broad comparison that's just me. I enjoyed this because I watched the movie. Don't get me wrong I realize my review is not worth more (and maybe less to many) than others, the fact is more people review these movies the complete opposite of me shows I'm in the minority. I watch movies like this on a very basic level more thumbs up and down then 1 to 10.

Even more creepy moments than in the first, but a bit confusing at times when jumping to and from interviews and different time Periods.. but overall still a very good film!

Obviously it is not as strong as the original, but it is still a fun watch. The set up is a bit lame but the chilling scenes and the scares are still strong, and it gets in to them earlier than the first one with a TV show sharing various online clips. If you liked the first one then you will enjoy this, just remember it is a sequel so keep your expectations low. Sleep sweet.

This seems like a film requested by Shudder, shot for nothing, and filmed with zero effort whatsoever. This is the type of generic work that a group of teenagers could shoot on weekends, and release on YouTube, so not sure why Shudder would allow this on their platform with films like The Innkeepers.

Pro tip: calling something scary, just because you want it to be is the very definition of lazy writing.

With a modicum of effort, this could have been an interesting installment for this unique property, but the filmmakers couldn't be bothered apparently.

After the disappearance of their friends, a documentary group looking to investigate the goings on of the previous people who disappeared return to the supposedly haunted hotel to find out for sure only to become embroiled in the same deranged series of encounters that befell the other group.

For the most part, this was a decidedly decent if somewhat underwhelming follow-up. One of the stronger aspects featured here is the opening half that devotes an incredibly enjoyable amount of time to set up the aftermath of the original. The fact that there's a hint of realism featured here as to how the media would handle such a situation with the talking-head TV shows and investigative pieces that look into the history and people involved. This gives the film a solid base to tie into the previous entry as the second half delves into the new group entering the hotel and getting stranded inside. There's a generally creepy air throughout the hotel as they engage in their filming and find the area just as creepy as before with the endless corridors, never-ending maze of dead-ends and mind-games that shouldn't be there including the reappearing props or power changes that are quite prominent at the location. As well, the encounters with the ghosts are rather enjoyable and creepy, managing to work in some great moments here. The hitchhikers encountering the one spirit on the highway and taking her to the hotel where they have a chilling encounter there is a fantastic start to this, while the mysterious figures in the photographs and video footage are incredibly creepy when they manage to just pop up unexpectedly to freak them out. There's a rather enjoyable air of relentlessness at that point where it just sends ghouls and various figures they know shouldn't be there that adds a lot to the film as a whole. Most of the creepiness comes from the deranged look of the ghouls which are quite creepy, and overall these are more than enough to hold this up over it's few main flaws. The film's biggest issue is the finale where it's a major letdown from the previous entry as the full revelation of what the entity's looking for and how they're there are just lame and not all that impressive. It's just underwhelming to know that's the full extent of their purpose for being invited and really just smacks of being an afterthought which isn't the case with the original which had a more pronounced and effective atmosphere. It's also rather complicated in its set-up as to the cutting back-and-forth to the interview segments in the studio and back to their exploits in the hotel itself which is distracting with seeing them alive and then being tortured split seconds later, making the overall presentation if not the setup being quite disorienting. Otherwise, there's not much else to this one.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence.