Hell House (film)

Hell House is a 2002 documentary that was directed by George Ratliff that focuses on the idea of a hell house, a Christian-themed haunted attraction, in Cedar Hill, Texas. The film follows the youth group of the Cedar Hill Trinity Church, documenting the work involved in creating the hell house, the performances themselves, and the personal lives of some of the participants.

Hell House
Directed byGeorge Ratliff
Produced byZachary Mortensen, Devorah DeVries
StarringTrinity Church Youth Group
Music byBubba and Matt Kadane
CinematographyJawad Metni
Edited byMichael LaHaie
Release date
  • October 1, 2002 (2002-10-01)
Running time
85 min
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Reception

The film currently holds a rating of 94% "certified fresh" on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on 34 reviews.[1] A reviewer for the New York Times "Through such generalizations are destructive stereotypes born, on both the left and the right."[2]

Motivation for film

NPR interviewed Ratliff, the director, who said the motivation for making the documentary was to display the Christian right in the United States. The documentary films the annual Halloween show at the Assemblies of God church. Ratliff said the "Hell House" was invented by this church and it has been franchised, with "Hell Houses" now all over the world. The Assemblies of God, annual Halloween "Hell House", on which the documentary film is based on, is a "fire and brimstone" show with a death scene, followed by a trip to hell, immediately followed by an invitation to viewers to accept Christ and save their soul. Aside from an HIV death scene, and an abortion scene, there are school shooting, date rape, suicide, and drunk driving accident death scenes.[3]

References
  1. "Hell House". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
  2. "FILM IN REVIEW; 'Hell House". NY Times. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
  3. "Documentary Focuses on Dallas 'Hell House'". NPR. 17 August 2002. Retrieved 21 April 2010.


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