Hell House - A Origem

The first hell house is enjoyable because it's kind of a hidden gem that's just recently gained more popularity. It had a lot of ambiguity in the story and left a pretty open ended story. The acting in part one is pretty good as well. Then we get to parts 2 and 3...

Those movies feel cheap. Much cheaper and just seemed to be feeding off the success of the first one. The acting is horrible in both, the news anchor is part 2 is laughably bad. Part 3 is more of the same. Neither one adds much to the story either.

This movie has much better acting and cinematography than the previous two. It feels like this one was made to actually further the story, not just as a cash grab. This movie does a much better going into the backstory than previous attempts. It's not perfect, but it does have some good scares and does a great job building tension. There are two seperate stories in this one and the way they connect works quite well. I'd recommend this for sure.

I enjoyed this instalment. Even though the story model remains more or less the same as the others, the tension and unnerving feelings managed to be effectively executed. I only have one gripe which was the main character was insufferable from beginning to end. I don't know why the screenwriter felt the need to make Margot obnoxious, arrogant, pig-headed, fundamentally unlikable and self-interested, especially seen as how we are supposed to be empathising with her the most, but it created a real divide between my willingness to root for her and my contempt towards her. The girlfriend and brother were likeable enough and I was on their sides when they were faced with conflict. But the lead was painful for me (the character not the actress). If they had written her differently I think I would've enjoyed this so much more. Regardless, as horror goes, this film produced enough sufficient scares to justify its existence.

I was looking forward to this installment of the series but my God I couldn't even finish it since the actress who plays Margot is just horrendous: she's constantly screaming her dialogue; she has no chemistry with her costars (the girlfriend and the brother), who, in comparison, are actually pretty decent; she's not at all convincing in any of her interactions or actions. It feels like she's in a different movie or production altogether, like a bad high school play. There have been some bad performances in these movies but she definitely takes the cake as the worst. Wish they chose a different lead.

Let me start off by saying this was a very scary movie. I've been a big fan of the Hell House franchise for a while especially the first movie, so I had to watch this. This movie does the Hell House LLC IP justice in terms of scares, but unfortunately falls flat in almost all other regards of an interesting and well rounded film.

The acting is bad. It is very very bad. At no point does it seem like the characters believe or feel what they are saying. Their facial expressions are exaggerated and their mannerisms/speech are simply not convincing. It feels less like the actors are trapped inside an evil, haunted mansion, and more like they are reading lines off a teleprompter. It Is so so so bad. The choices they make are also ridiculous, to the point where it completely detracts from the realism.

Now that that is out of the way... this is in fact a very scary movie. It does rely heavily on jump scares which is slightly disappointing, but they are done very well and the tension building is top notch. The atmosphere is super creepy and the camera work, lighting, music/sound, all contributes to the super eerie vibe of the film.

This easily could have been an 8/10 if the acting and writing had been on par with the first Hell House. Overall I would still suggest giving it a watch just because how creepy it is.

I'd put this and the first film in the same league, as in, they're both watchable for the crafting of scares in a minimal but impressive way. But the origin story and lore expansion did little for me, as I didn't think even the first film necessarily had a lot going for it. Also, I haven't watched parts two and three, so I'm unsure if I missed anything significant. Found footage can become extremely monotonous and repetitive, and here I could witness that in parts. The protagonists are still fairly uninteresting and lacking any real motives (other than the quest for fame and adventure), and they continue to make questionable decisions throughout.

Director Stephen Cognetti also fails to capitalize on the outdoors of the manor for more atmospheric fights. While this comes into the picture fairly into the final act, the underutilization of the magnificent outdoors (with all those incredible-looking trees) is evident. The indoor scares are reminiscent of the ones from the original film, and I could see them coming at those critical junctures. One particular scare, during a video call, was quite nicely executed. The clowns are less scary this time, and some of it has to be attributed to what we've already seen. I don't exactly know what to make of those long-running lore connections, but it sure didn't make the experience substantially more riveting.