Cutting Deep Into Horror | Hell House LLC (2015) — Halloween Haunt Found Footage Horror

Ooh, I'm the ghost that haunts this land. Oh it me this land or this hotel, the. Van behind the hotel. Oh, that's really sad. Thanks, it's all I have. Oh I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but do you want to I'll come back around and we can do this again. I don't need your pity. No, really bad now, I'm sorry? Yeah yeah, oh yeah, Oh I feel so bad. I'm just gonna like saunter back to my car with blood in my veins pumping readily. Can't help that. I'm corporeal, dude, I guess some people. I just have all the luck in the world.

Do you want do you do you want to like possess me for a minute? Will that make you feel better? You? Uh just made it weird. Sorry. This podcast is about why horror scares us, what deep dark secrets scary cinema shines a light on. The discussions are frank and involve conversations about abuse, trauma, and mental health. There are also spoilers, so keep that in mind too. Now, sharpen your machetes and strap raisers, because this is cutting deep into horror. Welcome, my spookies, back to cutting deep into horror. I am of course, your hosting Rique Kuto here with my co host Rachel Ridulfhy.

Rachel, how are you? I'm doing good? That was goofy. That was fun. Oh sorry, Jesus is goofy hateful? Are No? I didn't say that like it's bad thing. Well, we're in the midst of our pregame for the Halloween season, which is coming right up. It's now August and early August, but August nonetheless, and we're two months away from October. For me because September is my birthday month, I really kind of get to skate till Christmas. Yeah, once I get to My birthday's on the tenth of September, so it's the first third of the month too, just barely the first third, so I do.

I won't lie like it's but it's also makes it kind of chaotic last four months because it's like Birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's and then it's like and now it's like January. I'm like, oh my god, how did I get here? It happens? Anybody get the license plateed on that truck? So and and and September is my fortieth birthday, so I get to age that's good. That's it good to have a plan. That's my that's my move, man, that's my secret move. Don't steal it. I'll be mad on But but yeah, so the pregame for October in the Halloween season, we're talking about yet another not only found footage film, and relatively modern one too, just over ten years old, but another found footage Halloween film.

And there aren't a ton of those that are specifically on Halloween. And I've always had a love affair with movies set on holidays, especially Halloween and Christmas. Anyway, Yeah, so this is one. It's called hell House LLC. Last time we talked about the Houses October built, which ironically they came out a year apart, barely apart from each other, and they're both films very about similar things. Yeah, one is a haunt documentary about haunted houses, is in the attractions, and the other is about a group of people, hell House LLC, which I think is a great title.

By the way, ole House LLC. I was saying really fast. I've been practicing Portuguese way too much, talking fast. But it's a great title, yeah, because it tells you what you need to know, which is like spooky, but also it's a business. Yeah, it's the business of fright. But this is a found footage film that is much more about a haunt being put in the wrong house exactly. And unlike Houses October Built, Hell House LLC has generated let's say, one, two, three, four sequels. That's a lot of sequel. That's now, that's four sequels, not four films.

That's five films, four sequels. Sometimes I get confused. I'll be like, yeah, there's five sequels. I'm like, wait, no, no, the first one doesn't count because it's so it's a five film sequel or four five film series or four sequels. Yeah, I get it. Yeah, so five total movies, which I don't think I've seen the last one, which was hell House LLC lineage from August of twenty twenty five. The other ones I felt like, the pretty are they're pretty good, Okay, but but I but I like this one quite a bit. And they are easy to confuse because they're so similar in that one way that they're both about haunts at Halloween exactly.

And if you mess up Houses October Built and make it House October Built, then it totally would be a title that would fit this Hellouse LLC exactly, and Hellouse LLC would kind of fit Houses October built, except you know, except it's only one house. But it's about the business of fright. It's just about a bunch of businesses. So, and that was a really good episode. If you guys missed that, you should definitely check that one out because it was a fun one to talk about. But hell House LLC, if you want to watch it before we spoil the hell out of it, it is available on YouTube with ads.

It's available free on two B with ads, Pluto TV with ads, Roku Channel with ads, Plex with ads. You can also find every Hellhouse LLC movie on AMC Plus or Shutter with your subscription. And of course you could rent or buy it on Amazon Prime Video, Fandango at Home, and Apple TV. So very very accessible and readily available. And it's directed by Stephen Cognetti, who has directed all of the hell House LLC sequels. Oh that's cool. So it's very much his series. Okay, like his Baby, His Strange Child. Exactly, and it the leading actors, they did a good job, but you wouldn't recognize any o their names.

You have Danny Bellini, Ryan Jennifer Gore Adams great name for a horror movie actor. Jared Hacker also great name for a horror movie actor. But they're not, you know, super well known, but they all do a very good job. Oh yeah, this one's got great twists and turns. One of the big elements that I love about this one. And I'm curious what you think, because we have been on a long we're getting ready to wrap up our found footage jaunt at least for now. Yes, we will come back eventually. Of course, there's just so many interesting ones.

But we covered so many different found footage movies from all over the world for different time frames, and I would love for us to do like, definitely like Cannibal Holocaust eventually because it was the first found footage but I kind of even though it's not that actually that solid of a scary movie, I would love to do America's Deadliest Home Video because that was from ninety two or ninety three, and that's one of the earliest on video found footage movies. Okay, I remember, like I've heard. The times I helped remaster it. I worked for the distributor that put it out on DVD after it had been out of print for like fifteen years.

That's awesome. The director of that went on to do a ton of movies, including a bunch of movies for the Asylum in Los Angeles. The people who did Scharnado and stuff, you did a lot of like commercial films and commercial commercials. So it's it's funny when you work in film. When you say commercial work, you don't mean commercial television commercials. You mean commercial as in movies that are sold commercially, like they can be in a they can be on a major streaming app or whatever, exactly, like a more underground like shot on a you know cam quorder down in dirty movies.

Those aren't commercial films. They're more underground or whatever. Commercial movie like it's on to be in Hulu, you know, like, oh cool, it's a commercial movie exactly. But then you would you would actually say I work on commercials. Yes, but it's not the great delineation. That's very confusing, but it's like no, you you would say I do commercial films or commercials. They're not the same thing, but they sing. But then you could say I did that. He did a lot of commercial work, which would be commercial films as opposed to say he did a lot of work in commercials.

Which means he is making ads in commercials. Yes, unless they well, actually a lot of commercials aren't really commercials unless they're from the commercial region of France. Otherwise it's just sparkling white advertisements. Okay, I you know, I'm on I'm on it a man. Well, you know, when we when we did our last show, I was in a rough spot because I was in the middle of changing my diet and losing weight and it's not always fun, especially early on. But I've lost thirty pounds and I feel pretty good and I ate a bunch of fish and that's not h Yeah, it's like, uh yeah, I'm either Portuguese or Dolphin.

There's really those are the two. You know, why not both? Well, their languages are both really hard to pronounce. That, Yeah, that's where the sounds came from. It's the dolphin. Most of the most of the Atlantic Ocean is their coast, so see, that would be the Portuguese, the original Portuguese Dolphin Latin. These are jokes. People are like, I do not have any clue why we're laughing about Portuguese right now. That's fair, Yeah, that's for us. That was that was just for us sparkling white advertisements. But no, so this. But there is a film I really enjoy, a film that I think is I think it's actually now kind of underrated.

It wasn't originally it was very popular, but I feel like as time went on, some people felt like it was cool to hate on it a little bit. That happens. But then again, with all the sequels, I think it's still aliked clearly, clearly. So, I mean I could be I could be wrong. But it would be kind of weird if no one watched the sequels but they kept making them. I mean, that does happen, but not at this level. But it was released in twenty fifteen, and oh, that's what I wanted to mention before I got on a long tangent.

One of the things I like about this film is that the style of found footage is more mockumentary than literal found footage. I'm glad you mentioned that, because I was if you didn't say something soon, I was going to Yeah. Yeah, it's presented as a already complete documentary. Yeah. Now, there are positives and negative to me about that presentation style. One of the positives is it's presented more so it feels more put together. You can juxtapose things like you're editing a movie, but it's meant to be taken as a documentary. Also, it can lend it a if you do a really good job of the documentary elements, it can lend a believability element that can be disconcerting.

Yeah, But the negative side is that it's hard to feel urgency because it's like, oh, well, then, after all the horrific things I'm about to see happened, somebody sat down in a dark room with like, you know, some wasabi ps and a freaking pack of Red Bull and just cranked out a first cut, you know, and then a producer showed up and just destroyed their sense of being and made them wish they'd went to law school after all. So, not based on any true story, So but that's something I think is important to keep in mind.

But this film does something that I don't mind, although it does kind of break the illusion more. It combines that you get like a presented documentary, but then toward the end it falls apart and just becomes the footage is found. Yeah, And I don't hate that because I think that in a way that that it's a great way to establish so much. I don't know, what do you think about the idea of that. It's one of those things where because the rest of the movie was so good I was able to suspend my disbelief at the end and be like, Okay, that works.

If the acting leading up to it hadn't been so good, or if it had fallen apart, like in the second act a little bit, then I feel like I kind of would, but I would have been way more disappointed. It would have been more judgy on it. Yeah, if it had immersed. You so well, yeah, because then it would have been like, well, wait a second, but if if all this happens, then and how did we get the footage at the end anyway? Yeah, and we'll get to that. Yeah. And I'm not going to say the name of the film because I don't want to spoil it, but there was a found footage movie that was mostly a mockumentary.

We'll eventually watch it for the show. But I'm literally saying, like the literal end, so I don't want to tell you what it is, but I love it. But the ending literally cuts to being a narrative movie like it just it just cuts and all of a sudden, it's a narrative film of like the reveal of the bad guy and what he's done and da da da, And it's not like a big it doesn't become a narrative movie. It's the last like minute okay, the whole film. And I get why they did it, and I will say they did it early enough in the era that it was very different and ballsy okay, But I remember, even as a teenager watching it being it took me out of it.

It maybe kind of go ah man because as a you know, producer and director of several found footage movies and a lover of them, there is an element of that. I like when they're perfect logically or as close as you can get, Like it makes sense why the camera was always on, It makes sense why they're doing what they're doing, why they keep filming it. May I like that stuff draws me in a lot, but I mean, if you hand me something as strongly done as Hell House LLC, I just can let go of that.

Because I love a good fake documentary. I mean, ever since the Curse of the Blair Witch Channel documentary, that thing. There are two other fake Blair Witch documentaries I still haven't watched. I had to hunt them down. They were for showtime back in the early two thousands. I told you about them a year ago and you were like, that sounds cool, and then you went off and like played with trees or something. Sounds like you they. Out there. Yeah, that's fair better than in the house, which is where they seem to want to be, at least their roots and my damn drains.

I know that's not fine. No, it's actually it's a problem. Yeah, this is too scary. Actually, I feel like, you know, we should have had should have had a content this morning there. Yeah, right, Yeah, we're going to talk about mortgages. We're going to talk about foundational issues with homes. We're going to talk. About so anyways, your house on a slab. Yeah, thank goodness, I am in a way. Slab is great unless it somehow gets damage, which is rare, then it's a real big problem. Yeah. But but you don't have to worry about rotten stuff because it's slab anyway.

See, you made it worse. But yeah, So I love that that's the presentation style. I think it really serves the film very well. I agree, and I don't mind that it kind of breaks some of my personal rules because it works well. Yeah, and that always, I mean, did you get me entertained? Always trumps anything. Else, exactly exactly. So unless it's The Odyssey and they scream like we shot it in Imax for perfection, and then I'm like, that SHOT's not in focus. That happened, I was. I saw it. I saw it an Imax, and I literally like three times the shot was like soft because somebody moved a little, and then the rest of the shot was soft.

And I just turned to Dave and I was like, uh huh ah. I love watching movies with you guys, because every one once in a while, I'll just hear one of you guys go yell focus. Fucus, especially when we're watching older movies. See, they have the excuse of having such a low budget that they couldn't know it was out of focus. After they like a week later, exactly during the Rushes, Christopher Nolan, he was. Watching There's no he had to have had a video tap in his camera, which allows you to see it on a screen, and if he didn't, he still could have afford to reshoot.

But we're not talking about Odyssey. We're gonna take a quick break and when we get back, we'll get into more of the like the more specific nitty gritty of Hell House LLC. Right after this. All right, we're back talking about LLC. And I do want to also mention that, as I just said, like, one of the things that makes a found footage movie Greade is this thing and that thing, Cannibal Holocaust is literally a narrative movie that features them watching found footage. So you know, I'm not trying to I'm not like, I'm not a stickler at all.

Yeah, I mean get you get me laughing, you get me crying, you get me interested, and I forget the greegrease and the issues really really fast. So you know that's just my way. No, I agree, So. But yeah, yeah, So with Hell Else LLC, you do get the vibe that this was a relatively small movie, kind of pushed together by friends with a small amount of money. I don't know what the budget was. It was never published, but if I had to guess, it was probably in the fifteen thousand, maybe twenty thousand dollars range. I could see that one of the things they did to make the movie seem more expensive.

That is always smart and I highly recommend this to filmmakers. Is it's set outside of New York City, right, right, because they mentioned their first Haunt was in New York City and then they're opening a new haunt and this one is an Abdon upstate New York. Right. Abadon, of course is a great name for a city that's going to be creepy because Abadon was like the Greek or the Hebrew term. It was like it meant destruction. It was like, yeah, angel Aapoleon. Yeah, Apoleon was the Greek version, so a destroyer, yeah kind of thing. Sorry, did you I was going to say the angel of distraction.

Oh yeah, yeah, perfect, yeah yeah. So Abadon's a great name for the town. I think that's great. And it's upstate New York. They referenced that it's maybe an hour outside of New York City, which is you know, perfect, perfect for that because you know people will come there. But but here's what I'm saying about, like that they did this so smart. So they said it in upstate New York and that it was by New York City. We've been to Upstate New York together when we worked on a movie. Upstate New York is a more expensive place in general.

I mean just in general, everything's a little bit more expensive. You know where they actually shot the. Film, Pennsylvania, New Jersey. Well, New Jersey's not cheaper than I'm se New York film was fort but yes, they shot it in Lee Heightened. Oh, we drove past the hotel when we went to the Joe Bob thing and I even made a comment, But you hadn't seen the movie, so I think it just went over your head because you don't know. Guy said, hello, well, we'll see was shot there, and why would you even know it? So why would it really register that much?

But no, we drove right past. It's like it's like ten maybe fifteen minutes from the Mahoning Drive in Lee Heighten, Pennsylvania. Really, it's right there, and that's where those where that guy's from, the directors from there are from around there. So but but by saying it took place in a place that's more populous and more expensive, you kind of, in a weird way, give it an air of expensiveness. Yeah, and the idea that they were running a haunt in New York City suggests that they were spending money and making money, and then it makes all of it feel more believable as they're moving into this place that was like a band abd abadon Abdon, New York, which is not a real place.

I think we mentioned that, but it makes more sense that they were able to, you know, that they were able to like build a whole new haunt, right, but also why they would want to get out of New York to save money and you know, cause in the hassle and all that. Yeah, So I thought that was a really clever move. And it's not hard. Like when I did A Bulldog for Christmas, which is a family movie I directed, I set it in Los Angeles and we shot it in Dayton, Ohio, because I was like, well, it just sounds more expensive.

Yeah, And well and it was supposed to be winter and there was minimal snow, so I was like, well, we'll set it in Los Angeles because there's no snow. Ever, and then when there was snow later, they drove to northern California. So we set the whole thing in California, used California footage, used California landmarks. And we've never been called out for it, because why would you, Yeah, but it's just funny, like that made the movie kind of come off more expensive. It does, yeah, built in production by saying we were somewhere psychology is great. But anyway, so I love that element.

But what we get here as we start up the actual film is the this documentary basically giving us a nice cold open of that, like fifteen people, including all and including nearly all the staff, died in what was declared a severe malfunction of the Haunt, and we're treated to a bunch of what looks like footage that people were taking themselves home video footage of them, like on their phone phones or cam quarters. Because this was before everybody had a spart It was deep into the beginning of everybody having spartphones, but not everybody did. Some people actually had little handheld cam quarterers.

I do remember that Eli. I had a flip camera. Yeah, by the time I got one, my iPhone became better than it almost immediately, and I was like, damn it, why did I spend ninety dollars on this thing? New technology? Aah, damn you creative destruction. So but but so that alone, that brings up a lot of questions immediately, like, oh shit, so this this haunt has a bunch of people die, and then we're introduced to a documentary team, an investigative documentary team led by Diane Graves and her cameraman Jonathan and they're you know, interviewing people and talking about the rumors of supernatural activity.

It's just really setting the stage very well. It did. Yeah, it did a fantastic job setting it up. And I loved I loved the initial setup of you know, showing all the footage from the perspective of the haunt goers. Yeah, because giving you that initial taste of what happened, uh, really makes you want to know from the documentary team, like what they uncover. Oh yeah, it's I mean, that's and that's the whole point. I mean, you know, it's the hook people, and they're doing it very well. And from here things only get weirder, more twisty and fascinating as they are going to present all of this footage that they were I forget, how did they get hold of it?

Do you remember? Uh, Sarah gives it to them. That's what it was. Okay, she gave them well because oh yeah, she gave them all the footage. Yeah, you're right, she said. She got it from She got it from the location before the police could. Yeah. Yeah, and so she brought it to them. Which is weird. So Sarah is the only one who survived. Yeah, so yeah, she's the sole survivor. And she was Alex the owner of hell House l Elsie. Wasn't she hurt his like a girlfriend girlfriend? Yeah, and that that is a really cool twist.

My brain got confused for a second. I was like, I thought maybe they had a bunch of footage, but then she brought them the really interesting footage. But no, it was all of it. And she gives them these tapes and initially it's just home movie stuff. They wanted to have stuff that they could remember it by and stuff that they could turn into advertising later to show how they built it up, because which makes sense because you know, if you film a haunt being built and then the haunts a huge success, everybody would love to see how it came to be exactly.

So we get this footage and obviously there's some weird stuff, but also how weird that Sarah got the footage before the police did. Wouldn't the police care the most about getting this footage. We'll talk about that and a lot more right after this, so our faithful Haunters ironic their Haunters going into a haunting. They go to the abandoned Hotel Abadon of course aptly the Hotel Abadon in Rockland County, which is the rural area outside of New York, to get it set up for Halloween. And I think they say it's like the it's like the middle of se September.

Yeah, so that's like not a lot of time. Yeah, they've got it. It's a crunch, yeah, and it's it's definitely more time. That's one thing that I did like about this and that helped set it apart for me from Houses October Built, is while it's not much more time, there is more time that passes in this movie. Yeah. So it feels like you get to know the characters a little bit more intimately in a way because you're spending a little more you know, time with them. No, I would agree with that. Yeah. So they're going around this dilapidated hotel and it is beat to crap.

They're they're finding like one of my favorite parts was right at the start when they were finding just all the weird random junk in the front. Then they find like an old like it was like a treadmill or something, and they're just like exercise bike or something. Yeah, and and well that was all scary. But then by the time they get to the basement, they find like a pile of old Bibles and like disturbing symbols scrolled on the walls and like stuff set up for like rituals. Looks like it. Yeah, and Alex the CEO of Hell House LLC.

He makes it sound like he did not do an immense amount of due diligence before they moved there, that he just kind of found out this place was sitting abandoned, that it had a creepy reputation, and that the community would actually be thrilled if it was turned into something, you know, because it's a small community and that would be good for the economy exactly. But I cold yes, because when he sees the layout of the house and everything, remember, he immediately mentions that he wants the Hell House the attraction to culminate in the basement where there's like a sacrifice, a cult sacrifice and a woman chained up.

Because then almost immediately after we'll meet the actress they hired to play her. But that's interesting because we hear like little rumbles of what the time thinks of it. But once we meet Melissa, the local scare actor, that they're the first one that they hire, the young woman, which it makes by the way, it makes sense that she'd be the first time they hire because while she's not going to do anything super silacious, she has to be like in a bra with like a cut open shirt. She has to be a little bit a little scath skin.

Yeah, so you'd want to find that person right away and make sure they're actually they're comfortable and they don't want to quit, as opposed to like a guy in like a mask can just be whoever. Yeah, but you know, yeah, give that job to Bubba, it's fine, or you can. Give it to Pauline, you know, matter it's a big mask, just put on the overalls. So, but when they start talking to her, she starts talking with Alex and the cameraman, paul the cameraman not of the documentary but of the crew, about the hotel being a river to be haunted, and she kind of mentions that like there was a belief there was a cult there, which makes me think that Alex knew, because why the hell did he think immediately like it should end with a cult in the basement.

I mean, of course, you know, they found all the culty stuff in the basement, but I think he knew. I think he knew about that, and he just didn't want to tell anybody because he was afraid that it would would cook them out. Oh yeah, and we get that throughout the whole movie, where as things continue to escalate, Alex really just explains it away. Yeah, but you know, don't You don't go into a hotel and anticipate it to be haunted necessarily, even if there are rumors, you're not necessarily thinking like, oh yeah, and this is the time ghosts will be real.

That's fair. So I can kind of give him that. But he does also like every time there's something that goes wrong, Alex has an explanation or an excuse or no, this is just production value, or no, we can get past this, or no, there were past the point of no return, like I'll, well, we'll all lose out if we don't open this weekend. You know. Well, that's another reason that the title works so well, because it's a business. Yeah, and all of his money and all of Sarah's money are in this attraction mm hmm. And I don't remember them going into super detail, but they make it sound like some financial issue happened that especially got them out of New York, or that they had a bad season, or it was kind of hinted at.

But I don't think it was spelled out, or maybe I'm just remembering correctly. I do not remember it being explicitly spelled out, And when I read the transcript, I don't believe it was mentioned, but it did. They did mention, just. Like remove the sense of that, you, you know, watch the movie intensely and make every ready watch the movie. I watched the movie intensely with you, and then I went back through and I was like, I need to make sure I remember things all right. You just don't. You just don't believe in the veil of like mystery that we give.

For pay no attention to the man behind. The curtain, but another element because again it's a mockum henry. After that is kind of discussed, then they go to an expert that's being interviewed, who's an expert in like the history around that part of New York of state New York, and he talks about how the place, the hotel, was originally built by a cultist, like a like a very questionable figure, and that he chose the location because the town's name was Abadan and you know that the demon that guards the gata hell or something, and that in nineteen eighty nine, a young mother and her daughter disappeared while staying there, and that that was kind of the big the big thing that caused the place to start people start questioning if it was like a safe place to be or what was going on with the crazy cult guy, but that he was cleared of any wrongdoing in their disappearance, but it destroyed the reputation of the hotel.

And then the big element that the cult leader hung himself shortly after in the in the hotel. Yeah, and meanwhile they're talking about like putting hanging corpse fake corpses in like the room where they think he might have been hung, which you know, ghosts love that it's a choice, and uh yeah, So as they're getting deeper into this hotel, this a band that formerly abandoned hotel, things are getting more weird and supernatural and kind of in a weird way forth, Wallly, you know, they kind of get like breaking the fourth wall in weird ways, like we see them watching footage back and stuff.

But we'll get to all the details of that right after this. Ah ha ha. So the the crew they get to this abandoned hotel and Alex is amped. He even keeps saying like it's free production value, man, and I had to laugh because you and I have literally done the same thing, like on sets. Sure for sure, Like our friend. Pam, she's like, oh, I'm so sorry about like the side of the barn doesn't look great, and we're like, no, don't do anything. This is perfect. But I've also been on the other side of that.

I have been crewe on films where they're like this is production value, and I'm like, this is legitimate, dangerous filth. Yeah, this is not safe for people to be around all day exactly. And that's kind of the point that like the crew was even trying to make was like, is it like is their black mold? Are we gonna get sick and die here? And he's like, Nah, it's great, it's it'll be fine. Yeah, And things seem to go well because you know the place has been abandoned for years. So when they get there, like there's not even electricity, So they have.

To love that that they get there and there's just no power. Yeah, so it's like, oh, yeah, it's you. We're gonna check out the place we've just runted. By the way, here's your flashlights. Yeah you will need them. Yeah, you're gonna need these some bitches. So yeah, they have to spend like the first week in campers. But then when they finally get electricity, it seems like everything is going great until one night. Paul is kind of like sitting there like blogging, which is like this was back when blogging was first like a wee baby infant thing.

At this point it was actually on its way out. Oh was it okay? By by twenty fifteen, Oh okay, no, it was like that was that was when social media was was pretty much clear that it was going to be the main thing. Okay. Blogs were a little bit more specialized, like you did, not everybody had a blog, but people who like you know, talked about stuff at length had blogs. Yeah, as opposed to that little period when like everybody had a zanga, you know, when they were still trying to figure out like you know, MySpace and zanga and live journal.

Oh my god, live journal. But if I got by by the Russians, it. Did, of course it did. Everything does. But that's the that's the hope for this show is that it'll get bought out by the Russians and I can retire fat and happy. But but if I remember correctly, that was the era when blogs became like a thing you did if you were really into a thing you are you are correct, You can just have a blog because you were. You, Yeah, And that was that was kind of the point that Paul was making for his blog, was he he was kind of like, you know, Alex is the owner of hell House LLC, but you really get the idea that Paul was kind of like the idea guy.

So Paul was like, oh, well, I'm going to record a blog every night of like what we've been doing so that our fans, our hell House fans, will you know, be able to see it and see what we've got planned for the next next year and has As he's recording, he realizes that Sarah is just kind of wandering around, yeah, and realizes that she's sleep walking, and she just walks to one of the abandoned rooms and just stands stock still in a corner, yeah, which is unsettling. I'm a big fan of the like a person's just standing there.

Oh, it's a thing. I think it's fascinating. I love like that's one of my favorite things. To go back to one of the movies we talked about a few weeks ago, Paranormal Activity. I love when she just stands there looking at him, and then the timer moves to tell you that she stood in the exact same place staring for three or four hours, because that we know, it's kind of like the whole thing where like you watch a horror movie, somebody gets their head cut off, You're like, oh, but then somebody cuts themself shaving. You're like, oh god, no, okay, yeah, yeah, because.

You identify it's like you've had we've all had to stand in one place for at least a whill. And the reason I could say for a while is because if you didn't stand in one place for two hours is because you felt how uncomfortable it was. So you did you Like you like, no, I'm gonna pace instead of standing like this. Yeah, So it tells you, like how unnatural it is for a human to just be like dah da da, I'm gonna stand here and do nothing. It's completely alien to almost everybody. Yeah, you know, unless you're like a monk or something, or you're doing like super super advanced tai chi.

Yeah, so I love but so I love that because it's a subtle thing and it's something we do every day. It's just done in a way we would never do. So it's really off putting. Exactly. Yeah, no, it's great and this this movie is full of that, which we will be getting to a lot more soon. Yeah. But yeah, so, so Sarah at Night is acting a little bit odd, and this is where like again being not just a straight uh found footage, being more of it like a mockumentary things. As the documentary crew is talking about the original Abadon Hotel and about Tully committing suicide, they also explain that Joey, one of the crew members, did survive the first like the first night with Sarah, and then promptly committed suicide like a week later.

So like that's why Sarah is, you know, the only the only person they can talk to is because even though the one other person that did survive, like it was so horrific that he couldn't. Go on and and they and they they held that back too for a little while and then eventually revealed it. Yeah, because they were like the only survivor and then it was like, well what about that? And they're like uh, And then later we find out it's because they went to find him again and he killed himself. Yeah, so and and and whenever we've been seeing these the like little hints of like that night, it's mostly just chaos and then the cops in the fire department showing up almost immediately and just trying to figure what the hell is even going on?

Why is everybody freaking out? Yeah? I love that because it keeps making me think, like, what the hell is going on? What the hell is going on? And the fact that they keep calling it a catastrophic malfunction. Yeah, also like really raises alarm bells because if it was like, malfunction versus accident are two very different things. And I, yeah, just calling it a malfunction, I I throughout the whole thing. I was like, well, malfunction means that something was supposed to go a certain way and it didn't. Well, you also have to look at it this way.

Calling it a malfunction is a way of stating that they did not find human error or malice or human malice. Oh, exactly. So if you think about it, if you die in a haunt, since the function of the haunt was not to kill you, that is a malfunction a very broad definition of function though. No, yeah, but I mean, like call that a malfunction. If you get if you die on a set of stairs, malfunction, if the stairs somehow killed you, then my definition is a mau function. Yes, So what I mean is to say that, like that they basically chose the most vague answer to the problem they could because they had no further answers.

So well, it's a malfunction because like people got hurt trying to get out and stuff, and they weren't meant to not be able to get out, and they weren't meant to trample each other to get out. So it was a malfunction of the of the the event or whatever, the haunt the attraction exactly. So. But when we come back, we're going to talk more about these weird fugue states they seem to be under and how uh, Opening Night, which is coming right up, gets pretty tense right. After this, as if sleepwalking friends is not enough.

Once Sarah finally starts to be sleeping throughout the night, then they start hearing like disembodied screams and voices. And when they like they're they're hearing these they're all sleeping like up top. It's a hotel, so like the rooms are like way on the top floor, and then there's the basement, like the cellar area or whatever, and they're hearing the noises come from the cellar and they've already started to set up the basement for the haunt. And they go and you know, they go down there with the camera because of course you go down there with the camera.

Yeah, yeah, Well, I mean you're you're capturing them setting everything up quickly and and and they're and they're also like doing tech. You know, they're checking on what's working, what's not. Because I think you're leading into one of the big problems, which was that they were annoyed because they got these mannequins that are dressed up and they're not posable in quite the way they wanted, yea. If I remember in correctly, Yeah, Like they wanted the ones that you could like pretty much put in any position, but these are. Just like ones armiturized around. Yeah, so they were kind of upset about that, and they're also realizing that there are a lot of blind spots in the security cameras too.

Oh yeah, And for those who are like huh, security cameras are a major element of haunts because they need to know, they need to have in a central space how everything's going, where the guests are, to let the haunt actors know when to scare them, when to hide, when to jump out there. It's a whole system. So you have to have as much coverage with cameras as you can at the very least, so people can know like high behind the door, like they're coming right up, or you know, say go ahead and stay out there already almost.

To you or exactly exactly. So as as that's part of the reason that they are filming them is they're also recording like, oh, this is an area where we're supposed to have cameras, but it's not working. And as he's filming, he realizes these stupid clowns that they were so upset about are all have all been moved to like a totally different corner. Clown mannequins, clown mannikins. So he gets really upset because they like they've they've only got like a week left, and somebody's fucking around and like moving these clown mannikins. So he puts them back, and as he goes to talk to other characters, we the viewers realize the mannequins have moved back to where they were, yes, and they nobody else notices it until they're done talking and yelling at each other about moving these stupid mannequins and then turn and look and realize they're back.

And that's pretty freaky, Yeah, But it gets worse because as they're freaking out and yelling at each other, one of the new hires is just kind of like standing off in the corner and they start yelling at him, like, look, you need to start working if you're going to be down here, start working, and he doesn't do anything, so they walk off, and then they see him standing in another room and freak out because he was just downstairs. Yeah, and he would have had to like walk past them, past them in the stairway to get up to this other room.

Well, it's worth mentioning during that sequence, he's not just standing there. He's like standing there looking like he's trying to scare him, like trying to be creepy because he's that's his gig. And the scene before we had just met that guy, yeah, and he was like the most chill, goofy dude who's just like, oh, it'll be cool doing Haunt And then he's standing in his costume mm hmmm, and he's like doing his scary stance is like the Haunt stands and everything, and you know, it's like, dude, like, give it, give it a break, like we're busy, Like I like I got have to do.

I'm just trying to make sure everything's working. And yeah, sure enough, when he goes back over, he sees him there and he's like, how did you get over here? And he doesn't have his mask on or anything. Yeah, you know, he's like, how did you get over here? He's like I've been sitting here. Yeah. And that's a great, low impact way to creep the audience out. It really is. It's a solid way to make you go oh yeah, because like that dude was standing there superimposing. But if it was somebody you knew, even if you just met him that day you hired him to work at a Haunt, so you'd just be like, yeah, yeah, I know it's fun and stuff, but like not right now, dude.

When he's standing there going like yeah, you'd be like yeah, yeah, yeah, but get it later. It's fun, but like not right now, but the moment you realize, like then, who the hell is down there? And that's like such a great classic spooky trope as just if you're here, then that's actually like I feel like I got that the most from like Looney Tunes. Wait, if you're up here, then then who am I holding him? Or whatever? Yeah? It actually yeah, it's more Scooby Doo. Yeah, but I always love those gags and they're so simple, but they're very effective.

They really are. And that's what I like. You mentioned paranormal activity and a lot of the scares in Hell House LLC are similar in that they follow the less is more formula, So it's you know, the camera is trained on the characters and then you notice that something in the background has moved or you know someone is there and suddenly they're not the real simple like it deeply psychologically unsettling things. Yeah, and and that you know that that sequence with the clowns, the clown mannequins especially got me thinking about like some of you are shorts.

Oh yeah, because you've relied on similar techniques before. Yeah, I mean a bit. I mean with with Scary Clown, which is short on YouTube that I directed a while back, which was a really cool Halloween show, the clown you wear the clown. The clown was just sitting standing in the front yard and wasn't It wasn't so much pretending to be a statue as people were assuming it was a statue. Yeah, I feel like it was more of that, because you know, it was just standing there. Because the big gag was that after the trick or treaiors run off and you see all these decorations and including the clown standing and then the clowns had just turns and you're like, oh, that's person, not a clown.

But with Christmas presence, which is the other one you were talking about, Yeah, a Christmas horror film. That one. I took the old urban legend of the clown statue right and turned it into the Santa statue because I've always loved that. And for those who don't know the old clown statue story, it's really as simple as this babysitters at a house. They have all these there. The person owns the house is kind of eccentric, so they have like odd decorations of some sort, depending on the version you hear, and one of the things that they have a clown statue.

And then the big joke is like the baby starts hanging out with the clown statue, scare them, you know, startles them a few times, and then the phone rings and they pick it up and it's the parents of the kid that she's babysitting, and they're like, you know, how's it going over there? And they're like, oh, honestly, it's not too bad. You know, your kid's been great. They've been asleep for like two hours, already, had had some you know, ate some chips and and drank some soda like you told me I could, And honestly, like, the only thing that's been weird is just that that clown statue and the den is just so creepy, but like I know it's because I'm here alone, and like the lights are off in there.

And then the big shock is when there's a long pause on the phone and they go what clown statue? And in some versions that's not that's the end, but not the full ending. In some versions, it's just that that's never resolved, Like, you know, they don't then get attacked by the clown or whatever. They like go back in the room and it's not there anymore, and that's the end of it. It's just, well, what the hell was the clown statue then? And then other versions it attacks you or whatever. And we did the same kind of concept, but it was that this family had this insane Christmas decoration, this room full of Christmas decorations, and after you see that, to the room off from all the Christmas decorations is just this very creepy almost Michael Meyer's Santa Claus.

And that's the big gag, is like it keeps creeping her out. She starts seeing it out of the corner of her eye because she's like all creeped out. And then the parents call and you know what, you know, just creeped out by the Santa statue. What Santa statue? Because the decorations, see before, there's no statues, there's no full size things. It's just like miniatures. Yeah. Yeah, so you know, similar gag, except we had ours end with the Santa throwing his red bag over top of hers. She's she's trying to call the police and then she gets scrapped by it.

But yeah, that so I mean ideas like having things move when you're not looking, or thinking something's a statue when it's not. The the not really a statue thing is just a generally a very strong trope of Halloween for the last twenty years. Yeah, the most popular decoration to scare people trigger treats at your house is to have somebody pretend to be a statue. And it's pretty easy once you're covered enough costume. So I really want to do that. I did it one year and I scared some kids so bad, and their parents would like set them up for the scares too.

They were totally complicit it. It was really awesome. But we're gonna take a quick break and then we'll talk about the things that are far scarier than statues and maybe some more freaky statues. Right after this, things are escalating. Yes, very well said. And now things are unmistakably dangerous for the crew. But Alex is still playing it off like, oh, well, you know, I don't care about the figure that you saw in the basement that you couldn't explain that guy's just a prank stir. Okay, fine, it's fine, it'll be fine. But uh, it's not fine because there's only three days left until the big day.

Everybody's stressed out. Nobody's like sleeping anymore. They're all working all the time. And Alex doesn't think there's anything wrong. No, even though, have we even talked about the weird things that are happening upstairs when the camera guys trying to sleep. We have, we've mentioned. All we've mentioned is that he saw Sarah that that one time, but we haven't mentioned that. Uh. Yeah, he's still recording those blogs and creepy things are still happening during them, like, uh, just creepy ghost lady shows up while he's uh talking. And I love that sequence because it took me back to being a kid.

Oh yeah, when you're scared and it's like the only thing you have to comfort yourself as a blanket. Yeah. At one point, he literally hides under the covers because he's so taken, he's so startled by something creepy while he's in bed. And so that's some of the most effective like what I would call traditional found footage scares in the film are are those sequences because what happens is when he's filming his little vlogs, not blogs, vlogs when there's video Mari, but when he's filming those, often the doorway behind him is open, which makes sense. It's an old place.

It's probably stuffy as hell. You'd want your doors open. It's not like it's a hotel full of strangers. It's all your friends. And then whatever evil menace is also there. So we get that moment. We get these moments where we're like looking at the door and sometimes nothing ever comes, and sometimes things come, and sometimes they come immediately, and it is very scary. And one of the times that there's just this like ghost woman there, like that was really freaky to me. I mean, it's just there right in front of him. Yeah, you know, like that stuff really got to me.

Man. I agree, And I think the reason that it got to me even more is because overall Paul's a generally level headed guy, yeah, throughout the day, So it it gets even more unsettling when you think, like, oh, this guy is generally unflappable and it's getting to him. Yeah, this bad which how Sarah doing because she's not doing great either. She's back to sleep walking again, and this time she's making it down to the basement and talking in weird languages. And while that's happening, we're also getting bits and pieces of her interview with the documentary crew because it's still a document yeah, and we're basically seeing them react to the footage because she's she hands them the footage and then they keep talking to her as we see the footage being shown.

So like, while they're talking to her, only the editor you would assume, has watched the footage because he's the one editing it into the movie that you're watching, of sorts sort of. I mean, it's it's a little, like I said, they play a little fast and loose with it. But I think that just it's it's fun enough that it works. Yeah, I don't care, you know that it's a little silly. But so they're asking her questions, and you know, for the most part, her answers are either kind of poetically tragic given what all happened, very believable.

You know. Well we always got along, you know, or I always believed in the stuff he was doing. I always loved working on the Haunts and stuff with him, and then it slowly becomes like what about this, I don't know? I just I don't know, And that stuff makes it even creepier that it's like, what do you mean you don't know? It's like I don't know. So that ends up playing into some of the better tension and suspense a little bit later on m But sorry Rachel Anderton, so but uh ya, yay, but no, but it's it's yeah, it's pretty it's pretty effective.

But yeah, his his vlogging upstairs at night is pretty solid. I mean, here's weird noises and he's always checking things out and then but eventually it's just straight up like some kind of ghostly thing is after him. Yeah, it's clearly like tormenting him. Yeah, And and again that's why it's upsetting is because this is this is one of the guys that you know, Alex is sympathetic, but he's like really, really, really so obsessed with his business, which he's gotta be. Yeah, so like there's a there's a little bit there where you're like, oh, I can kind of see how like Alex is so focused on this that he can't see what's going on, and like Sarah she's deteriorating so rapidly, like she can't see what's going on.

But but Paul is pretty level headed, and he's one of those people again holding the camera. He's kind of like the insert for the audience. So feeling like he's being targeted really made me feel like, oh, now the ghost he's coming after me too like that, which and obviously is what they want you to do. But yeah, but and and the idea that whatever is happening is coming for you is one of found footage's greatest strengths is that you become the filmmaker, and the filmmaker is oftentimes not always, but oftentimes the victim, yeah, or if they're not the victim to the perpetrator.

And then it's making that's even worse in a way because it's making you complicit, which is kind of scarier in a lot of ways. But complicity doesn't even begin to cover what we're going to talk about. When we get back. Poor Paul hiding under the blankets from this creepy, creepy ghostly lady and you know, because he because he had been recording himself for the vlog, so he had set the camera down. We see him pull the blankets over his head. Yeah, and. He like he disappears, and the camera's still there, the camera, because again this is a lot about the camera recording things that the people in the movie can't see.

The camera is still there, still filming. Everyone runs in because they've heard the commotion. They try to find Paul. They're running around looking for him, and they try to call his phone, and all they can hear is like a creepy, disembodied scream. If that Yeah, sometimes he just got nothing. Yeah, yeah, No, it's very unnerving. And then when they finally do find him, he's like almost on responsive. He's not comatose, but he's like. In it was just a fugue. Yeah, he's in like a fugue state. And they find him in the basement. Yeah, after not seeing him for a day or two.

Yeah, which is a lot when you're like less than a week from opening him being gone for a day or two is a lot of very long time. But see, they they kind of play it off too, because Paul, even though he is rational, he's also one of those people that once he gets his hackles up, he has to cool down or he will explode. And he everyone knows this about him. All his friends know. So he's one of those people that if he's going to explode, he removes himself. And he's done this before, like Bugs Out.

They mentioned that, like that, like at one of the other haunts that open, he like fucked off for a day or two near the open and then came back and came through. But he also Alex also kind of says, you know, this is just what he does. He's kind of a flake, you know. Yeah. So yeah, but I mean he literally was in the I mean, like how they were looking for him this whole time and he and then they find him in the basement, So I guess they just think he like snuck. In, yeah, you know without anyone noticing.

Which maybe, I mean you could probably do that, but why then just sit there, barely reactive in the basement and then when they find you still kind of be barely there. It's yeah, it doesn't make a lot of sense from a not in a story sense, it's awesome. Yeah yeah, but a logical sense. Yeah yeah, and for me because I know I've mentioned it in you know, in other movies, like you kind of have to ask in a horror movie, like when do you if you were in this situation, when would you nope out? Yeah, And a lot of the team were on the same page as me, because like, if I saw my friend come back like that, I would not be okay.

I would say we need to stop. I would think there's black mold and we are all going insane or something. And everyone else is on the same page. They're all like, we need to stop. But Alex, again, this is his livelihood, this is his business. His whole life is tied up in this. And while he's sitting there and like arguing, we do eventually find out that a lot of the crew do feel like beholden to him, like they can't leave. They're loyal to him, and you know, they're loyal to hell House and they're loyal to this industry, and you kind of get a feeling like if they back out on him, it's going to reflect poorly on them for a very long time.

Yeah, so it's like, you can't, you can't just peace out like Paul just did. Yeah, No, that's that's really a very fair point. So but but yeah, that's for me personally. I would have been like, I'm sorry, Alex, I've got to go. But they don't. So now we're getting even closer to opening night, and everyone says you should stop. Alex says, the show must go on. And this is does I mean, it's it's his show. It's his show. The ringleader calls the shots. Yep. So now this is I thought this was great because we start getting basically like two or three different viewpoints.

We get the cruise camera of behind the scene footage, we get the security footage of what's going on during the Haunt, and then we get the footage from all the different hauntgoers right that were there, and it's you know, we kind of jump between different views. And the actress is down in the basement. She's chained up. The Haunt actor that's supposed to be down there with her, and and like the whole plan was he's down there really to keep her safe. Yeah, well, just to make sure like nobody creeps on her or just violates her personal.

Space exactly so, but he's there to scare. People well, and I think also because she, like everybody, now, none of them really want to be alone in that house or in that well house. It's more of a hotel, but nobody wants to be alone there because they've all seen some creepy. Stuff, and most importantly, for some reason, for authenticity's sake, they decide that this actress should actually be chained to the wall. Yeah, and so Joey is the only person with a key, because that's smart, that's really smart. And this is this is where you start to realize that I'm I'm the more I think about it, You're right, this is a malfunction because the tragedy that transpires with the Haunt actors is one thing.

But the pandemonium that resulted in you know, fifteen other people dying could have been prevented if they had better walkie talkies, or if they could have been able to see all of the guests like they were supposed to. But that's stuff. Seemed to be ghost issues. The walkie talkies did not seem cheap. In fact, that was the thing that was pissing Alex off. But it also feeds perfectly into the story. Its people like these cheap walkie toyses. They're not cheap, and they've always worked. Yeah, why would they not work now? So you're right, But it also makes sense why that then they would just doubt him because he's cutting corners or and demanding that they not let go.

So they're like, well, then I'm not going to believe that these the walkie talkies are fine. But there are bigger problems than cameras and walkie talkies, and we'll get to them right after this. So the haunts open. Yes it is, and it is packed, like jam packed. And and remember these are people now driving an hour out of New York City is not the biggest deal in the world. And they're also already highly populated places outside New York City that people live there already. So being west which you have to be Western New York because I you're Eastern New York, you're in the ocean.

I would love to see that haunted house Poseidon's doom. I am terrified. Good good. You should have seen Odyssey then, because Poseidon is kind of the reason everything bad happens. I read a poem. They're just punk but no, uh no, so but so if you think, but like people in Westchester, in places like that, they are already out of the city and then they just have to drive an hour and easy drive into the country, right, So I could totally see them being able to get quite a few people to come out there and then of course, you know, the goal is that then word of mouth would cause even more people to come and then hopefully people from that Adirondack kind of area would kind of flood in as well.

And you know, so yeah, my point is just that, like I remember being so like whoa the first time watch it, because I was like, damn, okay. So they're they're like they're legit, like they they can pack a haunted house, like people are into what they're doing, and they're throwing a big, big shin dig of sorts exactly. No, and it's it's clear that not only do they have a lot of fans, because you can see like through the footage that some of the people like are talking like, oh I wonder what's happening like this year, Like clearly they've been following.

Yeah. Yeah, but it also shows like he is good at marketing, he's good at pulling people in, he's good at getting a crowd. Well and imagine, I mean just take take put yourself in the mind of the fan of that, and you know, we're in the midst of of the Internet age at that point, you know, so like people could follow them on Facebook or Twitter or whatever at that point. Imagine you go to a haunt you live in in New York City and you go to a haunt super super good, right, yeah, you know, oh man, that was awesome, and it's like, well, unfortunately, you know, after whatever many years we've done it here, we're closing down and we're moving to a new location, which is an actual haunted hotel on the outskirts of New York Good.

No, yeah, like my brain would explode. Yeah, it would. It would be a lot easier to get quite a few of those people to drive out for that. Yeah. So that's that's also clever marketing to And meanwhile, everything about that would be infinitely cheaper. Yeah, and I bet you that that that that hotel is way bigger than whatever they were using in New York too, because everything is per square foot, everything's expensive as hell. So it's it's actually really clever because when yeah, when you think of it that way, it's like that would be the scuttle But the scuttle butt would be they're opening a new place at a supposedly actually haunted place in this like nowhere town outside of the city.

We gotta go, man, each weekend or you off work, you know. Exactly, like I'm taking my time off right now. Yeah, yeah, I'm calling my boss right now and tell them I hate him. So it's it's it's a solid but yeah, there's something to me that was really awesome about seeing that crowd. Unfortunately, then awesome and then you remember, oh right, it's about to go really really bad. I know how this story ends, yeah. Because it was at the beginning. Oh no, uh oh oh no. So yeah, yeah, so they're getting ready to start up the haunt.

They've got everything kind of set up. They're still having walkie talkie issues they're having most of the time. The cameras seem to be fine, which makes sense because they would the walkie talkies they put up with, but they'd never put up with the cameras not working, yeah, because it would just make it impossible to scare, to do the scares. It's also a pretty gory haunted house. Like a lot of the stuff was pretty nasty, Like the dining area of the hotel. They put like plates with like you know, plastic human body parts and stuff on it.

Stuff. So I mean it's it's more of an adult haunt than a kid haunt, you know, or a family haunt would probably a better way to put it. So it's yeah, it's it's it's a huge, huge event, and it looks like all of their hard work and effort and sticktuitiveness is going to pay off, which would be nice after everything they've been through and the creepy things they've seen and the creepy things they've experienced, and you know, people going into fugue states and people disappearing and then reappearing and then speaking yeah yeah, or speaking barely at all, which is I don't know which is worse.

So you know, it's it's looking like they're they're pulling it together. And this is the reason I love that reveal where everybody shows up is because normally when you tell a story like this, not a whole but a story about like people banding together and making a business and trying to do this stuff and there's adversity and problems, but the guy who had the vision for it really sticks to it and that makes it all come together, and then you see the fruits of that, like, oh man, people actually showed up. Usually that is the big win of the story.

It's like, oh my gosh, this is a story about spirit wrong word gumption and hard work. Moxie's a great word for it, you know, coming to terms. But instead, as we already know, it is going to be the downfall, the entire downfall. Yeah, is that on top of everything, so many people showing up is the worst thing that could possibly happen. And we'll talk all about how bad it is right after this. I want to mention real quick, when we were talking earlier about mannequins moving and you know, kind of what's creepier a mannequin moving or a mannequin only moving when you're not looking kind of deal.

It's kind of like this big reveal that like all these people show up and they realize like, oh man, we're going to be a success. But we already know because of the whole purpose of the mockumentary that it goes horribly. Yeah. That is literally Hitchcock's description of of suspense perfectly. Oh it is so for. Those who don't remember, and for possibly Rachel who may be pretending she remembers. No, but Hitchcock always said that when you in a film, when you have somebody walk into a restaurant and ignite a bomb and the restaurant blows up, you have scared the audience for four seconds.

But when you have somebody come into the restaurant and sit down and then you show the bomb in the bag by their legs, and then they have lunch with someone and have a conversation and you see that ticking clock on it, you have them in utter horror for two minutes. And that's suspense. When people know something is about to happen, then they're waiting for it. It's better suspense. Similarly with like seeing the the the whatever, the mannekin move, yeah, versus not seeing it move. It's all about the audience. If the audience saw it move or realized it was not in place.

And we're unlike the character, we're positive that it wasn't there before. We're the ones in fear because we're the ones who know, like they're something's not right. Yeah. But with this it's very similar. So you immediately find yourself tense because as they're they're having this And I really do think in hindsight that it is like that victory of like, oh man, all of this is paying off. All these people showed up. They're freaking amped for what we're doing. And literally the opening of the movie was and so many people were there and when trying to stay they were trampled and there was the horrible thing and it was deemed a malfunction.

You know. That's that's something. So I just wanted to mention that I think that's such a great way to go. And it's one of the reasons why that kind of cold open I forget the Latin term for it, that like open express something like that medius immedius rests or something. Yeah, the idea of seeing a scene earlier. Although this isn't literally this is literally a cold open because when you do immedius rest, it's literally showing you a segment from a scene. Yeah, and then for no apparent reason, you see it and then you just at the beginning now, yes, so you're waiting to see that moment happen and what led to that moment, and then that moment does happen, as where this was actually presenting on purpose saying like this is what happened.

Now we're going to show you like what could have caused it. Yeah, So it's a little bit more purposeful to the story as opposed to being more of a of a of a you know, I don't know a design tool for the audience only, it feeds the story as well. Absolutely so. But but because of that, Yeah, as soon as they're getting there, like okay, so for real, when is this gonna go really really bad? And we also they also don't give us entirely how it went really bad. We get pieces here and there. We just know a lot of people died and a lot of people got hurt, but they don't immediately say like, and then this is why everybody did whatever.

So we're also just waiting with baited breath to find out, okay, so what what happened? Yeah, exactly that caused all of this, and other elements feed into it too. You know, when a character, any of the characters, not just the whole team, going yay, we did it, we saved the rec center like in some like eighties movie. It's not just that either. It's like when a character you know, says a funny line or talks to like the Q actress girl and she's kind of like receptive to them. When you're hearing those things, you awe, You're like, they're dead, they're all dead.

They're all no, no, they're not just all dead. They're going to die and you're gonna see it and you're like, damn okays kicking dirt and walk it away. So that's and that's that's kind of my point about why I really love I've talked about it way longer than I should have, but like why I love the idea of seeing that huge crowd ready to go and now they're they're they're letting people in. Mm hmm. And you mentioned that this was like a pretty gory and adult haunt. Yeah, relatively relatively, So that makes it even more terrifying as an audience member because that means that all the haunt goers are primed for when things do start going wrong, they're not going to suspect that it's actually going wrong.

Well, and they're told it's like the scariest haunt experience ever, which is any good mark would tell you that. That's what you should say. If you don't say that, you're not doing your job as a haunt marketer. Yeah, probably, And honestly, like we like, a lot of the haunt doesn't even look that good, which I think is kind of funny. I know that in the back of your mind it's like, maybe this guy's better at selling haunts than he is doing them. But then again, he did make the most memorable haunt in the history of the world.

Because if that had really happened. And no one would ever stop talking about it. Because remember, in the world of urban legends and folklore, it's never happened, like like a bunch of people have never died at a haunt and then it had to be shut down by the county. It's never happened, and it's spread all over America as like a hush story. So imagine how it would be everywhere if it actually happened. Considering what it doesn't happen, everyone hears about it. We'd never shut up about it. No, and it's during the Internet age, yeah, I mean, everybody would be posting about it.

There'd at least be a few selfies where people would be like whoa like, didn't you know, lol, didn't realize this selfie was going to be, you know, moments before the disaster at hashtag hell house, hashtag abadon hotel or whatever, you know, hashtag smiley face or whatever they do, hashtag god. That would have been yolo time. Why do you have to bring that up? Why'd you want to hurt everyone with that kind of that kind of thing. It's a little bit it's a little bit harsh, but but as people are. The other thing is so now we've got this large turnout in the place open and it's getting it's getting pretty out of control.

Yeah, I mean, there's just so many people and they're trying to get them through. And we've been to haunts before. It is chaotic, it is. And then some of the best haunters are the people who, like when they're running the lines, they're very calm and easy going. They're just kind of like, it'll be when you can If you guys want you could be a group of six, then you'll get in faster. But if you too want to go by yourselves, that's fine too. Like just know, you know, they're they're trying their best to not to not freak out because you know, people and especially people get drunk, you know, and and and it gets to be a pain.

But we have all these people in there, and now as people are pushing through the haunt and we're seeing everybody trying to like keep the haunt going and do their groove and get in their their flow, we head to the basement where things go awry worse than you could ever imagine, and we'll tell you all about it after this. Let me ask you a question. No, oh okay, well that answer is that by everybody. So what's something if you were at a haunt? What's something you just absolutely would not want to see under any circumstances?

Scientology, literature? Oh yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, probably that about. The Church of Latter day Saints. They're not going to be there. Oh yeah, not enough ice cream. That's funny. Yeah, but no, no, I mean what things I wouldn't want to see? I mean I wouldn't want to see people actually get hurt. Yeah, I wouldn't want to Yeah, I mean see, the thing is I had, like, I think I know where you're going with this. But the reason I can't go with you on that is because if I saw you're talking about when the haunt guy is like getting had to he's heading out of dodge.

Yeah. The reason that that wouldn't freak me out is because I just anything a haunt actor does, I'm going to assume is to scare me. So if they run out going like Jesus Christ, like they killed her for real or something like that, I would just be like, right, sure, that's what I would do because he's a lot actor. But that's kind of proves my point though, is that's exactly what happens. Is the guy who's down there, he's the only person with the key to get out the poor Haunt actor that's half naked and chained down in the basement.

He runs books it at a dodge, screaming, and all of the hauntgers like somebody's recording and they're like, what's that and they start talking like I wonder what he's doing. And that's that's the beauty of well, the beauty and the horror of this situation is everybody's primed for this is entertainment, and so it's kind of like the Little Boy Who Cried Wolf sort of thing. They don't realize that what's happening with the Haunt actress is really real until. It's the guy running away. But you so I didn't say why he was running. So as they so this guy runs the opposite direction of the crowd.

They're going down the stairs into the basement, and as they peek around the corner, the start hearing this bloody screaming coming from the haunt. Bloody screaming, Oh, bloody scream screaming, bloody murder, screaming bloody murders. I know what you're getting to, what you're going for. I just want to. Words are hard, Okay, I know. I'm actually way better with words day than I thought. You took it from me. Yep, darn Tuton. Check the back of your mouth for holes. I have the Burrows. I like that show on Netflix so far. But anyway, so they pick around the corner.

They hear her screaming, and a hooded figure is like towering over her and start stabbing her. And at first the crowd is like, ah, this is great, and then she like starts screaming, this is real. Well, and when you mentioned people being primed, by the way, do you remember scare Tactics on the Sci Fi Channel? It was like the ultimate horror prank show. They would they would make They would do like movie level pranks, you know, like levitating ghosts and all this crazy stuff, and they would film insert shots to make it look more like a movie.

But the reactions were legitimate, and they did some really cool stuff with special effects and all these things. But I for for years had said, like if I ever pulled a knife on someone and tried to like kill them, and was like stalking them and chasing them down. I would literally if I got tired of chasing them, I would just when they were like stuck behind a door or whatever, I'd be like, are you scared? You shouldn't be, You're on scare tactics. And when they opened up, oh, I just stab him in the heart. I always thought for years, I was like I should put that in a movie, you know, or something like, because that would be the easiest way to get them.

Once that became known, you're on scare tactics. Ah, and then they just actually kill them. It's like, well that was easy. All I had to do was diffuse you completely. Man. You remember punk of course, I remember Punked. Everybody remembers Punked. PUNKD was way bigger than Scared really was. Punked was everyone because they were constantly pranking celebrities. They only did a few celebrities on scare Tactics, and they didn't take it so good, some of them just saying I mean, some people got real mad because they were scared really bad. But anyway, so this ghostly cultist murders Melissa the the haunt actress who's been chained for real in the basement, and now there's just a stampede of guests, and it is it's not it's it's pretty brutal.

I mean, I think mayhem is a good word for that. Yeah, And and and meanwhile, I mean, you know we had so Tony ends up dying trying to help Melissa, which doesn't you know, do any good. And then in the whole like crazy panic I think it was Mac and Sarah find each other. Yeah, and they end up running away to try and get away from the chaos, doing the thing where they went further into the place instead of out of it because it was the only way to get away. So they go up to like the attic, I think, yeah, right, yeah, yeah, they go all the way up.

But when they get there, they find Alex and he's hanging. He's hung himself. He's hanged himself. I keep forgetting that hanged is the proper term, when it's that he's hanged himself, much like that coltist who started the place. And I liked that dichotomy because they had suggested that the coltiest once his place was ruined, the reputation was ruined and it couldn't run anymore. He killed himself, and now his haunt is ruined by whatever you know is transpiring, because we have the smoke hasn't cleared yet, so he's hung himself. Now hanged himself. But I think that I took it more as like the ghost did that to him as a symbol to kind of like to put it, to stick it to him and them for trying to take their place and make a joke out of it or whatever.

That was the vibe I got from it. No, I get that. I get that vibe because it seems like the ghost, the ghostly present, just wanted them to get out. I wanted to just be left alone. I think it wanted some of them to stay forever. I guess that is the problem. I guess that is the problem, is how long you stay? Yeah, But no, and and I absolutely agree that the the way that Alex hanged himself, I feel like that was the ghost taking like taking control of him. Yeah. And and after we see all of that revealed, we go back to now time the documentary, and that's where things start to get really interesting.

We'll talk about that in just a moment. The footage of the pandemonium wraps up, and we're back at the hotel in the in the in the in the interview hotel. Yeah, well we're in the Yeah. Yeah, that is confusing because there's a hotel too. Well, and I was I was actually just gonna correct because they weren't a hotel room. They're in like a conference room interviewing her. You're right, I'm just saying. But then when you said the other hotel, oh, yeah, because the hell house is a hotel. So no, I'm with you. I just thought it was funny.

I was correcting a totally different thing. I was like, well, not a hotel room, but a place in a hotel. Yes, they're in a room in a hotel. That's not a hotel room. I mean, we we've already covered all of this. I don't know why we need to cover it more. But she tells Diane that she escaped from the attic, but Tony wasn't able to. She got away just as the police arrived, and she doesn't know like kind of what happened after that because she was pretty shaken up. But she's pretty tired now and she needs to take a rest.

Well, she's upset. Yeah, she's it's yeah, and the and they do even say like, we're so sorry, we really did push you pretty. Yeah, tell her like you can take a break, you can take any break you want. Yeah. They even hot for to get her a room at the hotel they're interviewing her at. They're like, would you like us to book you a room and you can just rest and we'll talk in a little while. Yeah, And she's like, no, it's fine, I already have a room. You can find me in Room to See And that's pretty interesting.

But as they're sitting there talking and and it's clearly been a little while, but Sarah hasn't come back, so they try to find the room and they can't find it. They go down to the front desk and ask where Room to See is and they say well, they ask okay, that's right, and they're like there is. There's no letters in our room numbers. And they're like, well, that's weird because Sarah Hale said that she was checked in here. Yeah. But they're not even that freaked out. They're like, oh, maybe she just misspoke, Like we just want to call Sarah Hale's room.

Yeah, and they're like they look around at nobody named Sarah is staying here right now. Yeah, so that's kind of a disappointment that they can't get, you know, a finished statement from Sarah. But that's not going to stop Diane because well, let's just go to the abandoned hotel ourselves. Because she's a go getter with middle management written all over and quote office case. So Diane and Jonathan decide to visit to go back to Abbadon Hotel, which, uh, because she's just kind of like we could go there, like no one will notice that we're there. It's like late and yeah, it'll be late soon, like nobody's gonna know.

We can just try and get something more, especially since they don't have Sarah possibly anymore. I think it's interesting too, Like while the Alex character is obsessed with his haunt and getting it nailed, the documentary crew is like way more balanced for the most part, don't get me wrong. Like Diane becomes obsessed with like no, no, let's take some risks to get it. But she's not like I can't believe Sarah ran off, like we have to find her, like whatever. They're like, No, she was really upset, Like I get it. She just didn't want to do this anymore.

And I don't blame her, you know, like she's not like it's interesting that dichotomy, like it's similar but very different. So they're gonna go back to the hotel, and meanwhile, their editor is going to stay behind and keep cataloging the footage we've been watching from Sarah. Yes, and it's this is where, in my opinion, I think in most people's opinion because it's the beginning of the big ending, but this is where I felt like the film really like hooked me deep like and made me go, Okay, I think I'm gonna be really like, I'm gonna really be happy when this movie's over.

I think it's going to really be a good ending. Because the moment that there's no room to see, I am immediately did you have the same thought, the immediate thought that that was the room number at the Abaddon Yeah, that was my first thought too, was I was like, that's a room at the Abadan Hotel. Crap. But speaking of the Hitchcock rule, this is a perfect example of the Hitchcock rule. So they take off to go to the Abaddon Hotel and Mitchell looks through Sarah's footage, and he finds footage after Mac has died where Paul is possessed mm hmm, and he he murders Sarah on camera like she is clearly murdered, and then he slits his own throat, which kind of makes sense because no one actually said that there were any survivors per se, except Sarah.

Sarah came to them, was like, I'm the only survivor of the Abadon thing. I don't think the police ever said in any of the little like pieces snippets. Then, I don't think anybody said there were I mean, nobody said anything about survivors because if there were none, they would never They wouldn't say and there were no survivors. No, well you just said fifteen people died. You don't say, you don't add and no survivors. You only bring it up if there isn't it, you know. Yeah. Yeah, So, so he's witnessed this, which now tells us who the hell is Sarah?

But it's Sarah, for sure. It's her. It's not an impostor or something. They didn't pull a you know, a daytime soap opera and have her have a twin sister or something, although that would have been kind of funny. So now talking about Hitchcock's suspense. Now, Diane and cameraman Jonathan, they've broken into the abbott On Hotel and they're trying to see if they can kind of gather any more information about what happened. And the whole time they're walking around this dark, gross place that is half real gross and half fake haunt gross, and half wrecked by cops searching it.

Her phone is ringing and it's Mitchell trying to tell them Sarah's dead. How were we interviewing Sarah all day? She's dead and they're not taking the call. In fact, she's just annoyed. She's like, why did he just like he knows where You're trying to do this real quick and we're not supposed to be here. Just leave a voicemail and that's That's the perfect suspense. You know something and they don't, and it's coming to get you, and it will right after this. So Diane refuses to answer her phone because she needs answers. Well, yeah, I said that before the break, but sure, people, you know.

It's like you return from the commercial break and the characters say the thing they just said, so you remember, do they do that, not anymore, but they used to. Go on. And caraman. Jonathan, to his credit, pretty quickly starts insisting that this is a very bad idea, yeah, and we should leave. But Diane does not want to hear it. And she's so excited seeing like blood on the walls, and she's even like, we don't even know if this is real blood or not. And Jonathan's like, that's not a good thing, no, And she keeps leading them further and further into this haunted hotel until they go down to the basement.

Of course they do, and things start moving around and they start hearing things, and then. They I really don't remember them going downstairs. I just remember when they went to the second floor and found the room. Oh they did find the room. No, sorry, see I was getting myself mixed up. Oh with your with your transcript with my transcri. Yeah, they went up to the second floor and that's when they realized there was a room labeled to Susie. And they're like, oh, and it has a little lock from the outside, not a big lock. It was one of those little hook and loop hot locks was but it was on the outside, which would suggest that whoever's in there couldn't have done that exactly, which is a nice touch.

It doesn't really matter that much except that it's impossible for the person in there. There has to have been somebody else or something else involved. Right. So they opened the door and Sarah is sitting in the room on the bed with her back to them, and Diana and Jonathan realized things are not right, and she turns out to be this like ghoulish thing. Yeah, and she attacks them, and as they're trying to get away or whatever, two cultists kind of similar to what we'd seen appear before show up and they take away our hapless documentarians.

Yeah, and that's all she wrote. That's all she wrote. Sorry, Rachel wanted to to She was like being like chat GBT and like hallucinating a different ending for fun. It's good to have hobbies. No, I really got myself mixed up with that earlier in the movie. Uh huh, don't believe her, kids, No, But so, I mean, and that is that is the chilling ending of Hell else LLC. And it's a really strong ending. I mean, having Sarah be a ghost is such a cool twist. I know that some people would say it's been done a lot, but it hasn't been done like that.

Yeah. Yeah, So I thought it was great. I mean, and the rules being established, like they were filming her, but she was a ghost, so I guess ghosts can be filmed, you know. Like I like that. I like that element too, though It's like, okay, so like I like when rule are broken in like this kind of space, but then you realize like, oh wait, I guess there really are no rules. So I was just being silly by thinking, like, well, how do they film it? I don't. Oh it's a ghost. Do you know how ghost work?

I like that. Yeah. Yeah, well that's fun and a great way to be extra creative. Oh agree, But yeah, so that's hell else I'll see. I love that film. I think it really holds up great. It's a great Halloween time film to really kind of pull you into that spirit, which is why we shared it for summer ween. The I'm assuming Millennial concocted Halloween in the summer. I ain't complaining, I'm participating, but what so for you, first of all, we should compare it and contrast it just a little bit more to the houses October built.

Yeah, because that's why we did them back to back because they're often confused with each other and compared because of the similar release time and similar basic concepts. So what did you think about them comparatively? I enjoyed them both equally. But I will say that when it comes to like strictly October vibes, Halloween October vibes. For some reason, houses October, houses October built did it for me more? And I think is it because they've visited so many haunts? Yeah? At once, I mean, you're definitely right. But I was trying to tell you to bring your microphone closer to your face because you were drifting away from it.

I tried. I tried to signal to her, and she looked at me like she was about to get hit by a car. It's like I was just trying to tell you as quickly as I could with that. I was hoping that I was reading your gesture, right, That's why I looked confused. Look, oh, and the gesture was to be confused and scared. Be confused. That's scared now, But no, hou'ses October. I mean they go to so many places, they interview so many people, they see so many people in makeup and costumes, and it's way more halloweeny in a very broad way that I think works Hello else llc.

Just the fact that it's in a haunt the whole basically the whole movie. I feel like that's where it gets the biggest part of its Halloween energy for me. Yeah, I agree, And I also like any any story where it's a haunted house obviously is gonna be a little bit more fun for Halloween time. And I think this is fun that it's a haunted, haunted house. Yeah, there aren't nearly as many of those as you'd think. Yeah, although you you should see hell Fest. It's it's a it's a like a massive haunt that turns into like real people getting murdered, but it's like a giant haunt.

It's like like the size of Land of Illusion, oh man, and people just start getting slash slaughtered in there. I saw in the theater during the very brief run it had, and I really enjoyed it. Healthfest Well then remember Haunt, Oh yeah, yeah, you loved Haunt. That one was fun. That's a really solid, really fun that's a really solid, you know, killer haunt kind of vibe. So I mean there are some, but not nearly as many maybe as you'd think it. Also, both of the ones I just mentioned aren't about haunts being haunted. They're just haunts where people get killed, so they don't have ghosts at all, So you know, not quite the same all.

Yeah, So so you prefer houses October. Built, I think so, just just a little bit. Because of Halloween energy. Just because of just because of the halloweeny energy. It really scratched that itch for me. But I would say, like as far as as far as found footage and mockumentary type films, I would say this is a pretty solid one. It's hard to hold a candle to something like wreck. Well that's not a documentary. It's just that's just because. It's strictly found footage. But uh, they're filming a documentary, but it's not presented. As one exactly. But it's really fun, it's really entertaining.

It had really really good scares. I feel like there was several where like I jumped really really hard. There were a couple. Hopefully it wasn't because you were falling asleep, but I don't know for sure. I think I stayed awake, or maybe I'm asleep right now. If you say I think I stayed awake, I think that's the most damning statement you should make. I'm pretty sure I stayed awake. Ah, so you weren't aware of your mental faculties. But no, I mean, I think it's it's honestly, it's it's a solid one. And honestly, after this revisit, I kind of I used to like houses October built more, and now I'm kind of leaning hell House LLC.

Oh the old flippero Flipper Rooney. But yes, okay, but that's yeah, that's kind of where I'm at right now. Yeah, So I think I think they're both really good, and I'm very glad that I watched hell House LLC. I think that we might have to keep this in the rotation for Halloween movies. You know you don't want to watch the sequels. Actually I do want it. I'm curious about the sequels. I'm curious. I think that the first three year all about Abaddon and the hotel, okay, and then they move on to something related but different.

So I would be down to rewatch this. But with that all being said, what is next on the chopping block? The next one is a little weird. This is a little weird, a little weird. Okay, so next we're doing tonight she comes from twenty seventeen. Yeah, so this is not a well known movie at all. This is not a very popular film. We saw this at the Asylum Night of the Movies, I think is what they called it or something like that, Yeah, which was a special screening they did at Cinemark Movie Theaters of Asylum films, which were films made by the movie studio that brought you Sharknado.

Actually talked about it briefly earlier, Sharknado and all those kind of ridiculous mockbusters and stuff, and the movies they showed were really out there. Yeah. One of them that was really interesting was there was that One Bad Girl, which actually was Samara Weavings first film in Australia or she came to a market. It was also, yeah, very very good. But that was the first time Samorrow Weaving was in American theaters. And then like three years later she's like in Bill and Ted four. It was really craz Or three, but it was really crazy. So they were really interesting.

But of all the films, a couple of them were a little stinker a few were really really good, but the only one that left us just completely like, what the what? I'm not even sure how you're gonna describe what happens in this movie on the podcast when we talk about. It, don't. I will cross that bridge when we come to well, first we should I say the title. It's called Tonight She Comes. I don't know. No one believed that. No, but no you no, it's yeah you did? You mentioned the year and that Yeah, Tonight she Comes from twenty sixteen bizarre horror film.

Yeah, Tonight she Comes, Night She Comes? Yeah, Yeah, what I like. One of the reasons it's got such a fun spot in my heart is because I was not well versed with slasher films when I saw this, so it was really really fun for kind of one of my first introductions to slasher films being a film set that's kind of a love letter and also bucking every trend of slasher films that it possibly can. At the same time. It's just nuts. Yeah. No, it's way far out And it's available to watch to stream free with ads on Fandango at home, but you could also rent or buy it on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.

And this is one I really recommend you watch if you like your horror, just absolute batshit. Yeah. So that's what we'll be covering next time on Cutting Deep into Horror, and I am cautiously excited to rewatch it. Part of me is worried that it just will somehow not be as great. Yeah, I really hope that's not the case. I'm hopeful too, so but with that all being said, we're gonna get out of here until next time. But remember you've been listening to Cutting Deep into Horror here at Weekly Spooky. If you enjoyed the show, please leave a like or comment if you're able, or a five star rating on your podcast app of your choice.

If you want to send us email, you can do so at Weekly Spooky at gmail dot com. We would love to hear from you suggestions, topics, movie recommendations, or just you know how wrong we were about a movie we're talking about. That's fine too. We'd love to hear from you at Weekly Spooky at gmail dot com. And if you want to support us in a very direct way, head to Weeklyspooky dot com, slash join and find out hot for one dollar a month at the bare minimum, you can get two bonus shows every month, and over five years of creepypasta readings at audiobooks, adweeklyspooky dot com, slash Join.

So now we're going to get out of here and hopefully open this haunted house that I just bought. So until next time, stay spooky and we'll see you real, real soon. Bye bye yes