Summary:
The infamous Abaddon Hotel reopens as an interactive show known as Insomnia. What could possibly go wrong?
My Thoughts:
In my review for the original “Hell House LLC”, I praised that film for its genuinely creepy atmosphere, it’s inventive scares, and the creative ways it made a found footage film feel fresh. “Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel” honestly felt like more of the same, only less inventive and not as scary; it certainly wasn’t the worst movie I’d ever seen. “Hell House III: The Lake of Fire” is a cash grab; there’s no other reason for this movie to exist. It feels like the “Halloween: Resurrection” of “Hell House” movies: it breaks from the spirit of the original film; it’s cheap, uninventive, stupid drivel that’s insulting to the audience. Even if you’re a huge fan of the original “Hell House LLC” you should absolutely skip this movie; it’s a waste of time.
The biggest problem this film has is that it doesn’t even try to match the other films in terms of atmosphere. Where the first and second films rely on subtle and hidden scares (ie. scares where what is scary might not be completely apparent immediately- people lurking in the corners not doing anything; a turn of a dummy’s head- that sort of thing), this film hits the viewer over the head with every single connection that it can make to the first two films. For example, when the cameras first enter the house, they flash with footage from the first two films to remind the viewer what happened at that particular place. That kind of approach doesn’t do anything for the viewers, it just asks us to remember the better movies that came earlier in the franchise, further calling attention to how poorly this particular entry was executed.
To make matters worse, the plot for this film doesn’t make a lot of sense. The first film says that the Abaddon Hotel was shut down after an accident, and then it was purchased by the protagonists of the first film and turned into a haunted house where fifteen people are murdered opening night. The second film documents people breaking into that house and further exploring it, even though the Hotel has been officially closed off- and, of course, more people die in this entry. This third film focuses on the Hotel when it’s been sold again, this time to another haunted house crew. I’m sorry, but are we supposed to believe that after close to fifty people die in a Hotel in mysterious ways, the Hotel could be sold and turned into a new haunted attraction? That sort of logic disregards any sort of intelligence I might’ve associated with this franchise.
More than anything, this movie sort of made me a bit mad. After making the first film, Stephen Cognetti, the director of all three of these films, capitalized on the one decent film he made and continued to milk that cow until it was bone dry. I honestly felt the first film had a lot going for it, so much so that I eagerly anticipated another film from Cognetti, but his follow-ups to “Hell House LLC” have only proven to me that he’s somewhat of a one-trick pony.
Verdict:
If you watch the first “Hell House LLC”, just stop there. Trust me when I say the rest of the series doesn’t really have a lot to offer.
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