User Reviews

Hell House is an interesting documentary looking at a church's annual performance that demonstrates to people how easy it is to be flung into the screaming maw of Hell. The filmmakers are careful not to be too judgemental of this bizarre phenomena but in doing so miss the chance to look at the moral complexity that the story really offers.

The church's Hell House appears to condemn people who are victims of others - in one section a girl, who we discover was abused by her father, has drugs plied upon her, is raped and then in despair commits suicide - for which she is condemned to Hell. Another vignette features a young man, abused as a child by his uncle (is there a theme here?), dying from AIDS - naturally he gets dispatched to Hell too. The church don't actually bother condemning the abusers as much as they do their victims. Presumably the abusers repent and the pearly gates open wide for them whilst their victims languish in a hell of red lights, dry ice and perspex ceilings.

The film is fascinating and yet leaves the feeling that it could have been so much more. It also opens for debate the true morality and humanity of the people who organise this ghoulish performance.

Wow! Last night on the Sundance Channel, I had the opportunity to watch a truly frightening film "Hell House"- a documentary, mind you. The reason why I think this film is certainly scarier than the run of the mill Halloween/Fri. the 13th sequel is that it reflects a honest depiction of just how whacko some Christian fundamentalist groups are in this country. You will often see segments on CNN on Wahabi schools for Islamic fundamentalism in Pakistan or Saudi Arabia, but you won't often see them go into this dark corner of our country. I was struck, and this was perhaps not intentional, how commercialism is wide spread throughout the film. I thought a simple moment where a kid asks his father for 50 cents which he doesn't have on him to get a Coke from the machine is telling of how we are paralyzed by rampant commercialism and technology. As someone whose grandfather grew up in a Central Turkish village, I have to wonder if these aspects of our world have driven us all mad to the point where we look to some kind of "SuperJesus" out of a DC Comic book to come down and save us from all the sins of the world. I was also struck by how a youn girl jumps up and down when she gets to play 'the abortion girl.' It's as if she is so trapped by her fundamentalist upbringing that she actually looks forward to playing a troubled young girl getting an abortion perhaps so she can pretend to be bad and find some sort of temporary emotional release. Ultimately, the way church uses fear to promote its' message is what is most disturbing of all. You see fear shown through all dimensions of the church, including a segment where a Hispanic teacher, who provides the voice of Satan on stage, tells his class that there are such things as stupid questions and one should not waste time trying to ask them. Clearly if we all do what we are told, as this church wants us too, then one has to ask what is this difference between living in the film's setting, outside Dallas, and living in Baghdad?

To quickly summarize what I believe is the 'message' one may get from viewing this film: All you need to do is change the geographical location and name of the 'God' and you've got a typical fundamentalist Madras school in the Middle East. What's on display here is a sad and horrific waste of young human minds.

To witness, in some awe, where impressionable minds can be lead by twisted religious quacks makes this film most definitely worth seeing -- and can admirably serve as a 'wake up call' for modern civilization; do you know where your children are? Be afraid.

H.U.

Hell House director George Ratliff doesn't have to try hard to show the bizarre side of the Trinity Church in Cedar Hill, Texas and their annual Halloween sideshow. Rather than any reasoned attempt to invite converts to Christianity, this is old style 'fire and brimstone' scare tactics straight out of the Old Testament and reminded me of a modern day Chick tract. The topics are somewhat predictable, ranging from abortion, homosexuality and suicide right through to the alleged evils of Harry Potter and role playing games. The horror show is complete with high pressure sales tactics at the end to convert and accept Jesus. Disturbingly, the emotional intensity of the show is quite effective, especially on the younger teenagers in the audience who appear somewhat shell shocked as they are given a last chance to repent.

Pastor Jim Hennesy opens the documentary and is probably the most disturbing character shown, with his authoritarian nature and expressionless stare. His church group is clearly a cult, complete with hysterical followers weeping, swaying in trances and speaking in tongues. Every single character that comes onto the screen has a downbeat story, from the single father struggling with four children to assorted rape victims and even an amateur wrestler.

In parts, the documentary becomes unintentionally hilarious, with a six sided 'pentagram' (actually the Jewish Star of David), a DJ who can't remember the name of the date rape drug he is supposed to be warning people about and a Christian teenager showing an inexplicable fascination in playing an imagined 'victim' of the morning after pill.

Overall Hell House is more an illuminating insight into the bizarre beliefs of this Pentecostal church than any cutting edge social commentary, but somehow it works. Ratliff's direction is neutral, and he merely observes the goings on rather than actively staking out a position. With a cast of characters this odd, nothing else is needed. The only signs of independent thought in the film was a small group of irate teens who gave one of the pastors their direct opinion on the Hell House.

A interesting footnote only mentioned briefly in the documentary. With 12,000 visitors at $7 a head, plus a concession stand, and all with volunteer labor. I guess what the Trinity Church doesn't make in converted souls, they reap in cash.

7/10

As far as the actual film is concerned this is a pretty well done documentary. I found it to be pretty objective, and the film makers just presented the subject matter and let you the viewer decide. Now as far as the subjects of the film are concerned... Similar to Jesus Camp in the sense that the truly disturbing issues in the film are the people who are involved. These folks are complete nut jobs. They don't know anything about how the world works in their little brainwashed WASP Christian extremist world except for that which is over exaggerated on television. The "rave guy" was friggin' hilarious, everyone will have a good laugh at him. The real horror of Hell House are the whacko's of this community who participate in this nonsense, that was the truly terrifying part. Wow, I'm glad I don't live in that hell hole talk about "Land of the Dead"..."Land of the Brain Dead" more like.

"Hell House" shows the members of Trinity Church in Cedar Hill, Texas (near Dallas) organizing and planning their annual Hell House. Unlike the usual a haunted house with ghosts and goblins, Hell House exposes the evils of real life (abortion, rape, AIDS, DWI, suicide, etc.) and offers visitors a chance for salvation.

From what I've seen, I found the misinformation presented by the elders and the people performing in Hell House unintentionally funny, very sad and very enraging. In one vignette, one person commits suicide after being teased and taunted by his classmates. So the person committing suicide goes to hell. What about the classmates who teased him to get to that low point of his life?

Since 1990, approx. 10,000-13,000 per year has visited "Hell House". So 13,000 visitors per year x $5-7 per person = at least $65,000 income per year every October. Just from a financial standpoint, Hell House is a clever marketing coup.

Director George Ratliff and his crew were given open access to the church. Ratliff chose to film the church participants and the situations as-is without making judgments (e.g.: no narrator) which I think made for a powerful and chilling documentary.

I first came across "Hell House" about a year ago on Sundance Channel's "Doc Day," and having always been interested in films involving Christianity ("Saved!" and "Dogma" are my two favorites) I decided to sit down and maybe have a laugh or two at the down-south fundamentalism. What I saw wasn't much of a laugh: "Hell House" depicts young Christians in what has been called an "evangelical haunted house," in which they portray various scenes of people committing "sins," then being dragged off to hell by a demon in a cheap Halloween mask. In short, it's not a nice film for your Sunday afternoon.

Director George Ratliff first heard about this particular hell house when it attracted media attention for doing a school shooting scene just a few months after the Columbine shootings (though the house had been doing this particular scene for quite some time, it raised controversy in 1999 for being so soon after the Columbine massacre). He was allowed into the tight church community to make his 1999 documentary short "The Devil Made Me Do It," and went back a few years after to make this, the feature length-version, "Hell House." On the DVD features, Ratliff explains that the only way he would be allowed into the community to shoot the film was if he promised to portray things exactly how they are, and not put his own spin on them or try to counter the message of the church.

This is where the film sometimes gets criticism, as we are seeing some very offensive behavior from those putting on Hell House, and the only people there to dispute them are a bunch of drunken teenage Slipknot fans. To me, though, it shows how well the church has paralyzed the community with fear, as everyone goes along with this perverse project with smiles and clapping hands.

And yes, the Hell House itself is pretty disturbing- depicting scenes of botched abortions, a gay man dying of AIDS then renouncing God and being dragged off to hell, a girl killing herself after being raped at a club (then once again, being dragged off to hell), even a man burning for all of eternity because his uncle molested him as a child. To sum up, these people are "crazy" with three K's.

People seem to forget, however, that the film was not made by these religious fanatics themselves, but by an outsider. Most of the negative reviews for this are slamming the subject matter alone and the hideous people contained inside, which I think isn't fair. Yes, it's difficult to not be disturbed by "Hell House," (if I had seen this when I was younger, I would be convinced that I was going to hell) but you need to get past that and look at how Ratliff gets inside these people. I think I walked away from this movie feeling much more informed on the horrors of deep-south Christianity. Rather than having a vague idea from various stand-up comedians, this movie really gets to the nitty gritty of it all, which makes "Hell House" my all-time favorite documentary.

So if you want to be scared this Halloween, forget "Friday the 13th" or "The Exorcist" hunt down a copy of "Hell House" and prepare to be terrified.

Hell House was a peculiar experience for me. I bought the movie on DVD at a small record shop, since I found the summary on the back intriguing enough. I'm glad I have it in my library. It's something that I know I will pull out when I feel like seeing something balanced. I'm willing to admit that I'm predisposed to a position on this sort of subject, although that does not cloud my judgment of what is actually a very evenhanded approach to this subject matter. In fact, I think I found myself more likely to get bored since they clearly aren't picking the best or the worst of each person's dialog. Some of the things that the subjects say are completely reasonable. We're all just a little clouded by the way we've chosen to view the world.

In fact, the only viewer who would be truly bored by this movie would one who is not at all interested in the subject matter. On the technical end of the review, most of the others here have claimed that this has been poorly shot and edited. The editing could use a little tweaking, and I'd like some subtitles when appropriate, but other than that, I found nothing truly lacking in technical aspects.

A great documentary... right up there with Crumb and American Movie. Funny, charming, and even a little disturbing, Hell House is an honest portrayal of contemporary Christian society, down to every last hallelujah and prayer circle leading up to their annual Halloween spectacular: a haunted house of moral terror, where sinners reap their final punishment for leading wreckless lives.

The film raises some interesting questions throughout regarding modern Christian thought and the methods they employ to get their point across. Are they really infiltrating mainstream culture as they claim to be doing, or are they just ripping it off? Regardless of how you answer, this film is a joy to watch.

I should say at first that I predict documentary films will undergo the cash infusion that Miramax and others have brought to "independent" films over the past 15 years. The time is right especially with the interest in more vacuous reality programming on TV. And yes that will definitely be a mixed blessing.

Documentarian George Ratliff gets pretty open access to this incredible phenomenon of a church exploiting media exploitation. This film offers no catharsis for us the viewers, but there's catharsis aplenty for the actors portraying various "stations of the crass" at Trinity's haunted house.

Others here have tried to apply rationality and argue against the beliefs of the church members. But I think that is not the point of this film, driven home by the strident sophistry of the young lad in the "Fear Factory" t-shirt with the off-duty police officer. Now that was hell for me.

Fighting fear with fear, will only result in more fear. And I'm always leery of those who are so obsessed with their "evil" enemies. Meanwhile every generation thinks they are on the brink of the apocalypse, something I take as confirmation of the Church of the Doubting Thomas.

While the end of the film talks about the importance of spending time with Jesus, the revelation for me here is spending time with other people. Especially spending time with those we may be predisposed to dislike or dismiss. The glimpses of humanity in the young girl who confronts her rapist, and the man whose wife has deserted him, these show a most amazing grace to me. And yes, I know we are only hearing their sides to the story...still...how can you not watch them both and wish them their own private happy endings.

Personally, I still look forward to living on the Planet of the Agnostics. I hope we'll still be on friendly terms with the WWF galaxy and its various religious planets.

This is a film that might be interesting (or disastrous) to see with a wide variety of folks. It's neither a trick, nor a treat...but I give it a

6/10

I'm sure Hell House was intended by the deeply religious people who appear in it as a means of saving "the lost". Instead, what it becomes is a shocking and horrifying look at religious extremism (yes, Islam is not the only religion burdened by extremists).

The one image that kept flashing through my head was of the low-budget cult classic "Faces of Death", in which a phony "Doctor of Death" presents a series of scenes (some authentic, some obviously fake)depicting various ways living things can die, including animal attacks, footage of autopsies, etc. Hell House has the exact same low-budget, creepy feel that Faces of Death had for me.

The most frightening thing is that the participants in the actual Hell House are convinced that they are saving young people by showing them their own extreme Judeo-Christian version of reality: girls who undergo abortions will go to hell, etc. What they are really doing is unnecessarily exposing young people to horrible graphic violence.

The way the people speak to each other is disturbing as well: everything is about "The Church"... the whole thing reeks of brainwashing. The discussions going on during the brainstorming session about what to do in the Hell House this year, as well as those going on during the casting reminded me of the films Bin Laden and his toadies send in to Al Jazeera TV talking about killing the infidels. The message is a little different, but the behavior and absolute mindless devotion to the "cause" is absolutely the same.

But the most horrifying and disgusting part for me was the footage from the "Christian school", where the teacher was talking about how they teach everything from the "Christian viewpoint", while the camera panned over a pile of textbooks with titles like "Spanish for Christian schools" and such. Reality and fact know no religion.

I see little difference between Muslim extremism and Christian extremism, with the exception that Muslim extremists engage in suicide missions. In both cases, the message is "Our way is the only way and if you don't follow it, you are doomed".

Jesus taught acceptance and love for fellow creatures. However, the people who participated in Hell House missed the point and are examples of the extreme right of Christianity, just as Bin Laden and the Taliban are representative of the extreme right of Islam. Unfortunately, too many people lacking direction in their life choose these paths that inevitably lead to their complete brainwashing and, effectively, losing sight of the real and usually very helpful teachings of their prophets and/or messiahs.

Two things you should know about Hell House right up front: first, it has no relation at all to the Richard Matheson classic horror novel as it's a documentary about a 'Hell House' (among many) that's run by Christian evangelicals. Second, it's not as frightening as Jesus Camp. That film had a much more stricter and crazier form of indoctrination in its focus of kids at a camp to become the next big evangelical leader. Hell House isn't quite like that, and in its own warped way is a little more humbling. The people who make the Hell Houses, as seen in George Ratliff's documentary, are pretty open about their intentions to scare and scar the bejesus out of anyone who walks in with graphic and precisely melodramatic scenes detailing incestual rape, drug addiction, homosexuality, AIDS by homosexuality, and usually with a demon-devil thing following around a character. The ultimate message is "Come Be Saved!", but that's not why so many non-evangelicals go there.

They're not quite as uncommon as you might think, though it may depend on where you're situation in the USA (or, now happening, in other parts of the world). Certainly if one is near a big mega-church it's more likely, or in an area that is rabidly Christian (you know around whereabouts as it's the realm of people who talk-in-tongues, blabbering and gibberish meant to signify the Lord's presence through him/she/it). What's wonderful though in Ratliff's documentary is that he presents all of this without any strong bias; he's like a fly on the wall in the lead-up to a film or theater production, and the first thing I thought of during it was Waiting for Guffman, the mockumentary about a very- amateur theater group putting on a show.

To be sure these actors they hire and the writers and producers are *very* amateur, but that's a big part of the curiosity and charm. We see some of the looniness that pervades the Church, the anti-Gay and super-strict tenets of their faith. But it's also about the creative process and seeing how it unfolds. It may be a little scary to see these freak-show scenes put together for the Christian Right's version of Halloween, and it's also a lot of fun. It's like a carnival, and there's a reason it's so huge among non-Super-Christians. That is, some anyway; the one scene where we see some dissent comes from a few kids who argue with one of the Hell-House producers about how offensive it all is. They're not wrong, though they should have known what they were getting into in the first place.

The production of the Hell House, from its casting and rehearsals to the actual construction, is contrasted with a kind of sad story of one of the members/heads of the Hell-House organization with his family, one of whom has chronic seizures. It's sad, perhaps, that the kid is in the lot of life that he has, but also sadder still that the father puts God totally on call as the reason his son pulls through in one scene just because the ambulance doesn't show up quite right away. A story like this helps to humanize some of the people documented in the film, whether we'd like to have a cup of tea with them or not (which we probably wouldn't). Ratliff also has one-on-one shots with people who speak to the camera directly about what led them to where they are in the scope of the Church they're at, the pain that brought them to such a place. It's moving to see this, and I really respected the director's attempt to put a sympathetic light to these folks.

This is not to say some of Hell House isn't silly, or a little strange or, yes, a bit offensive if, say, you have AIDS or might be gay or an actual victim of abuse or drug addiction. It trivializes them into a carnival atmosphere, but hey, you can buy the ticket and take the ride, or not. I'm reminded of the line from Training Day as the cop looks at the newspaper: "This is 90% bull***... but it's entertaining."

Yes, it was very accurate. I grew up in the church and this film is exactly how I remember my church years. I'm sure many are shocked and horrified at the actions and train of thought of the church, but I've been around it so long that I wasn't shocked at all by it. I think the reason why I didn't enjoy the movie is because it brought back a bunch of bad memories for me,but if I had never set a foot in a church before it likely would have fascinated me. With that said I was most intrigued by the fact that it seemed like these people were acting out their own fantasies. The guy whose wife left him was obviously writing out a fantasy in the scene he wrote where a woman is caught cheating and is then murdered was very disturbing because you could see some sort of sick wheels turning inside of his head while he watched the scene.

overall, if you've never been to a church you'll enjoy it but if you've spent time in a church you'll likely just see it as the same old same old.

A previous review for this film infers that the documentary makers lose respect for their subjects. After seeing the documentary, I couldn't come to the same conclusion. These people with all their good intentions bring ridicule on themselves. Bringing hell back into religion and trivialising disturbing scenarios with gory reenactments can breed the sort of hatred towards margianlised people that seems the antithesis of a Christian message. While sophisticated film festival audiences might be in fits of laughter at the planning and execution of hell house, there is a serious undercurrent. The makers should be congratulated for their subtle approach in dealing with the personal problems of the protagonists and the way such a seeming laughable freak show can 'convert' people to this form of religious belief.

If Hell house is preaching to the converted, the actual subjects of the documentary are definitely NOT preaching to the converted. They are preaching to those lacking direction or disillusioned with their life. As the ending shows, the scenes which seem ridiculous to us, lead some people to convert to the close-knit web of this Christian group. To me, this is a pretty frightening scenario. What is the community doing wrong that would make young people so susceptible to such an outdated morality? I just hope that this documentary will be shown more widely, particularly to younger people within the context of discussing the issues the documentary raises. And for most of us who will not subscribe to the often demented views espoused by some of the subjects of the doco - it's one of the most amusing and entertaining documentaries around.

Some people, no doubt, will think that the idea of a "show" like this is too offensive, wondering why they can't just go with the traditional ghosts-witches-and-goblins theme of most houses of horror. I think they miss the point somewhat; when "traditional" spook houses started several decades ago, the ghost/witch scenarios we now think so tame and fun came across as just about as frightening as what is presented here. Now that we've got more modern notions of horror, and are more regularly exposed to innumerable forms of violence and inhumanity, some updating of Halloween conventions was not only probable but perhaps necessary. After all, the basic purpose of events like this (and Halloween itself, for that matter) has always been to truly shock and horrify the audience, NOT to make them laugh and have a goofy time.

The film is generally even-handed, as many have said, though I think the somewhat garish use of white backgrounds for a few of the interviews betrays the filmmakers' actual opinions. It's true that the practice of speaking in tongues (which I'd never actually seen before) is unusual, but the way some reviews have referred to it (Freaky! Shocking! Bizarre! Loony!) is actually more disturbing to me; I doubt that viewers would feel comfortable using words like that to describe Jewish or Islamic religious practices, or would treat such faiths with such derision. There's a lot more people in the world that speak in tongues than celebrate Bar Mitzvahs, but few filmgoers - I'm glad to say - would react to a Bar Mitzvah or synagogue scene with the ridicule I saw in the theater.

I'll admit I was slightly bothered that the audience I was with found many of the cast members (not just their acting skills) so laughable; while their acting IS certainly laughably bad at times, I'm sure this is true of virtually any amateur theater production where there's a large open casting call. Yes, some kids do exult at finding out they'll get to be "abortion girl" or a suicidal teen (these ARE flashy and prominent roles in the production), but I don't believe - as many seem to - that this indicates some extraordinary acting out of fantasies. (Or do Shakespearean actors, who I'm sure exult just as much to find out they've won a prominent role, secretly wish to be living the life of their character? I think not.) Most of what is seen regarding the auditions, rehearsals, production, etc. is really an enjoyable look at a large-scale amateur production, and anyone who's been involved with such work will no doubt find a lot here with which they can identify.

Much has been made of the AIDS scenario in the Hell House production, though I couldn't help thinking that there seemed to be some difficulty with it even on the part of those producing the event. The scenario is certainly more sparsely written than most of the others (from what I could see in the film, anyway), and I suspect that the event staff kept it rather slight intentionally, as it's presented alongside another scenario which is far more visceral. Perhaps there was some difference or debate among the writers as to where the scene should go, or how they felt about the characters or issues involved; at any rate, there's little doubt that the AIDS scene could have been written far more disturbingly, and it's something of a relief that it wasn't. (I know many will disagree here, feeling the mere idea of the scene is offensive. I don't agree with the point of view presented either, but I'm not sure it's quite as bad as many will perceive.)

A couple of points regarding religious belief in this film probably need to be explained, as the audience when I saw the film seemed not to understand what was meant (and I suppose others might be perplexed too): When the girl near the end talks of Christ returning to earth for His bride, she is NOT talking about Him selecting a particular woman; rather, this refers to the belief (by ALL Christian churches, not just Pentecostals) that the universal Church of all believers - that is, the totality of all the faithful, not a specific denomination established by mankind - is figuratively the bride of Christ. The practice of "speaking in tongues" (depicted here), as well as beliefs regarding the Rapture, are generally specific to 20th-century evangelical denominations (Pentecostals, Seventh-Day Adventists, etc); while speaking in tongues does have some Scriptural basis, most liberal and moderate denominations treat the practice with a great deal of caution, and generally refrain from encouraging it. (There is also, I should point out, some difference in application of the term "evangelical"; pre-20th century application of that word, which pertains to many moderate faiths such as Lutheranism, Methodism, and Presbyterianism, simply means being open and vocal about one's faith and actively witnessing and ministering to non-believers. In the 20th century sense of the word, the term "evangelical" has tended to be heavily influenced by the revivalist movement started by Aimee Semple McPherson - which included various practices that led to the description "holy roller", and relates to Pentecostal churches such as the Assemblies of God, Church of God in Christ, Church of the Foursquare Gospel, as well as various non-Pentecostal denominations such as the Church of the Nazarene, and Seventh-Day Adventists. Many people don't really understand this difference in the way many self-described evangelicals differ in what they mean by the phrase.)

Do my beliefs coincide with those of the "Hell House" operators? No, not exactly - I do have problems with the way some of the scenarios are presented; I'd certainly take a different approach to some of the scenes. But I DO agree with their general idea in presenting the event. None of this, of course, relates to the quality of the film, but it's worth bringing up. As for the quality of the film itself, I think it does an excellent job in presenting the purposes of the organizers, in showing us some of their background, and in documenting the problems inherent in mounting a production of this nature and size. 8 of 10.

The filmmakers do a good job of letting the irony reveal itself without hitting you over the head with the obvious connection of the Christian religion's entire doctrine being based on fear. What is revealed is something a little different than the typical greed motivation of most religions. Then again the hiearchy of these nuts isn't really explored. You do get to see the sheer ignorance, pain and fears that the Trinity Church members experience due to their own oppressive beliefs. There just wasn't enough background into the social and economic status of the region to paint a clear picture.

The film could benefit with a trim to the current content and the editing could have been a little more professional. There were some pretty rough audio cuts from one segment to the next.

A very funny moment in the film is at the end when a naive teenage member of these kooks states her belief that the world has never been this horrible and the end is near. I only wish she could of been transplanted to a Nazi death camp or Camp 751 in China during WWII. Gee, if they had only excepted Jesus. Ha! Way to stupid to get any serious thinker in an uproar.

But, when it's all said and done, I can't recommend this. Not due to it's goofy content. It's just not very good. The film did remind me of one thing: It sure is embarrassing being an American.

I thoroughly enjoyed this documentory. Although the principal characters had all the best intentions, they lacked any inteligence, thus, producing one of the funniest "fly on the wall" sagas I have seen. A teenage girl, programmed by her local church, sounds off about lesbians coming into the store, or diner where she works. The poor girl is reminiscent of a stepford daughter. How can she possibly make such an invalid, hateful remark when this child probably has never left her fold or been further than the church gates?. GROW UP!! Open your eyes. I chose to look upon the church folk with humour. Indeed, they strongly believe in their cause, but COME ON!!!! Youve got to be kidding. The zeal in which the kids, and the sweaty creepy father compete for places in the "horror" show, is in fact a Horror show in itself. I wonder if trying to conjure up so much hatred and fear is , or was Christs intention. I bet if he watched this movie He would indeed want to come and fetch his brides, (with a gun to His head perhaps). People prove to be scarey, and sweet ignorance takes hold of this grotesque flock. Laughable? yes, but then the reality that these people can manifest fear and loathing into a new batch of kids is HORRIFIC. Heavens forbid a gay child being raised in that community....... It may make you fat and sweaty, and wear skin hugging black lycra T shirts......YIKES!

What the Hell? For Christians it has long been represented as lakes of fire where the damned are tortured for all eternity. It's interesting to note that this view is a combination of repeated incorrect translations from the original Hebrew, and visions of hell that traders brought back with them from Asia. Hell, even the Catholic Church admitted that it was a theoretical concept as opposed to a physical place. A hundred million fundamentalists seemed to have missed the bulletin.

For the past 10 years the Trinity Church in Cedar Hill Texas has put together a Hell House for Halloween. It is hoped that the graphic depiction of bloodied sinners being dragged off by demons will help to convert the unbelievers in the audience.

The project begins in August and students compete for such roles as `abortion girl', `drug dealer' and of course the much coveted `rape victim/suicide' (best because it combines acting with dancing in the rave scene). But it isn't the cartoonish performances or buckets of fake blood that I found to be unsettling.

Many of the `actors' reveal personal traumas - rape, divorce, abandonment – and it is evident that the program serves as a form of catharsis (even though they are unaware of it). They can regurgitate the evangelical fire and brimstone rhetoric that they've been subjected to but when asked simple questions they make about as much sense as the `touched' few speaking in tongues.

The skewed list of `sinners' includes a passenger killed in a DUI, a gay incest victim dying of AIDS and a bullied young man who kills himself., only serves to highlight the intolerance of this group. The skits themselves range from the laughable to the ludicrous, but the standout involves a young woman who is drawn to the dark side after reading Harry Potter novels. The centerpiece in the occult sacrificial dungeon is a pentagram which upon closer inspection turns out to be the Star of David. That mistake (which I believe was unintentional) says more than any words ever could.

What makes this film even more frightening is that the designers of Hell House have converted over 15,000 to their way of thinking.

I spent 5 years of my life at the Church that the above film took place at and over that time span, thousands of young people made a choice to visualize that the path that they were heading on was leading them down one that later in life they did not want to find themselves on. All we ever did through the ministry of HellHouse was to make visual the reality of some choices that people make in their life have consequences. To compare us to Bin Laden and the Taliban is so out in the extreme.

Yes we showed graphic images and we showed non graphic images, but the above users has no problem watching the films below Friday the 13th, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Wild Orchid, Wild Orchid II: Two Shades of Blue, Faces of Death, Road Trip, to name a few and I know that they were watched because they are all commented on. In a majority of these movies lets see pick a topic. Sex, Violence, Murder, Drugs, Death, and they are all commented in the sake of entertainment. We do they same, and show in the very end a positive outcome and we are considered extremist, and the others are nominated for movie awards. Somethings a little off don't you think. You can ask over the 50 thousand people that have gone through Hellhouse and the 20 thousand+ who's life have Been changed by it if we are extremist or a ministry. Find the whole story before you comment on anything you don't try to change but add to as a growing problem in the social environment that we live.

I find it tragic and shocking that such religious cults still exist and find such a following.

Somewhere it is mentioned that White people didn't feel comfortable being led by a Black minister so became the birth of certain churches etc...(and this is apparently OK?) I'm sorry, I'm having trouble finding "God" in this line of thought.

There is a "skit" where the wife is found out to be cheating on her husband with someone whom she met online...which is without question--wrong, however her husband appears to be rather drunken and very abusive himself....how is one right, and the other wrong or are women still considered possessions?

If you want to see just what kind of ignorance religion can still breed today, I would highly recommend watching this documentary..it is certainly a real eye opener. If you ever wondered why people down South are considered so backwards, take a look at this "church".

Wow. What a stunning documentary. I am quite literally stunned. In the stunning realm of all things stunned, I may indeed be King stunned!...or stupefied, or both, heck I don't know! Somebody show me the light, as I'm sure this cast would be more than up to the task of doing...being experts in ignorance and all.

Where do I begin?...how about with the actual 'documentary' aspect of it itself: disappointing. I admittedly prefer a documentary that has something of an agenda, or at least a point, and none was to be found here. I understand letting the movie 'speak for itself' to deliver whatever message you choose to take away from it I really do. Unfortunately, even that seemed beyond the scope of this film. The people that were featured did NOTHING to effectively deliver the message of salvation and underscored hypocrisy on so many levels I'm sincerely having a difficult time organizing my thoughts here. As well, strangely enough, the only real intelligence shown by anyone in this film is the person we don't see, you remember her I'm sure, she's the one who met someone on the internet and made it out of the cult! (Hooray!) Perhaps my previous statements aren't quite accurate, maybe there was a clear message and I simply disagree with it...quite likely as I am a disagreeable sort, but the blind and unthinking devotion that is being commanded here is ENTIRELY based on fear...and here I thought all along that religion was based on FAITH! (Yes, me am dumb and naive) These people are going to bully you into believing along the same lines as them or condemn you to HELL (I refuse to even comment on their ultimatum where you have six seconds to decide on praying with them and saving your self or taking your chances, knowing what you know about yourself, aside from noting that it is the most blatant bullying I've witnessed since 3rd grade).

Others have already fairly clearly and accurately commented on peoples perverse enthusiasm to be a part of this project. (Oh to be granted the privilege of being the 'rape-girl'! And what a fabulous little rape-girl you were sweety!) So I won't dwell too long on this...but possibly the scariest part of this film is how blind all of its participants are...all of them. Thinking that religion was supposed to be about faith, I suppose I wasn't prepared to see quite so narrow a view of the world. In their little world its reasonable for example that white people wouldn't feel comfortable being led by a black pastor (or priest or father)...and this is stated plainly and matter-of-factly in the film as though 'well you know what I mean' type manner. This type of ignorance continues through several social issues, all of which appear to blame the victims of some mis-deeds or situations they had no control over. The gay-incest-rape-rape victim afflicted with AIDS, the rave-rape girl, the teased-to-suicide boy, and lets not to forget my fave the ETERNALLY evil-'i-made-it-out-of-the-cult' wife. Heathens all!...right? Right.

The misguided, heavily skewed, and just plain @ssbackward views that these people ARE frightening. Their hypocrisy is rampant and their position would be hard enough to defend had they showed some intelligence or at least independent thought. Sadly, they only appear as pathetic sheep that cannot cope with the world in which they live. They need the group dynamic that their relig...sorry cult has offered them in order to cope with the world. They need support to make sense of a chaotic and imperfect world, and they will follow their blind and beligerant ignorance regardless of the inconsistency that is displayed. They show no faith in their God or 'religion', only fear...fear of damnation, fear of eternal suffering, fear of the living hell that exists in their minds...and fascinates them.

These people need faith...religion, but they are taking the long road going through Hell House to try and find it.