Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

cotysmith08 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.

Gary M. James "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.

PaulLondon 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.

wade-baron 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.