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HELL HOUSE (2001) (***1/2)

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This fairly non-partisan documentary about an evangelical church in Texas putting on its controversial haunted house displays the best and worst of the more fundamental Christian movement in America.

For 10 years, Trinity Church has been putting on Hell House, where different mini-plays display real world violence from a fundamental Christian perspective. The people who put on the performance really are dedicated to the cause of bringing the message of Jesus to non-believers. The film does a wonderful job of just watching the process of the Hell House being constructed from auditions, to practice, to script writing to performance.

To say that some of the people involved are extreme would be stating things too lightly. Some members of the church speak in tongues, which is a belief that a strange seemingly unintelligible language comes from ones heart and talks untainted to God. The phenomenon of tongues is definitely interpreted differently in other more mainstream Christian churches than the literal depiction in the film.

It’s the literal depictions of things that bring the Hell House production its controversy. There is no gray area. Homosexuality, abortion, drugs, suicide, rape, family violence and cult activity are all presented with equal horror. When watching the performance at the end, it is quite startling how the depictions of school violence, domestic abuse and gangs work, but the date rape, abortion and homosexuality scenes are awkwardly un-PC and borderline offensive in their simplicity.

Director George Ratliff makes two really smart decisions with the film. First, he follows a single dad who is raising four kids, one with cerebral palsy. In his story, we see the goodness of the church and its healing qualities. Without this personal moment, the Trinity Church would have all looked like a bunch of wackos. The father opens an interesting gray area.

As well, Ratliff also shows some of the negative reactions to Hell House from people who attend. This brings in a second point of view as well as shows how Hell House works and doesn’t work. The film is equal parts scary, funny, disturbing, intelligent and challenging. It’s also 100% fascinating. An interesting double feature would be to watch this film along with THE DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND, a documentary about wild and crazy Amish kids.

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Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks