"Hell House LLC" is the little horror franchise that could — a low-budget series of films that found viral attention. Stephen Cognetti's movies have a real DIY spirit, and while they can be rough around the edges — the dialogue stilted, the performances clumsy, the VFX downright bad — there's a real charm to be found within. The series kicked-off with "Hell House LLC," a found footage flick in which a group of professional haunters remodel an old hotel into a haunted house for Halloween — only to discover
the place is really haunted.
The "Halloween haunted house that turns out to be really haunted" subgenre is one of my favorites; I'm a sucker for all-things Halloween, and I find myself revisiting the first "Hell House LLC" every Halloween season to partake of its spooky vibes. Cognetti could have (and maybe should have) stopped there. Instead, he turned "Hell House" into a full-blown franchise with an increasingly complicated mythology and some diminishing returns.
The sequel, "Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel," is okay but seems to be missing what made the first film stand out. The third entry, "Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire," is a major disappointment, essentially playing out like a TV clip show flashing back to scenes from the first two films. And yet, the fourth entry, "Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor," surprised me — it felt like a return to form and managed to conjure up some effectively creepy moments. Now, Cognetti is back with the fifth and supposedly final film, "Hell House LLC: Lineage." And this time, the director is trying something different: while all the previous movies have a found footage/faux documentary format, "Lineage" does not. It's also the first film in the saga to get a theatrical release. And while I commend Cognetti for getting this far and trying something new, "Lineage" seems to suggest that the "Hell House LLC" mythology is more confusing than it needs to be.
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The Hell House LLC Franchise Lost Its Charm As It Tried To Expand Its Mythology
The first three films were focused on the haunted Abaddon Hotel, located in the upstate New York town of Abaddon. The forth film introduced a new haunted location: the Carmichael Manor, which was vaguely connected to the Abaddon Hotel (there was also talk of a tragic incident at a nearby fair). "Lineage" attempts to tie all these threads together and explain how and why they're connected. But herein lies the problem: the scares of "Hell House LLC" were all the more effective when we didn't have any explanation behind them. By going into such detail as to why the place is haunted, the story loses its power.
Case in point: the first film's most effective scares came via a trio of clown mannequins the haunters set up in the hotel basement. Sure enough, it becomes apparent that these lifeless dummies are alive and moving on their own. But in that first movie, Cognetti wisely never actually showed the clowns moving — their movement always happens off screen. Their heads may be turned one way when the camera is pointing at them, only to be turned a completely different way when the camera cuts back. It was scary in its simplicity.
Yet, as the franchise went on, Cognetti kept bringing the clowns back — and started showing them move. It's gotten to the point where we see one of the clowns walking around and straight-up bumping people off like a slasher in "Lineage." Sure, I guess that could be scary — both Pennywise the Clown from "It" and Art the Clown from the "Terrifier" series have become iconic for a reason. But it was so much more effective and memorable when the movement was implied in the first "Hell House LLC" movie.
Hell House LLC: Lineage Has Great Halloween Season Vibes But Suffers From Poor Pacing
In "Hell House LLC: Lineage," Vanessa Shepherd (Elizabeth Vermilyea), a character who survived the events of the third film, is left traumatized and haunted as she wanders around Abaddon. The Abaddon Hotel is long gone, but its curse, along with the bloody events that happened at the Carmichael Manor, have caused a kind of town-wide trauma.
Vanessa is a bit of a weak protagonist. She's shell-shocked to the point where she simply wants to be left alone. In an effort to move things forward, Cognetti introduces Alicia (Searra Sawka), who has been putting together all the pieces about the supernatural events from the previous films. Alicia eventually turns to local priest Father David (Mike Sutton), with hopes of stopping the evil once and for all.
Cognetti creates a rich autumnal atmosphere here that got me in the Halloween spirit even though it's currently August, but "Lineage" suffers from lethargic pacing. I'm not trying to imply the film needed to unfold at a breakneck speed, but multiple scenes have a stuffy, airless quality to them lacking much-needed energy. It makes watching "Lineage" a bit of a chore. Perhaps this wouldn't have been as noticeable had the film kept up the found footage approach of the previous entries.
The Hell House LLC Franchise Is Enjoyable, But It's Definitely The Right Time To End It
Still, if you've stuck with the "Hell House LLC" franchise this long, you might be interested in the answers "Lineage" provides. Whatever the flaws in his design, Cognetti deserves credit for trying to expand on such a simple idea with such a modest budget. And there are some moments here — mostly involving those damn clowns — that invoke the right amount of dread.
But "Hell House LLC: Lineage" also seems to overestimate how much interest we have invested in this series. The characters were never much of a selling point, so I can't help but think that the filmmaker could've introduced someone more interesting rather than bring back Vanessa, who takes far too long to spring into action.
All the marketing material for "Lineage" declares it to be the final film in the series, and that's for the best. The "Hell House LLC" films are worth checking out if you're a horror fan, and the first movie makes for enjoyable Halloween season viewing. But it's time to put those creepy clowns to bed.
/Film Rating: 5 out of 10
"Hell House LLC: Lineage" opens in theaters on August 20, 2025 before heading to Shudder in October.
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