Hell House (review)

Halloween has long been a favorite holiday for many folklorists, offering ample fieldwork opportunities for those interested in trick-or-treating, pranks, festive events, costuming, and haunted houses. The traditional haunted house now has competition in the form of new evangelical Christian "Hell Houses" that have emerged at churches throughout the United States. Hell houses parody, mock, and seek to rise far above (think heaven) the usual scary fare offered at conventional haunted houses.

Director George Ratliff (whose 1995 documentary Plutonium Circus explores the hometown of an atomic bomb factory) has created a compelling documentary about the Hell House at Trinity Church of Cedar Hill, Texas. This is the same church that received media attention because of a previous Hell House that had a Columbine massacre room display. Hell House planners are proud of that scene, believing that it was relevant in educating youth and because it garnered interest in their production. Ratliff gains access to the planning of Hell House 10, wisely choosing to focus predominantly on the preparations for the Hell House rather than only on the event itself. This enables the audience to understand who is involved, why, and how the event is orchestrated.

The film presents creators and participants in the Hell House, explaining that the objective behind their production is to "reach the lost." The theme for the year is "The Walking Dead"—or those who are living without Jesus Christ. The planners decide to create scenes for the show regarding suicide, abortion, drugs, and drinking. Although this sounds frightening, what really sends tingles up the spine are the declarations of the group leader, who, in a chilling segment, explains that fear is a part of the ministry and that "a part of salvation is being afraid of going to hell."

The film shows in sensitive detail the young people who audition for the various scenes in Hell House. Many of these youth come from Trinity Christian School where everything, including history, is taught from a Christian perspective. The enthusiasm they display for obtaining a good role is familiar to anyone who participated in high school drama. The shocking difference here is that we view actors screaming passionately after an abortion or crying after a drunk-driving death instead of portraying Shakespearean characters or singing the part of Snoopy in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Later, students hug one another when they win the part of "suicide girl" or "guy who rapes girl." Students are then seen participating in more mundane school activities like football and cheerleading.

Much of the footage demonstrates the incredible amount of planning, creativity, and hard work that goes into the making of a Hell House. We see the building of complex sets, intense rehearsals, the creation of prerecorded soundtracks, and the invention of a spooky-looking website. We also get to see how difficult it is for some members of this rather closed community to truly understand some of the issues they are presenting. For example, we witness the writers working on the "occult" scene. They mention the evil aspects of Harry Potter and Ouija boards, but they have difficulty explaining the satanic part of "Magic: The Gathering," a card and role-playing game. There is also an argument over the propriety of using white paint in the occult scene, as some prefer the more demonic color of red. Astonishingly, the red pentagram that was painted for this set has six points and appears to be a Star of David.

Ratliff engages the audience by concentrating on one particular family—the Cassars, who appear throughout the film. We follow single father John, learn of his son's seizure due to cerebral palsy, see him watching his daughter audition for the abortion scene, looking on proudly when she performs in white pants with fake blood between her legs. We also learn that John's former wife had an "Internet affair" and is no longer with the family. No matter the nature of their beliefs and actions, Ratliff depicts the Cassars...