And we’re back inside Hell House LLC with 2018’s Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel. The problem with sequels of this nature — following up a horror film with inexplicable happenings — is the sequels feel the need to explain the inexplicable, whether that’s delving more into what fuels Michael Myers, or the Saw movies. But for me, what makes the original films those sequels are spinning off of so compelling and interesting is that they are inexplicable! All of that to say, the sequel to Hell House LLC takes that track, and while I’d prefer to leave the inexplicable alone, I still thought this was a fair outing for a low-budget horror film directed and written by Stephen Cognetti again.
In this one, bloggers Jessica, Molly, and David (played by Jillian Geurts, Joy Shatz, and Dustin Austen, respectively) are investigating the events that occurred at the Abaddon Hotel in the prior film, and with the help of the last film’s documentarian, Mitchell (played by Vasile Flutur), they plan to go into the Abaddon to find what they believe will be undiscovered files from when the hotel first opened. The angle to how this one is also shot through the found footage concept is that the bloggers believe in filming their entire process; ergo.
In addition to that, though, the film is told through a morning news show featuring Mitchell, Brock Davies (played by Kyle Ingelman), as a psychic whose character definitely has to be a satire of psychics, and Arnold Tasselman (played by Brian Tracy), who is a local city councilman. I was immediately skeptical of Arnold, however, because my brain always goes cynical with these things. So, I thought, he is pretending about being outraged that Mitchell is “making a buck” off of the Abaddon Hotel by playing up the supernatural elements, when in reality, Arnold likes all of the attention because it keeps the city of Abaddon relevant and making “tourist” dollars. I was close in that prediction, but more on that in a moment.
The acting in this one was a step down from the 2015 film, primarily, with all due respect, owing to Joy Shatz’s overwrought performance. And the story isn’t as strong because Cognetti spends an inordinate amount of time on the morning talk show instead of setting up the unsettling atmosphere he built in the first film. To be sure, there are still unsettling moments, like a stupid teenager breaking into the Abaddon Hotel on a dare and being seemingly attacked, or a couple picking up a hitchhiker, being lured to the Abaddon Hotel, and also seemingly attacked, and then it’s revealed that the hitchhiker was last seen in the Abaddon Hotel during opening night of Hell House LLC. But then the film cuts back to the morning talk show and the vibe is thrown off!
On the story front other than the morning show plot device, I don’t understand these people who keep going into the Abaddon despite the deaths and mysterious disappearances. If you’re going to go in, as these bloggers with Mitchell’s help intend to, then at least go in prepared! Heck, they didn’t even bring in a good flashlight, much less some sort of security or protection. Not that any of that necessarily would help against supernatural forces, but at least it’s superficially preparing yourself!
As it happens, “Arnold” is actually Andrew Tully, the original, deceased owner (I think he’s deceased?) of the hotel, who is trying to lure people to the hotel so the hotel can keep having guests for eternity, and the guests are then fed to the Lake of Fire. (Get it? Abaddon means destruction or doom, or a place of destruction and an angel of the abyss in the Bible, according to Wikipedia.) He’s the one who sent anonymous information to Jessica, and basically used counter-psychology to get Mitchell to go back in. At the end of the film, with only those two left alive, Andrew gives Mitchell a choice to walk out or spare Jessica’s life. Given we are later shown that Jessica is dead in her interview with police, it seems Mitchell made his choice.
We also learn in this sequel more about what made Alex, the proprietor of Hell House LLC, so gung-ho in the prior film: all of his money was riding on Hell House LLC being a success, but also, I think it’s implied he made a deal with Andrew and such demonic forces were compelling him forward, as I sort of presumed in my prior review.
Like I said, I don’t really need the Andrew Tully character explaining the “motive” of the hotel, and combined with the morning show plot device, the atmosphere is dulled a little, but there are still enough unsettling scares here to make the sequel a worthwhile, fun watch. Plus, even though I wouldn’t have included the Andrew Tully character, Brian Tracy nailed it. He was appropriately ferocious.
Milam's Musings 