It’s the most magical time of year for us horror fans and Shudder has been keeping us up at night with the best of lineups. For the found footage fans, we were gifted with the Hell House trio: Hell House LLC: The Director’s Cut, Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel, and Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire. But wait, there’s more! Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor will begin streaming on October 30th! Whaaaat?! Yes! Gimme!
Writer/ Director Stephen Cognetti returns with the 4th installment in the Hell House LLC series, but this is not a sequel or prequel. Cogentti states, “I wanted to create an original story within the Hell House LLC universe yet set it in the present day instead of making a precursor to the original trilogy. As a filmmaker, the Carmichael Manor allowed me to explore some of the themes and origins from the hotel’s mythology, while introducing new characters and mysteries surrounding the events that took place in 1989 in a stand-alone origin story, one of several I hope to create.”
On par with the previous films, we have a series of found footage tapes spliced with interviews. I must admit, although I understand the extras flesh out the film nicely, I am somewhat tired of the interview interjections. This is because the found footage is far more believable. Yes, I think the supernatural/occult-y footage is more interesting and better performed. Most notably, Destiny Leilani Brown is incredible. Where did she come from? I was terrified right along with her.
Cognetti does a terrific job injecting the series with a fresh take on the series with exciting mythology and cult background. I can easily see more stories in the future. Excellent use of shadow, sound, location, and camera footage; it put me right in the mix with these doomed internet sleuths. And don’t forget about our old pals, those damn creepy clowns. I love them, I hate them, please scare me some more.
Check out Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor on Shudder, this October 30th.
