I found this to be effective filmmaking: a straight forward documentary about the families and youth ministers who put together a haunted house meant to reinforce Christian dogma and scare people into repenting of their supposed moral lapses. We follow one family, several youth leaders, and multiple actors and directors of the Hell House show, as the film makers refrain from open or ironic commentary, and mostly just watch as one October's casting, planning, and performing of the "Hell House" unfolds.
I was impressed that the documentary could reveal so much about this particular sect and its annual show, without going out of its way to cast a particular light on their production: the youth group's own attitudes and occasional extremes speak for themselves. I was also moved by the length they went to to humanize these individuals: the father of four, who's raising a baby with cerebral palsy and who recently separated from his wife, seemed to me an especially sympathetic figure. I could understand what the church did for him and his family, and empathize with his and his daughters' struggles, and even wanted, albeit briefly, for them to get what they wanted out of the Hell House.
That said, the show totally revealed this denomination's recruitment moves as scare tactics, frightening vulnerable children, out on Halloween, into accepting denominational dogma. It showed that their little scenes in the Hell House admitted of no shades of gray, but culminated in someone dying and going to hell in each case, with spectators eventually seeing them suffering in hell, supposedly for good measure. The crowds going through the show all looked appropriately spooked; I kept waiting for someone in one of the tour groups to burst out laughing. It's what I would have done.
They interviewed a young woman who had played a rape victim during a previous year's production, and they had her say that her real-life rapist had been in the audience as she's acted the scene. It was a powerful and poignant moment for her, but she said over the course of it, that she had forgiven her rapist. Then, we watch another young woman cast into the current year's date-rape scene, and see her character kill herself and (guess what?) go to hell, when it seems Jesus had abandoned her. Both of these scenes bothered me in that they seemed to show Pentecostal Christan tradition blaming the victim: the first woman actually forgave her rapist?? The second kills herself because she's inconsolable after a gang rape, and she's supposed to burn in hell for that? Why weren't we told her _rapists_ were in hell? Why wouldn't someone say rape victims do sometimes, understandably, choose suicide? A Christian tendency to blame the victim in sexual matters, and come down especially hard on women, came through for me in these especially troubling scenes.
. . . But then, I cared a great deal about these kids and the production they were undertaking, more so than I would have without seeing this powerful film. I never plan to set foot in such a church in my life, I have not accepted any fairy-tale figure as my savior, and I'll never spend Halloween at Hell House. Still, I have a clearer idea of what goes on in such places, thanks to brave film making like this.
I was impressed that the documentary could reveal so much about this particular sect and its annual show, without going out of its way to cast a particular light on their production: the youth group's own attitudes and occasional extremes speak for themselves. I was also moved by the length they went to to humanize these individuals: the father of four, who's raising a baby with cerebral palsy and who recently separated from his wife, seemed to me an especially sympathetic figure. I could understand what the church did for him and his family, and empathize with his and his daughters' struggles, and even wanted, albeit briefly, for them to get what they wanted out of the Hell House.
That said, the show totally revealed this denomination's recruitment moves as scare tactics, frightening vulnerable children, out on Halloween, into accepting denominational dogma. It showed that their little scenes in the Hell House admitted of no shades of gray, but culminated in someone dying and going to hell in each case, with spectators eventually seeing them suffering in hell, supposedly for good measure. The crowds going through the show all looked appropriately spooked; I kept waiting for someone in one of the tour groups to burst out laughing. It's what I would have done.
They interviewed a young woman who had played a rape victim during a previous year's production, and they had her say that her real-life rapist had been in the audience as she's acted the scene. It was a powerful and poignant moment for her, but she said over the course of it, that she had forgiven her rapist. Then, we watch another young woman cast into the current year's date-rape scene, and see her character kill herself and (guess what?) go to hell, when it seems Jesus had abandoned her. Both of these scenes bothered me in that they seemed to show Pentecostal Christan tradition blaming the victim: the first woman actually forgave her rapist?? The second kills herself because she's inconsolable after a gang rape, and she's supposed to burn in hell for that? Why weren't we told her _rapists_ were in hell? Why wouldn't someone say rape victims do sometimes, understandably, choose suicide? A Christian tendency to blame the victim in sexual matters, and come down especially hard on women, came through for me in these especially troubling scenes.
. . . But then, I cared a great deal about these kids and the production they were undertaking, more so than I would have without seeing this powerful film. I never plan to set foot in such a church in my life, I have not accepted any fairy-tale figure as my savior, and I'll never spend Halloween at Hell House. Still, I have a clearer idea of what goes on in such places, thanks to brave film making like this.