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Film: Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor
Year: 2023
Director: Stephen Cognetti
Writer: Stephen Cognetti
Starring: Bridget Rose Perrotta, Destiny Leilani Brown and James Liddell
Review:
I was intrigued when I heard about this sequel. The first movie in this franchise was one that I enjoyed. I thought the two sequels were solid for what they were doing, but I thought it got away from what made that original one work as well as it did. I figured I’d go ahead and make this a featured review on Journey with a Cinephile since I covered the sequels previously.
Synopsis: a group of cold case investigators stay the Carmichael Manor. After four nights, the group was never heard from again. What is discovered in their footage is even more disturbing than anything found on the Hell House tapes.
This is presented as mockumentary where Bradley Moynahan (Darin F. Earl II) and Alice Harper (Searra Sawka) have gathered information about what about happened to Margot Bentley (Bridget Rose Perrotta), Rebecca Vickers (Destiny Leilani Brown) and Chase Bentley (James Liddell) during their stay at the Carmichael Manor. Bradley and Margot worked together for a sleuth website, which is why he’s looking into it. Margot went with her girlfriend Rebecca and her brother of Chase.
The mystery they were looking into involved Patrick Carmichael (Gideon Berger) disappearing where his sister Catherine (Cayla Berejikian) and their mother Eleanor (Marlene Williams) were found dead. The father is the prime suspect, but the weird thing is that there is only a set of footprints coming to the house. Something odd was that another sibling, Margaret (Victoria Andrunik), died in a car accident that made Patrick lose ability of his arm. This series of occurrences brings our group to stay in the manor that is now thought to be haunted.
Then to add even more is that this is near the Abaddon Hotel where the events of the Hell House LLC trilogy took place. Margot liked to film everything so we see the first connection when she and Rebecca go to a local antique shop that has items that survived the fire at the hotel. It is there that a grandfather clock is kept and Rebecca knows of a secret compartment. What is found there gives a connection between the Carmichaels, the Abaddon Hotel and maybe even explain what happened to this family. The clown figures that were at the Abaddon Hotel are also being kept here at the Carmichael Manor.
That is where I’ll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I’ll start is that this movie made me uneasy. I’d even go as far to say that this is closer to the first Hell House LLC with what it did there. One of my issues with the two sequels to that one was that it felt they were trying to do too much with building the backstory and it got away from the horror of the first. That’s not to say I didn’t like them though. I loved the cult, cosmic horror and even the religious aspects that gets incorporated in. It just didn’t work as well for me.
Now I do have to say, I wasn’t fully sure how they were going to connect this to that trilogy. Seeing in the title that this was an origin-style story, I thought then that this would take place before the events of Hell House LLC and its sequels. That’s not the case. What this is doing though is going into the past with footage found from Catherine since she liked to make movies. She also would record different things at home. I was shocked how well that worked and didn’t feel forced to me like how others in this sub-genre/filming style can at times. What is even better here, I love mirroring things in the past to what is happening in the present to our trio. That was well done. It also made me feel uneasy, which doesn’t happen a lot.
Let me then look at our group in the present. We have Margot who does this as a hobby. She created this site with Bradley where they look at different unsolved murders and see if they can find something that was missing. Rebecca loves her and comes along, but she has the job that allows them to do things like this. There is resentment here between Margot and Rebecca that comes to head during this one. This is the first time they encountered a real haunting. I did like the tension that builds there. We also bring in Chase who had a mental breakdown. He probably shouldn’t be here, but he experienced something that told him to. It might not be a good thing since he’s as shaky mentally as he is.
There is also this roll of film that is found that shows us backstory with the Carmichaels. What is interesting there is that Margot didn’t see any of it. She took it and sent it off to Bradley, who got it developed and watched it. It is presented here in this mockumentary as the last days of Catherine with the fateful murder that Margot’s group is looking into. This does lose realism here though. This footage would need to be given to the police and not shown here unless the police released it for this documentary to show it. Regardless, there is good writing and editing here as I said. I love that we see things done on this roll of film that match up to the haunting in the present. That almost makes a time loop feel.
Let me then just finish my thoughts on filmmaking. I’ve already said how good the editing was to sync up the past and present. I’d also say that the framing and cinematography are solid. There are eerie things with this clown mannequins where they will be in a room that they shouldn’t be. I’d heard another podcaster bring up how you can clearly see that there is a person in the make-up and outfit. I noticed that too, but it adds another creepy element where you think they might be moving, but you’re also not completely sure. I like that. They do creepy stuff here that made me uncomfortable so once again, credit to that. The soundtrack also adds to the atmosphere. We also have CGI at times, at least I thought I saw that. If there is, not an issue. I thought this was well-made across the board.
All that is left then is acting. Perrotta, Brown and Liddell are all good. I like them as they trio that go to this manor and experience more than they bargained. They felt like real people, which is what I’m looking for here. Berger, Berejikian, Andrunik and Williams are solid as the Carmichael family. Again, what I like there is their back story influences the present. Earl and Sawka are solid as these people who are being interviewed for the mockumentary. I love how they fill in what we need. Other than that, Thomas J. Cipriano, Michael Caproili and the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed. Special credit to Joe Bandelli as the Hell House Clown.
In conclusion, I thought this was one of the better installments to the franchise. I put this right up there after the original. The back story of Carmichael Manor and how it factors in with Hell House LLC worked well. There is good filmmaking here. I credit the cinematography, framing, editing and the soundtrack to work. I did question why there was a musical score, but we are seeing the edited footage together. The acting brings the characters to life. This also made me feel uncomfortable, which I love. If you like this series, then I think this will work for you. Also, I’d recommend it to found footage fans.
My Rating: 8 out of 10