Hey Scream Queens and Ghoulish Gents,

I’m back once again to finish the available movies in the Hell House franchise. Today’s movie review is for Hell House II LLC: The Abaddon Hotel, now playing on the Shudder App.

Side Note: You may be pleasantly surprised to learn that the third and final film is currently being produced now (you can check out the article here.)

Movie Blurb:

It’s been eight years since the opening night tragedy of Hell House, LLC and still many unanswered questions remain. Thanks to an anonymous tip, investigative journalist Jessica Fox is convinced that key evidence is hidden inside the abandoned Abaddon Hotel-evidence that will shed light on the hotel’s mysteries. She assembles a team equally hungry for answers with one goal: break into the hotel and discover the truth.

My Review:

All right, so if you’re like me, you’re skeptical of sequels. It’s rare that they ever quite live up to the first in a series of movies, and honestly, does lightning ever strike twice? I don’t think so.

I will say going in that this movie wasn’t quite as good as the first (like I imagined), but this installment was still an entertaining descent into madness just like the first Hell House.

This movie continues eight years after the events of the Hell House mystery, and like before, there are a number of disappearances linked to the abandoned house. I wonder what’s going on there? *evil grin*

Through a chain of events, the sole remaining survivor of the original crew, an investigative journalist, and several others are drawn to the house, this time to get the evidence they need to prove whether this whole thing is a hoax or not.

Will they find the evidence they need, or is this all just a wild goose chase into the bloody depths of the unknown?

Things I Liked

To begin, I think that the concept of this movie still held up, despite not being quite as good as the first one.

The sole survivor of Hell House has come under fire after publishing his own book about his experiences. The city of Abaddon basically tried to sue him, and he stands to gain a lot if he can prove that the original owner of the house was indeed the leader of an unholy cult.

Again, I enjoyed the spook factor. I did feel like things were a tad more watered down than the first movie, but the same scares were there and slightly different this time too.

There were definitely moments where I wanted to scream at the characters to get the heck outta there!

Lastly, I enjoyed them digging into the backstory of the Abaddon Hotel. It fleshed out the world of Hell House a bit further, and I appreciated that. Though I don’t felt it dug quite enough for my taste, it did give us more, and I liked that.

Things I Disliked

For starters, pacing. In the first movie, we had some great build up until the scares started happening.

This movie is much the same, but I personally felt that there was actually too much buildup. I mean, we’ve seen the first movie, and while its good to get a little refresher, I felt that they focused too much on the setup and not enough on the scare factor later on.

Next, the content. I felt that overall there wasn’t really enough going on in this movie. I mean, sure, we’ve got the main characters trying to prove the original owner’s involvement in a cult, but besides that, it feels like there’s something missing. I almost want to say if they had more going on it would’ve been better, but I’m not sure that is the case or not.

Wrap-up

Overall, Hell House LLC II is a scary film that continues the chilling tale of a haunted house whose spirits are intent on killing all who enter.

Though entertaining, this movie had more faults than the first one, so I’d give it a 6/6.5 out of 10. Still excited to continue the franchise, and I’ll await the third movie’s release with baited breath.

Happy watching!

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