Hell House Discussion

Hell House

By. George Ratliff

Director George Ratliff goes behind the scenes of the Hell House, a house filled with depictions of family violence, suicide, abortion, drugs, and alcohol.  The film’s viewers are provided a glimpse into what haunted house developers are hoping to convey to those who visit, the life that awaits those who stray from the path of a strict Christian life style. Ratliff uses an objective view, only a few times does the film shows a subjective view, which leaves it up to the audience to form their own opinion of the Texas church’s annual haunted house.

Most people’s opinions and beliefs will be based on the ideals they already posses, which usually come from the environment in which one was raised. I was raised to be a tolerant and compassionate human being, however, when people feel the necessity to “inform other of the coming dangers” or in my view push their beliefs and religion on someone else it is irritating. The pastor says, “The blood is not only on your hands for your sins, it’s on mine as well.” What I took from that statement was he doesn’t truly care about my salvation, it is his own he hopes to save. My aunt is an evangelistic Christian so I am no stranger to this way of thinking; I wasn’t shocked.

From my point-of-view there was an abundance of irony within the film. For example, the children of the church were the ones who acted out these violent and graphic scenes. They said the acting parts were in high demand and they only picked the most “faithful” ones to play the parts. They were in my opinion a little too overly happy about playing a rape victim, someone who commits suicide, and most disturbing, a rapist. I found it ironic because this was the only time they get to “act” bad and many of them were overly eager to be involved. I couldn’t help but be reminded of a movie I recently saw called The Purge. It captures a futuristic America plagued by crime. The government sanctions a 12-hour period in which any and all criminal activity is legal, which they believe ideally will reduce crime and poverty during the rest of the year. Though Hell House takes place over more than one night a year, there are many similarities to the people who created Hell House and its participants and those who created The Purge and its participants.

Overall, I personally found this film to be disturbing, but definitely not in the way the church hoped to accomplish. I did not enjoy watching these always smiling people easily condemning others to hell over issues about which that they were obviously not well informed. I found the homosexuality, suicide, and abortion scenes particularly out of sync with reality. One scene that personally stuck out to me was the rave scene. I absolutely despised the message it provided young women. The message I heard was that anything bad that happens to you is your entire fault, which I believe is false. I agree that drugs, alcohol, family violence, and suicide are not things that should be taken lightly. It is important to learn and understand these things and the consequences.  However, the way in which this church goes about teaching the potentially positive message is in my opinion detrimental to those they teach. In conclusion, I think the words of the young women who didn’t agree with the church’s Hell House are very fitting, “It’s too cut and dry, too black and white, there’s no grey area which is what life is.”