Studio:   Terror Films/Shudder
Director: Stephen Cognetti
Writer:   Stephen Cognetti
Producer: Joe Bandelli
Stars:    Elizabeth Vermilyea, Searra Sawka, Mike Sutton

Review Score:

Summary:

A survivor of the Abaddon Hotel’s destruction experiences haunting visions that compel her to uncover macabre secrets connected to Carmichael Manor.

Synopsis:

In June of 1989, the Carmichael Manor hosts a funeral for Margaret Carmichael, who tragically died in a car collision. Margaret’s younger sister Catherine discusses the death with her brother Patrick, who survived the same accident. Patrick cryptically mentions his inability to let the event go without the people responsible being punished for what happened.

After the Rockland County Fair closes for the night in October of 1993, Troy Hopewell, a patron straggling behind, is lured toward the carnival’s Down-a-Clown game. Troy becomes trapped inside the stall and is attacked by a demonic clown.

In Abaddon, New York, in the present day, former TV personality Vanessa Shepherd, who survived a harrowing experience inside the now-destroyed Abaddon Hotel, attends a third therapy session with Doctor Farrell. Vanessa and Doctor Farrell discuss Vanessa’s recurring visions and dreams of a dilapidated house with a cross as well as ongoing trauma related to the hotel, which contributed to her marriage’s recent collapse. Doctor Farrell mentions she has seen an uptick in patients experiencing similar visions since three paranormal investigators died at Carmichael Manor the previous year.

On her way out of the doctor’s office, Vanessa passes Bobby Hopewell, who briefly worked for Vanessa at the Auerbach’s Cellar bar she now runs, as Bobby waits for his session. Later that night, Bobby leaves a voicemail for Vanessa suggesting they should talk, but Bobby is attacked in his home by the demonic clown after seeing a red ball from the Down-a-Clown game.

While informing Vanessa of Bobby’s death, Doctor Farrell adds that Bobby’s father Troy disappeared in 1993, and reveals Bobby mentioned Vanessa in regard to visions he was having before he died. Vanessa discusses Bobby with Max, a young bartender who works at Vanessa’s bar and knew Bobby as a neighbor.

While napping in her bar’s backroom, Vanessa dreams of Margaret Carmichael taunting her amid visions of Margot Bentley and Rebecca Vickers conducting their Carmichael Manor investigation the previous year. Max wakes Vanessa to tell her she has a visitor, who turns out to be true-crime author Alicia Cavalini.

Having been in contact with Bobby since the deaths at the manor, Alicia explains how her research into the Carmichael family uncovered the truth about the car accident that killed Margaret in 1989. It turned out that a truck carrying five inebriated patrons from the Rockland County Fair collided with Patrick Carmichael’s vehicle. Troy Hopewell, who later disappeared in 1993, was the driver. His four passengers also died or vanished under mysterious circumstances in the ensuing years.

Last seen at the same fair in 1995, Winston Jones had a daughter named Melissa who disappeared in 2009 while working as a scare actor in the Hell House haunt at the Abaddon Hotel. Harper Graves was found dead in a cornfield near the fairgrounds in 1994. A red ball was found with both bodies, and Alicia believes a red ball was likely found alongside Bobby too.

Alicia continues by revealing Harper’s daughter Diane disappeared at the hotel in 2014. Alicia now believes anyone linked to the lineage of the five truck occupants is in danger. Vanessa questions why she would be involved since she doesn’t have any known family connections to Abaddon.

Seeing a passenger list that includes the additional names Peter Braddock and Marvin Haskins, Vanessa realizes her estranged husband Tom Haskins is in danger. Vanessa tries contacting Tom with a warning but, concerned only about Vanessa signing their divorce papers, Tom dismisses her concerns as craziness.

Alicia notices Vanessa’s charm necklace. Vanessa explains it is a memento of her twin brother who didn’t survive childbirth.

While alone in the bar, Vanessa has a ghostly vision that Max snaps her out of. Meanwhile, a red ball ominously bounces in Tom’s office before he is attacked by the demonic clown.

Acting on an earlier invitation, Vanessa attends the drive-in where her roommate Crystal works. During the movie, Vanessa falls asleep in her car and has a haunting dream involving Catherine Carmichael. When she wakes, Vanessa sees the demonic clown behind her, causing her to fall out of the car screaming. Crystal helps Vanessa recover.

Later that night, Vanessa has a vision of the clown stalking her in her bedroom. Crystal finds a red ball on Vanessa’s floor.

Alicia visits Catholic priest Father David Flannery to ask about exorcising Carmichael Manor. Father David warns Alicia against going to the manor, but she tells him she will be there the following afternoon. In the event something goes wrong, Alicia revisits Vanessa to give her all of the materials Margot Bentley and Rebecca Vickers collected regarding the cult created by Andrew Tully, the former owner of the Abaddon Hotel.

The next day, Vanessa receives a text from Tom’s phone telling her to meet at the Abaddon Hotel. When she arrives at the empty field where the hotel once stood, Vanessa finds Max sitting solemnly. Max tells Vanessa he found an ominous red ball as he recalls ghost stories about his personal experiences with the hotel and Carmichael family, which include his grandfather being in Troy Hopewell’s pickup truck the night Margaret Carmichael died. Believing there is no way to stop a ghost, Max pulls out a handgun. Despite Vanessa’s pleas, Max shoots himself.

Vanessa collapses. While unconscious, Vanessa has a vision where she witnesses Margot and Rebecca’s Carmichael Manor investigation once again. Outside the manor, Vanessa sees a man in a hoodie meddling with a truck. Vanessa starts chasing after the man, but then she wakes back at the site of Max’s suicide.

At the same time Vanessa is with Max, Carmichael Manor caretaker Donald greets Alicia’s arrival at the estate. Father David soon joins her. Investigating together, Alicia and Father David confront terrifying visions and paranormal activity throughout the house.

With Alicia’s assistance, Father David starts performing an exorcism in the manor’s main room as their ghostly experiences continue. A ghoul rises from a nearby casket to tear out the priest’s throat. The demonic clown then attacks Alicia.

Having returned to her bar to examine the papers Alicia gave her, Vanessa notes curious mentions of a woman named Beverly. Max’s ghost interrupts to tell Vanessa “they” didn’t make it. Max further indicates that “the lonely house” mentioned earlier isn’t the Carmichael Manor like everyone believed, but rather the dilapidated home with a cross Vanessa sees in her dreams.

Vanessa collapses into another dream of that house, which turns out to be Andrew Tully’s former residence. Additional flashbacks reveal Carmichael Manor caretaker Donald is actually Freddy Perkins, one of the two Down-a-Clown carnies who helped Andrew Tully build the Abaddon Hotel and start his cult. In the flashback, Freddy/Donald continues compelling Patrick Carmichael to follow their occult plan for achieving immortality. When they sense Vanessa’s presence as a disembodied observer, Freddy identifies her as one of the twins spawned from Beverly.

Vanessa’s vision jumps back to confronting the man in a hoodie she previously chased outside Carmichael Manor. Vanessa eventually gets the man to stop and reveal his face. Vanessa is shocked to identify him as her twin brother Mitchell.

Review:

After four “found footage” films brought the series to the brink of redundancy by stretching its mythology about as far as it could go in that format, it makes sense for “Hell House LLC: Lineage” to try giving the franchise a fresh shot in its arm by becoming a traditionally shot and edited feature. I’m just not sure the filmmakers were fully prepared for what making that shift would entail, as their fifth entry gets stuck in a slowed-down style that isn’t properly equipped for delivering visceral thrills or gripping suspense.

Because it’s based around familiar horror tropes like haunted houses, nightmarish visions, and inherited curses, a newcomer could go into “Hell House LLC: Lineage” blind and the lack of context behind carryover characters and continued storylines wouldn’t be a big deal. That feels like a weird thing to say since the film is absolutely swimming in lore. So much lore that much of the movie is a nearly nonstop gabfest where people constantly converse, exchange information, and continually build up branching backstories about secrets hidden in family trees, the truth of a terrible tragedy, even a twin brother whose supposed death is so obviously false, you’d think the movie expects no one in the audience to have seen a soap opera before.

“Hell House LLC: Lineage” specifically links to the previous two movies. The fourth film, “Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor” (review here), broadened the “Hell House LLC” mythos by telling the tale of the Carmichael family, whose link to an evil clown cult caused havoc at the titular Halloween haunt three times, through a haunted house investigation that ended in the deaths of several ghost hunters. Going back one more movie to “Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire” (review here), TV show host Vanessa Shepherd did some digging into the hotel where the first two films unfolded only to end up in a similarly sinister situation. That ordeal ended in the Abaddon Hotel’s fiery destruction, although Vanessa emerged as a survivor.

No need to worry if none of that rings any bells. Vanessa spends copious amounts of time discussing her ongoing trauma with all kinds of characters, including some who could completely disappear from the movie without anyone noticing a difference. Get ready to hear a lot about dreams where she sees a dilapidated old house and ghosts of dead Carmichael family members as Vanessa talks through it all, then talks some more, with her therapist Doctor Farrell, her roommate Crystal, her bartender Max, her estranged husband Tom, and true-crime author Alicia, who appeared briefly in the fourth film and is now on the hunt for a priest to exorcise Carmichael Manor.

Vanessa would have also talked to Bobby, another patient of Doctor Farrell’s, except he meets an early demise at the hands of “Hell House LLC’s” most recognizable demonic clown. His is one of only three deaths prior to the climax, none of which occur onscreen, so it’s also wise to not set expectations high for a grisly body count. The bulk of the runtime remains preoccupied with excessive scenes of Vanessa having yet another fleeting vision, staring at something, or experiencing an emotional moment before finding the next person willing to volley dialogue with her.

Unable to shake its “found footage” origins, editing in particular has a hard time transitioning to traditional moviemaking in “Hell House LLC: Lineage.” At 108 total minutes, the movie is longer than it needs to be, and the bulk of that bloat comes from not having an economical sense of appropriate lengths for something to be on the screen, or if that something even needs to be there in the first place.

With “found footage,” it goes with the territory to let events play out organically in single takes. Part of the conceit is ordinary people operating a camera would keep rolling even in mundane moments. They certainly wouldn’t be editing in real time, and they wouldn’t necessarily know where to point the lens or how to recognize what is worth filming.

With “Hell House LLC: Lineage,” individual shots often start too early or end too late, yet there’s no narrative excuse to make stagnation or stalling make sense. Especially when it comes to Vanessa’s concerned expressions, reaction shots are held to the point where an anxious viewer is likely to lurch their shoulders forward and upturn a palm to say, “why haven’t they moved on yet?” Montages like a carnival closing down feature one too many cutaways. Then there are strange stretches such as when the priest repeatedly recites from a poem long past its meaning being relevant, or running parallel storylines even when there’s no need to be bouncing between two threads.

“Hell House LLC: Lineage” already puts itself behind the 8-ball by taking on so many segments of inactivity. Having everything go on too long or at the wrong time further deflates attempts to develop suspense.

Another obstacle “Hell House LLC: Lineage” encounters by opting out of a first-person perspective is that its low production values are made more obvious by putting direct spotlights on iffy acting and the milky visuals of digital video. The latter issue of overly lit imagery becomes a bigger problem during the finale’s manor investigation, when sunshine pours through windows to sap all eeriness out of creepy clowns who should be in shadows but are instead bathed in bright lights.

I’m scoring “Hell House LLC: Lineage” a 30/100, but it’s not because the movie’s makers didn’t give a sincere effort. A score that low usually indicates laziness, cheapness, or utter disrespect for an audience, none of which are the case here. This is merely an unentertaining sequel that’s poorly designed as a movie, and unnecessarily plodding as a story. Although I don’t remember details about “Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel” (review here) from my sole screening seven years ago, I rated that one 35/100. Review scores normally aren’t comparable to one another, but I need this rating to reflect that “Hell House LLC: Lineage” is the weakest of the five films.

Franchise creator Stephen Cognetti and company undoubtedly gave it their best shot in risking a break from established formula this time around. But with the overarching fiction running on fumes, and perhaps pushed by a bit of desperation to keep the series going by any means necessary, “Hell House LLC: Lineage” just doesn’t work for delivering absorbing scares or audience engagement.

Review Score: 30