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| Photo: Haunt Hunters App |
by Tara Adams
LEHIGHTON, PA – The new and possibly final Hell House LLC movie will be shown in 500 to 600 theaters across the country for one week before it streams, Stephen Cognetti, writer and director of the horror franchise said in a recent question and answer session with fans.
“So if you want to see it in a theater, make it that week. Don't have any plans that week,” Cognetti joked. “Don't be like, ‘Oh, I'm on a Disney cruise.”
The new installment, Hell House LLC: Lineage, will hit theaters on Aug. 20, but which theaters will be showing haven't yet been revealed. Cognetti said he hopes a theater in his hometown of Scranton, Pa., will show the movie.
Cognetti spoke to fans during a Halfway to Halloween event at Waldorf Estate of Fear in Lehighton, Pa., a haunted attraction where the first three Hell House LLC movies were largely filmed.
The latest movie is a departure from the first four installments, because it is the first in the series that isn't shot in found-footage style.
Cognetti said some Hell House fans are having a hard time with the change.
“I have seen a surprising amount of Reddit threads calling me an asshole,” Cognetti said. “And, I'm like ok, at least they're talking about me. That's good. You want people to know your film. So, they're talking about Hell House, so that was cool. But people are not happy about this.”
He said he understands their concerns and explained in-depth the reason Lineage is not a found footage film.
“I get it, because I am a lover of found footage myself “ Cognetti said. “So, I know people who love Hell House love it because of found footage. And I get it. I think found footage is such a unique way to tell scary stories.”
The reason for the change, however, was that the story he wanted to tell in Lineage, including history-wise, wasn't a good fit for found footage-style. Found footage would appear forced, he said.
While there are a few found footage moments in Lineage, he said the film would “suffer” if it had been shot entirely as a found footage movie.
“When I started penciling out what the story was going to be for lineage, I knew it was going to be worse off as a found footage film,” Cognetti said. “It was going to be forced. It was going to be forced to have cameras and characters having dumb reasons for why they're recording stuff.”
Cognetti said the scares in Lineage are better through old-fashioned storytelling.
“I realized, ‘Oh, the scares are playing so much better and the story, what I want to tell, is actually going to be better because I'm not telling a story that's justified by someone holding a camera videotaping someone,’” Cognetti said. “It's just a very organic, third-person perspective, fly on the wall traditional storytelling. And it's better off for it. The scares are there. It does have a couple of found footage moments that are fun.”
Marcel Aube, an administrator of the more than 2,700-member Facebook group, Hell House Fanatics, said a recent group poll showed that 99 percent of fans who participated in the poll are receptive to the change to traditional storytelling, as long as the story is good.
“I do think it's scary,” Cognetti said. “If you like Hell House for the story, you're gonna love this. If you like Hell House for the scares, you're gonna love this. If you like Hell House for found footage, you're going to be, like, meh, this sucks. Why did I ever come. Why did you tell me to cancel my Disney cruise?”
Cognetti said, however, he thinks fans will fully understand the departure from found footage once they see the film.
“I really think it will be better served. When you see it, you'll be, like. Ah, this was the right move. I hope “ he said. “I just think it's going to be a lot of fun. I wish I could tell you more. I wish we were doing this when, like, a trailer had been released, so you could see. It looks awesome.”
Cognetti encouraged fans to get to theaters when the movie is released. He said the movie's sound is impressive.
“Seeing it in theaters is really important, because I just, actually, two days ago, I wrapped up the 5.1 sound design with the mixer … It's like you're going to be enveloped in this film. It's going to hit you from all angles. You're going to be inside the locations where we want to be. It's really, really well done.”
Cognetti also told Hell House fans that Lineage is considered the last Hell House LLC movie - for now. He left open the possibility that it could return years down the road.
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| Photo: Haunt Hunters App |
