Hell House LLC (2015) - Leave This Place

So you don't have a lot of money. But you have a great location. Maybe some of your like-minded friends are keen to help out and the haunted house trend is booming. What could go wrong?

When 5 friends purchase a house to start a new venture in the business of scary attractions, relationships get tested and decisions become desperate.

One of the things I love about horror is how even the cheapest productions can deliver a punch. You don't need a big name to make it successful and you can get away with a loose plot. The makers understood the found footage formula and stuck to it - that's how Hell House LLC charms us with its good pacing and consistent scares.

They play it straight, so the unexpected moments are effective, but it feels like we're part of the story in a way that lets us sit somewhere between audience and voyeur. It's a perspective that alters the experience and clearly reminds us there's a self awareness that's needed for certain tropes to work. 

In moments when characters follow strange sounds or walk into the darkness, we revel in the fact that we can stop the journey at any time. And when we make fun of the seemingly stupid decisions, we understand it's part of the attraction. But it isn't fun if we know exactly when things are going to spook us and it detracts from our focus if we don't let ourselves get absorbed. 

So all in all, most are tall enough to get on this ride. But not all may appreciate it's engineering. This isn't for adrenaline junkees or gore hounds, but for me, sometimes I'm content with something that uses tried and tested blueprints and clearly marks the exits.