IR Film Review: HELL HOUSE LLC - LINEAGE [Shudder]
The aspect of found footage horror is about uncovering those stories which haven't been seen before. With "Hell House LLC: Lineage" which is talked about as the final film in the series (which perhaps might turn out ironically not to be true), director Stephen Cognetti gains some space back in the final act but gives up the found footage using more classic film techniques to less end. However for the most part, the film, despite some visual flairs at the end, is quite unscary. Now granted it doesn't need to be "Terrifier" brutal or even as gory as some Shudder or regular horror offerings...but the film itself feels undeniably flat for the most part. It follows Vanessa (Elizabeth G. Vermilyea) who investigated the house from the previous film. She moves throughout the film like a ghost who just wants the nightmare to be over but there is never an element of any dread in her. She just feels defeated save for a couple bouts. There are some flashbacks (it starts off the film) of the Carmichaels which keys into the previous angle as well as an eventual MacGuffin which too doesn't instill any "a-ha" elements. Catherine Carmichael (Cayla Beejikian) has some possibility but we see very little of her after the intro. This is sort of a fault in the film's structure and approach.
Cognetti seems to be writing for himself because the different strands of narrative come off not as well connected as it should be overall. The score by Karl Preusser is what keeps the film in many ways together before it gets to its final coda which follows an investigator/influencer to her logical end...but without closing up the previous structures introduced. Joe Bandelli (who is also a producer) again plays the main clown but the power of the creature is not really scary. Granted this is lower budget so CGI is difficult but even some good prosthetic creativity would up the quotient. Sierra Sawka as Alicia, the new blood entering the scene, has possibility but her character is either all bravado or surprised when things actually happen. Mike Sutton as Father David provides an interesting sounding board to her but his qualifications or background are a little less defined and thereby makes him cannon fodder in a way. The same can be said to be true about the carnival allusions. There was definitely possibility there but the plays are a little bit too expected or unexplored for the most part. Again the gore and brutality do not have to be extreme but just enough to instill a tad of dread or fear. D
By Tim Wassberg
