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Hell House
Seventh Art Releasing

Hell House reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 64 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
7.5 out of 10
based on 7 reviews
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How did we calculate this?
based on 2 votes
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MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Tim Ferguson, Bill Humphrey, Pastor Hennesy, Virginia McAlester, and Lee McAlester

This documentary profiles a Pentecostal church in Texas that uses a Halloween haunted house, complete with fire and brimstone, to scare teenagers about issues such as AIDS, abortion and school shootings.


GENRE(S): Documentary  
DIRECTED BY: George Ratliff  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: May 27, 2003 
Theatrical: November 15, 2002 
RUNNING TIME: 85 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The result is a lively, insightful look at multiple levels of self-delusion among people who truly believe their Halloween funhouse is making our fallen world a better place.
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75
New York Post V.A. Musetto
The scariest revelation in Ratliff's film is that the Texas Hell House has proved so popular that it's being copied all over the country. Heaven help us!
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75
New York Daily News Jami Bernard
Scary, all right, but not for the reasons the Dallas church had in mind.
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70
Variety Dennis Harvey
Hell House is a slice of contempo life many viewers will find bizarre and disturbing, not necessarily in the precautionary-moral way its subjects intend. Briskly paced docu is well handled in tech departments.
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60
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
For anyone unfamiliar with pentacostal practices in general and theatrical phenomenon of Hell Houses in particular, it's an eye-opener.
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50
The New York Times Dave Kehr
As a director, Mr. Ratliff wisely rejects the temptation to make fun of his subjects, most of whom seem to believe sincerely that they are doing the work of God.
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50
Village Voice J. Hoberman
Lookin' for sin, American-style? Try Hell House, which documents the cautionary Christian spook-a-rama of the same name.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 7.5 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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