X
CNET logo Why You Can Trust CNET

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Reviews ethics statement

  • Culture
  • TV & Movies
  • Entertainment

A Legacy of Violence Awaits Within a Haunted House in This Cult Classic Horror Movie

The crew of a haunted house gets more than they bargained for in this found-footage cult classic.

Headshot of Jen Karner
Headshot of Jen Karner
Jen Karner
Jen Karner has spent the last 10 years covering technology, streaming services, video games, while working behind the scenes as an editor for her teams. She's also the author of the award winning novel, "Cinders of Yesterday" and spends her time writing novels when she isn't talking about tech. She has also contributed her writing to AndroidCentral, WindowsCentral, iMore, TechRadar, and Tom's Guide, with many more publications. When she isn't writing, you can find her catching up on Critical Role or Dimension20, or running amok at larp in the woods.
Jen Karner
3 min read
in a still from the movie Hell House LLC, four people stand looking at another person dressed in a scary Halloween costume with an angry pumpkin head

This isn't a normal haunted house, and the crew learns that the hard way.

Cognetti Films

Halloween delivers the perfect excuse to be scared without actually being in danger. From haunted houses to spooky hayrides and jump scares during trick-or-treating, it's the season for safe scares. In this found-footage gem, things start to go awry for the team putting together a haunted house before it becomes a bloody graveyard on opening night.

Hell House LLC is a found-footage horror movie shot in a documentary format. It was released in 2015 and has become a cult classic in the horror genre over the last decade. It's currently streaming for free on Tubi.

Watch Hell House LLC on Tubi See at Tubi

I've been a fan of found-footage horror movies since the original Blair Witch Project in 1999. Since then, I've inhaled every flick in the genre I can get my hands on. Hell House LLC delivers a creepy, dread-filled descent that avoids the genre's pitfalls and sends chills up my spine every time I watch it.   

Don't miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source on Chrome.

hell-house-llc-still-2

A haunt attraction goes terribly wrong in Hell House LLC. 

 Cognetti Films

The movie starts with mentions of a tragedy five years ago, when a haunt attraction, aptly named Hell House, went terribly wrong and left a trail of bodies behind. It uses a combination of interviews with witnesses and journalists and footage from the event itself to set the scene of the tragedy at the Abaddon Hotel, all through the lens of a local documentarian seeking the truth about what went wrong the night Hell House opened. 

Hell House LLC starts with how things ended, which means that as you watch everything happening, you know it will all end in tragedy. Before you meet the Hell House crew, you see the aftermath of the night everything went wrong. From a panicked 911 call to a local videographer who sneaks into the abandoned hotel to take a look, the movie delivers plenty of questions to get into your head, but ultimately no answers. 

When local documentarian Diane Graves manages to score an interview with missing crew member Sara Havel, things begin to get interesting. Sara has been out of sight since the night everything went wrong, but she agrees to sit down and explain what happened -- not only on the night that Hell House opened its doors to guests but also in the weeks leading up to the tragedy. 

hell-house-llc-still.png

The rising dread as things get worse inside of the Abaddon Hotel makes this movie worth a watch. 

 Cognetti Films

When Sara arrives at the interview, she brings tapes that have never been seen before. They detail the experiences of the Hell House crew, from finding the house to running into supernatural occurrences before opening night. While things are initially a little campy with a pack of 20-somethings exploring the hotel and discussing their plans, things quickly begin to go south. The Abaddon Hotel has plenty of problems, and the crew plans to sleep there until the show finishes its run. 

The build-up to opening night makes the movie well worth its 90-minute runtime. Scenes are infused with dread as the audience anticipates something terrible coming that seems invisible to the characters. Doors open and slam, shadowy figures are caught on the edges of the camera, and as the tension rises, everything within the hotel becomes more unsettling. Sara and her friends aren't immune either, as they each begin to be affected by the house. 

It isn't until the official curtain-raising that things come to a head, but the terror that infuses each scene as you get closer to the haunt's kickoff will have you yelling at the characters on screen to just leave that place. Unfortunately for the Hell House staff, they proceed to opening night, which might be just what the scary things in the hotel have been waiting for. 

I won't spoil the third act when events ramp up from extremely creepy to blood-curdling. When things begin to go wrong, they go spectacularly wrong, resulting in the footage that the movie starts with. The interview between Sara and Diane ends with the truth of what happened that night, whether or not anyone will ever believe it. 

Hell House LLC has reached cult classic status for good reason, and it's one of those horror movies I play on repeat. The best part is that the story isn't one-and-done. Instead, there are already four sequels.  You can watch the first three movies on Tubi, but Hell House LLC: Origins is on Shudder and Hell House Lineage just released in theaters on Aug. 20, 2025.Â