Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire
Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire is a 2019 American direct-to-streaming found footage horror film written and directed by Stephen Cognetti. The film serves as a sequel to Hell House LLC (2015) and Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel (2018) as the third installment in the Hell House LLC franchise. Produced by Joe Bandelli, it stars Gabriel Chytry, Elizabeth Vermilyea, Sam Kazzi, Theodore Bouloukos, and Brian David Tracy.[1]
Plot
One year before the Abaddon Hotel was set to be demolished following the disappearance of an investigative team,Template:Efn it was purchased by Russell Wynn, a wealthy playwright who planned to stage his play, Insomnia, at the hotel.
An investigative documentary recounts the events experienced at the hotel by the Morning Mysteries crew, a television program led by Vanessa Shephard, having been invited by Russell to record the production process. The crew is given a tour by Jeff Stone, Russell's head of operations. Russell greets and introduces Vanessa to Gregory, Max, Jane, Isabel, and Harvey.
Father Paulis, a local priest hired by Russell, gifts Russell an undisclosed item. Jane is dared to go into the basement alone and witnesses one of the clown mannequins moving. In an interview, Max tells Vanessa that Russell was involved in a near-fatal car accident years ago that led him to leave New York City. Isabel encounters the ghost of Sara Havel, a Hell House staff member, and quits. Harvey tells Russell about his safety concerns, which are rebuffed. Vanessa sees the ghost of Jessica Fox, a member of the missing journalist team. Despite Louie's insistence on leaving, Vanessa chooses to stay.
The crew goes to a bar before the opening night of Insomnia. Russell tells Vanessa that she and Louie shouldn't come, but refuses to tell her why before leaving. Vanessa chases him down, and Russell whispers to her. Vanessa tells Louie that they need to see Father Paulis. Paulis tells Vanessa that Russell plans to liquidate his assets for charity after the performance. Insomnia's crew is shocked upon learning the news, and Jeff confronts Russell. Footage reveals that Russell has followed and observed the original Hell House team and subsequent investigative journalists.
Andrew Tully interrupts a scene between Max and Gregory. The lights momentarily shut off and return to Tully killing Gregory. The cast, crew, and attendees panic and evacuate. Cult members invade the hotel and massacre everyone inside. Vanessa is dragged to the basement by a cult member before a glowing red hole and is knocked out. Before she can be sacrificed by Tully, he is interrupted and fought by Russell, causing the roof to collapse.
A news report the next day states that all audience and staff members survived unharmed but Russell remains missing. Vanessa and Jeff attribute their survival to Russell's interference. An interview reveals that Russell had legally died for 2 minutes before being revived. The original Hell House team suddenly returns, stuck in the empty hotel. They are greeted by Russell, who tells them that he is the one who closed the gateway, and that they are the ones who opened it. Russell tells them that it's time to move on before disappearing. The team, resigned to their fate, comfort each other.
Cast
- Gabriel Chytry as Russell Wynn[2]
- Elizabeth Vermilyea as Vanessa Shepherd
- Sam Kazzi as Jeff Stone
- Theodore Bouloukos as Robert Lyons
- Brian David Tracy as Andrew Tully
- Bridgid Abrams as Jane Maloney
- Leo DeFriend as Gregory Sandvick
- Jordan Kaplan as Max
- Danny Bellini as Alex Taylor
- Ryan Jennifer Jones as Sara Havel
- Gore Abrams as Paul O'keefe
- Jared Hacker as Tony Prescott
- Joe Bandelli as Louie / The Clown
- Scott Richey as Harvey
- Olivia Roldan as Isabel
- Adam Schneider as Andrew "Mac" McNamara
- Joy Shatz as Molly Reynolds
- Jillian Geurts as Jessica Fox
- Dan Dobransky as Father Paulis
- Joe Walz as News Reporter
Production
In December 2018, the third film was announced by Terror Films, following the release of the second film, Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel.[3]
The production was started on May 1, 2019, with Stephen Cognetti returning as writer and director and Joe Bandelli returning to produce the film. Ryan Jennifer Jones (Sara), Danny Bellini (Alex), Gore Abrams (Paul), Adam Schneider (Mac), Theodore Bouloukos (Robert) and Jared Hacker (Tony) of the first film also return to reprise their respective roles. They were joined by Joy Shatz (Molly), Jillian Geurts (Jessica) and Brian David Tracy from Hell House LLC II to reprise their roles for the third film.[4]
Shudder manager Craig Engler said: Template:Blockquote Engler also said of the film's debut: Template:Blockquote
Terror Film's president Joe Dain talked about the third film and said: Template:Blockquote Dain also said of the partnership with the filmmakers: Template:Blockquote
Release
The film was exclusively released on Shudder on September 19, 2019.[5][6]
Reception
Template:Rotten Tomatoes prose
Writing for Flickering Myth, Matt Donato rated the film 2 out of 5 and wrote "Hard to fault a filmmaker and franchise dying to evolve, but it's also hard not to feel let down by how Cognetti ends this Hell House LCC trilogy."[7]
Film School Rejects gave the film a poor review, stating the film was "an ambitious stab at closing out a horror trilogy, but as much as that's an accomplishment worth celebrating the end result is an unfortunate disappointment. Still, fans of the first two — or even the first one — might find some worthwhile closure in the final swan song of the Abaddon Hotel."[8]
Sequel
A sequel and prequel titled Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor, was released in October 2023.[9]
Notes
References
External links
This article incorporates text from the Wikipedia article "Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire", available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License.Retrieved 2026-03-03.