Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel Blu-ray Movie Review

Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel is the second installment in the popular horror film franchise. The horror sequel takes place after the events of the first Hell House LLC. Produced by Joe Bandelli (Hell House LLC, Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire), Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel is from production studios Terror Films and Cognetti Films.

Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel is a streaming original film released by Shudder. The streaming original horror sequel originally premiered on the Shudder horror service on September 20^th, 2018. Horror fans who loved the original won’t want to miss the second installment. Starring Vas Eli, Jillian Geurts, Joy Shatz, Dusty Austen, Brian David Tracy, Kyle Ingleman, Amanda K. Morales, Laura Frenzer, Danny Bellini, Tom Sibley, Lauren A. Kennedy, Adam Schneider, and Alice Bahlke.

In the second installment, Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel explores a new mystery taking place following the events of the first Hell House LLC. The mystery surrounds the mysterious disappearance of Jackson Mallet (Tom Sibley). Jackson Mallet went missing following his visit to the mysterious haunted hotel known as Hell House. More investigations into the strange and eerie Hell House continue with reporting from the Morning Mysteries TV and ace investigator Jessica Fox (Jillian Geurts) doing her investigative work into the mysterious haunted house. The journey takes Fox on a dark path with surprises and terror – as she pushes forward on the case alongside expert psychic investigator Brock Davies (Kyle Ingleman). Can Jessica Fox and Brock Davies uncover the mysteries of the haunted Hell House with their small rag- tag team?

The cast of characters featured in Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel include the impressive roster of Mitchell Cavanaugh (Vas Eli), Jessica Fox (Jillian Geurts), Molly Reynolds (Joy Shatz), David Morris (Dusty Austen), Arnold Tasselman/Andrew Tully (Brian David Tracy), Brock Davies (Kyle Ingleman), Suzy McCombs (Amanda K. Morales), Wendy Mallet (Laura Frenzer), Alex Taylor (Danny Bellini), Jackson Mallet (Tom Sibley), Melissa (Lauren A. Kennedy), Andrew McNamara (Adam Schneider), and Diane Graves (Alice Bahlke). The cast have a considerable amount of fun with their respective roles in the spooky horror of Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel. The cast do well with the ensemble approach to the film and the cast balances the documentary element with the haunted house of horrors.

The haunted house element is one of the great joys of Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel. The production design is top-notch. There are a lot of spooky haunted house elements at play – the production design doing a great job of showcasing the eerie aspect of Hell House. Fans of scary found footage documentary style horror films with haunted house settings and the like will find themselves especially impressed by the efforts made with the production. Every aspect of the designs creates an impressive sense of dread and uneasiness that makes the horror filmmaking more effective.

Edited by Jon Shearburn (Cabin Fear, In the Kitchen with Harry Hamlin), Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel is well-paced. The editing is an effective aspect of the production. The editing style creates an impressive sense of dread in the film. The style handles the spooky documentary style alongside haunted house found footage horror. As such, the pacing is consistently pleasing throughout.

The cinematography by Joe Schufreider (Loveland, Signed) is a beautiful aspect of the filmmaking. The cinematography by Schufreider is effectively low-fi and well suited for the horror filmmaking. This is eerie photography and it hits home with the spooky atmosphere the filmmakers aimed at achieving.

Written and directed by Stephen Cognetti (Hell House LLC, Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire), Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel is almost as good as the first film in the franchise. The sequel might lack a sense of equal originality to the first feature – as common with sequels – but it does strike a good balance of adding to the mythology of the franchise while creating some new terror. The sequel certainly impresses with good horror filmmaking and a fun cast of characters.

As someone who always found haunted houses terrifying – so much so I could barely spend a few seconds inside of one without an intense feeling of dread – the franchise is one that provides some spooky entertainment without stepping over into the unease I felt growing up whenever briefly visiting haunted house shows on Halloween. Fans of horror films in the genre will appreciate the blend of both comedy and tension provided by the filmmaker. The efforts by Cognetti to find a horror-comedy balance certainly helps the filmmaking.

Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel is another impressive installment in the Hell House film series and writer- director Cognetti has a lot of fun with this haunted house saga. Fans of the genre won’t feel let down by the eerie atmosphere. Instead of losing steam with the second entry, Cognetti continues to explore the Hell House mythology in a way that does favors for the horror saga – building on what came before in a compelling manner. Don’t miss it.

Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Released on Blu-ray by Umbrella Entertainment, Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high-definition in the original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The high-definition presentation is a highlight of the physical media release. The crisp high-definition video makes a solid impression. Color reproduction is excellent on the release.

Clarity and detail are excellent throughout and add to the video quality. The transfer retains some of the same low-fi quality, too – the charms of documentary style filmmaking mixed with the found footage horror genre. The encoding is well-done by Umbrella Entertainment.

One benefit of physical media is that it often benefits from a higher video bit-rate compared to streaming services. This difference can sometimes be subtle but still appreciable. The bit-rates typically are higher and the encoding quality is consistent. There is something dependable, too – one has a video presentation that is well-presented without any potential issues related to internet connectivity, speed, number of users, and other issues – such as the varying encoding qualities on different streaming video services (with some offering lower bit-rates on catalog titles by default). For some, there is a comfort in this tangible and more consistent quality with Blu-ray disc.

Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes a selection of lossless audio options: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. The lossless audio quality of the release is one of the impressive aspects of the home media presentation. The surround sound presentation is active throughout and makes an impressive splash. Dialogue is well reproduced on the release. The dynamics of the presentation are outstanding.

One of the greatest aspects of physical media and the Blu-ray disc format is the lossless audio encoding. Lossless audio provides theater quality sound. Streaming video services are limited to lossy (non-lossless) audio quality. For home theater enthusiasts and audiophiles – especially those with an impressive sound system – there are numerous benefits to physical media that outperform streaming options.

Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Audio Commentary with Director Stephen Cognetti

Don't Go In The House! Hell House and the Consuming House: A Video Essay with Kat Ellinger (HD, 12:20)

Behind the Scenes of Hell House II (HD, 6:04) is a featurette exploring the production of the second installment in the haunted house horror franchise.

Finding Abaddon Featurette (HD, 7:54)

Trailer (HD, 2:33)

Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel is an entertaining horror sequel. The second film in the Hell House franchise has impressive haunted house atmosphere and a sense of terror. The filmmakers did a great job with the production. Cognetti made an excellent follow up to the first horror film in the franchise.

The Blu-ray release provides an excellent high-definition transfer and lossless audio encoding. An assortment of bonus features are included on the release – including an audio commentary with the writer-director, a featurette about Abaddon, a behind-the-scenes featurette about the production, and a video essay. Recommended.