It’s a challenge to come up with some Halloween content on a blog that deals with documentaries, but i’m always up for a challenge! In celebration of one of my favourite holidays, I thought i’d post a trailer for a film that came out a few years ago called ‘Hell House’. Not only is it good Halloween content, but its unbiased look at the scare tactics of the evangelical Christian Church is also relevant due to the buzz/contraversy surrounding Jesus Camp and Deliver Us From Evil. Here’s the synopsis of Hell House:

Hell House are the evangelical Christian church’s answer to a haunted house, a Fundamentalist fright night meant to scare the bejesus out of any nonbeliever. These houses of horrors don’t rely on the traditional gimmicks of ghosts and goblins. Instead they recreate scenes that graphically depict such modern-day evils as botched abortions, AIDS-related deaths, fatal drunk driving crashes, date rapes, and drug-induced suicides.

This is one of my favourite documentaries. The tactics used by this isolated religious community are not only borderline offensive (a gay man is sent to Hell after rejecting Jesus while dying from…well AIDS of course!), but also ridiculously naive. Director George Ratliff follows the entire process of creating Hell House, from auditions to construction to the finished product. The auditions are so ridiculous that they could easily play as cut scenes from a Christopher Guest film. Hell House is currently available on dvd from the wonderful Plexifilm. Now go put on your botched abortion costume and hand out conversion forms to the kiddies in celebration of the most evil day of the year…HAAALLOOWEEEENNN!!!!!