They're all in the dining room. They have no eyes.
Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel is the indie Found Footage horror sequel to Hell House LLC, written and directed by Stephen Cognetti released digitally on September 20th, 2018. Eight years after the disastrous 2009 opening night of Hell House in Abaddon, New York the town has sued the documentary crew who released the original Hell House footage and has police guarding the hotel around the clock. Thrillseekers and amateur ghost-hunters have broken into the Abaddon Hotel with four going missing. Other mysterious, unexplained footage surrounding the Abaddon Hotel has surfaced online. In response to an anonymous tip a team of independent investigative journalists led by reporter Jessica Fox recruit Mitchell Cavanaugh, the only known surviving member of Diane Graves' documentary crew, and break in to the hotel searching for answers. What they find is more horrifying then they could have possibly imagined.
Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel is the second entry in the Hell House LLC series and was released digitally on September 20th, 2018 on Shudder. A sequel, Hell House LLC III: The Lake of Fire, followed in September of 2019.
Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel provides examples of:
- Agent Scully: Jessica Fox consistently questions others' belief in ghosts. Mitchell Cavanaugh, the only survivor of the first film, at one point says he hopes she's still a skeptic when it's all over.
- Anachronic Order: The morning news talk show "Morning Mysteries" is cut throughout the film to provide further information, background and is how Jessica Fox finds survivor Mitchell Cavanaugh.
- Apocalyptic Log: Like most Found Footage horror films and Hell House LLC. Sources include Jackson Mallet's camera phone, footage shot by the investigative team, a TV medium and footage from a police interview. Justified by that Jessica Fox's investigative reporting blog always keeps the cameras rolling and by TV medium Brock Davies' order to his cameraman to never stop filming.
- As the Good Book Says...: "Lake of Fire" is how the Book of Revelation refers to Hell.
- Beware of Hitchhiking Ghosts: One of the victims of the Abaddon Hotel does this as does Jessica Fox at the end.
- Black Magic: Made explicit with Andrew Tully's explanation of what's really going on in the hotel.
- The Cassandra: Mitchell Cavanaugh, the only survivor of the first film and video editor of the Hell House documentary. His warnings the Abaddon Hotel is dangerous are constantly ignored until it's way too late.
- Clueless Boss: The trailer confirms that Alex went ahead with the Abaddon Hotel for Hell House in the original film because he bankrupted the company and was betting on the Abaddon haunt putting them back in the black.
- Creepy Basement: Home to the monster mannequins of the last film and the portal to Hell.
- Creepy Child: Jackson Mallet in an earlier home video where, as a young child, he plays the infamous piano music years before the events of the first film before saying, "The hotel opens in 2009."
- Dead All Along: Shows up in some of the footage of other people who have encountered strange things with the Abaddon Hotel. More show up as the crew tries to escape the hotel, culminating with the implication that Jessica's interview with the police was this trope.
- Deal with the Devil: Revealed that Alex had lost all of the company's money in bad investments during the 2008 financial crash and sealed the deal to use the Abaddon Hotel for Hell House with a mysterious, off-camera Andrew Tully.
- It's implied Andrew Tully and his cult did the same thing when they committed suicide to enter the Lake of Fire.
- Devil in Plain Sight: The Abaddon town representative on the opening talk show is actually Andrew Tully, the man behind the events of both films. The real city official never made it due to an unexpected car accident.
- Downer Ending: Everyone dies, Jessica is now luring more people in to the hotel and Andrew Tully sent the tapes to Russell Wynn, the person from the title card who edited together the footage used in this film, in hopes of getting more "guests".
- Eldritch Location: The Abaddon Hotel has been upgraded since the last film from a creepy, abandoned haunted hotel to a place where cell phone reception doesn't exist, people receive messages from the hotel over walky-talkies, time passes much faster than it should and it's almost impossible to leave.
- Exact Words: Tully tells Mitchell he gets to choose who walks out of the front door. He never says whether they'd be doing that alive.
- Eye Scream: A text message from Jackson Mallet included in teaser footage for Hell House II, one of the three people to go missing since the disastrous opening of Hell House, says, "I'm in the hotel. They're all in the dining room. They have no eyes." He repeats this in the released footage.
- Faux Affably Evil: Andrew Tully finally makes an appearance, and when he does, he feigns cordiality towards his most recent set of "guests". When someone does something he dislikes, though, he immediately snaps, then goes right back to accommodating them.
- Foreshadowing: Russell Wynn, who according to the opening title card as the person who edited the footage, is listed on a blackboard in the hotel as a guest along with the rest of the documentary crew. He is revealed at the end as a tech billionaire who started receiving the footage before the events of the film even happened.
- Found Footage: Just like the original, so far consists of a cameraphone video, an interview with Jessica Fox and footage taken by her team. In this case all of the footage was sent to Russell Wynn of the Wynn Media Group by Andrew Tully to lure more victims to the hotel.
- From Bad to Worse: The trailer starts with Jessica Fox, the leader of the investigative team, bloodied and breaking down in tears when asked why she was found wandering along a highway miles away from the Abaddon Hotel.
- Government Conspiracy: The police are actively working to keep people away from the Abaddon Hotel, making it difficult for Jessica Fox's team to gain access to the abandoned structure. They sneak in through the back. It's also revealed in the opening talk show the town of Abaddon has filed a lawsuit to get the Hell House documentary, the in-universe version of the first film, off of the market. The city representative on the talk show insists the deaths in the first film were an accident, claiming Alex, Mac and Sarah all committed suicide and Tony was trampled to death.
- Haunted House: The Abaddon Hotel has become notorious as a haunted house since the disaster that killed fifteen people during the opening of Hell House eight years before. Thrill-seekers and amateur ghost hunters have broken in seeking proof with some suffering disastrous consequences.
- Hell Hotel: The Abaddon Hotel. It starts as a creepy, abandoned building that should've been condemned and is the subject of many urban legends. In the first film fifteen people, including most of the crew, died on the opening night of a haunted house operating in the Abaddon Hotel. Since then it's been a magnet for thrill-seekers with frequently disastrous results. Explained by Andrew Tully as the goal. The hotel is a gateway to Hell, his cult committed suicide to get there and are actively trying to lure more people in.
- Hidden Villain: Andrew Tully set all of the events in motion with his cult's mass suicide in a successful bid to open a door to Hell. He has since been luring new victims to the hotel as permanent "guests".
- Hollywood Satanism: Tully's cult in spades. They all commit suicide because they want to go to Hell, made people disappear and are luring in more victims for an unknown yet probably sinister purpose.
- Inn of No Return: The Abaddon Hotel is rumored to be one. According to supplementary materials released on the Hell House Facebook page since the events of the first film three individuals have broken into the Abaddon Hotel, including Jackson Mallet, to never be heard from again. The investigative team mentions a group of four ghost hunters who met a similar fate in the trailer. At one point Jessica mentions the hotel's layout is based on that of American serial killer H.H. Holmes' Chicago murder hotel
. During the actual investigation the hotel stops all attempts to leave. Doors slam shut, knobs disappear, and others refuse to open. - Intrepid Reporter: Invoked by Jessica Fox in the trailer who argues the previous attempts all ended badly because those investigators were amateurs and not a skilled, prepared team.
- I See Dead People: TV medium Brock Davies claims to do this. His assumption that he understands the situation better than anyone else makes him one of the first victims.
- Jump Scare: Just like Hell House LLC this film frequently uses seemingly stationary mannequins and things suddenly appearing in view to achieve most of the scares. It's surprisingly effective.
- Large Ham: Brock Davies is pretty cheesy and consistently mocked for it.
- Madness Mantra: Jackson sends several texts to his mother that read "They have no eyes".
- Malevolent Masked Mannequins: There's loads of these, masked and not, throughout the hotel some of which move around and hunt the team throughout the film.
- Meaningful Background Event: Happens frequently throughout the film, usually as foreshadowing of something much worse.
- Mockumentary: The in-universe Hell House documentary is dismissed as a hoax in spite of obvious problems with this theory like the two missing documentary crew members.
- Monster Clown: The infamous clown mannequin from the original Hell House is up and moving around in all of its horrific glory.
- Ms. Exposition: The Morning Mysteries news show provides a lot of additional information on Abaddon, Andrew Tully and the coverup.
- Never Found the Body: Only seven of the fifteen victims of the original film were ever recovered. The other victims' bodies, including the Hell House crew, are never found.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Done frequently with mannequins moving and changing position off-camera.
- Oh, Crap!: Suzy, when she's told that Arnold Tusselman got in an accident and was on his way to the interview just after the man claiming to be him left.
- Ominous Latin Chanting: Well, Ominous Latin Writing — the words, "Est aperta porta", meaning the door is open, are written on one of the walls along the way to the basement.
- Ouija Board: Brock Davies sets up a simple one and it goes about as well as you should expect in this kind of movie.
- The Piano Player:
- The piano music from the first film shows up several times including a brief moment Jackson Mallet plays it as a child.
- Diane Graves, now trapped in the Abaddon Hotel, plays it in the final scene just before Mitchell is forced to choose who gets to "walk out the front door".
- Poor Communication Kills: The hotel lures Molly, one of the investigation crew, in with a faked radio call asking her to come inside in spite of being asked to stay outside and watch out for the police.
- Retcon:
- In Hell House LLC, Andrew Tully's death was a one-off suicide following the disappearance of some of his guests. In the sequel his entire cult commits mass suicide to open a portal to Hell.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Note that Andrew Tully doesn't mess with the state authorities (who are always able to inspect the house and leave unharmed), being aware that they are powerful enough to destroy the hotel or at least prevent the inflow of the new "guests". Or so it was until the end of the movie...
- The Reveal: Andrew Tully really did run a Satanic murder-cult out of the hotel, his suicide was part of a successful ritual to open a portal to Hell and all of the deaths since then have been part of his scheming to lure in more victims.
- Sadistic Choice: Andrew Tully forces Mitchell to make one, choosing "who gets to walk out the front door" so the cycle of deaths can continue.
- Schmuck Bait:
- The Abaddon Hotel has attracted many of the curious with disastrous results. This hasn't stopped more, including Jessica Fox's team, from seeking answers. Revealed to be Andrew Tully and the Abaddon Hotel's method of luring in more victims. They also use some of the victims, like Sarah Havel and the hitchhiker, to do this.
- Also how Jessica convinces Mitchell to go along with a trip that he knows is a terrible idea.
- Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: Some of the victims of the previous victims of the Abaddon Hotel look like this. Encountering one always ends badly.
- Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Downplayed in that Mitchell Cavanaugh's eventual demise is hardly "sudden".
- Thrill Seeker: Implied to be Jessica Fox's motivation for investigating the hotel. She says it's the first interesting case to cross her desk in years.
- Too Dumb to Live:
- Mitchell Cavanaugh zig-zags this. He goes into a place he knows is incredibly dangerous but also exercises the most caution while doing so, constantly trying to get everyone else out alive.
- Brock Davies setting up a simple Ouija board in the dining room, which he says is the focal point of spiritual activity, is a much straighter example.
- The Unsolved Mystery: Mitchell's motivation for going along with the investigation is to find out what happened to documentarian Diane Graves who he worked with in the previous film.
- Urban Legend: The events of the opening of Hell House and an active police presence have catapulted the Abaddon Hotel from being a mysterious, eerie abandoned building to a notorious landmark in upstate New York.
- We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties: Cameras experience visual and audio distortions just as anything supernatural starts happening.
