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In a pivotal scene of Todd Solondz critically acclaimed 2001 independent feature Storytelling, Toby Oxman and his editor are reviewing the first few scenes of Toby’s documentary of an upper class suburban family. After this initial viewing Toby steps back and reminds him how important it is to “treat his subjects with gravity.” She reminds him that they are not objects to be  manipulated into an amusing documentary fiction, but subjects to be followed and learned from. The camera is not there to see what it wants to, but simply to see what happens. It is not until we get to the end of Storytelling and Toby’s primary teen-aged subject Scooby Livingston sees himself being laughed at by the audience of a test screening we realize how important his editor’s warning was. With a little clever manipulation all the poignant gravity of this coming of age documentary is twisted lightly into an amusing expose of how comically vapid Scooby’s perspective on life is. At Scooby’s expense, the audience loved it.

Somehow through Storytelling Solondz reminds us that our non-fiction isn’t always as even-handedly neutral as we think, and that it really is difficult to “tell it like it is.” The documentarian is always riding that razor edge between “what is seen” and “what is real” and is constantly forced to choose the level of gravity with which he will treat his subjects. It apparently is a much more difficult job than I always thought.

Now with this difficulty in mind, imagine being asked to make a documentary about a group of charismatic Christians in Texas who every year put Hell together behind their church complete with realistic scenes of abortion, rape, and suicide and even provide a plexi-glass glimpse into the smoky eternal torment itself. And the kids in the youth group actually try out for these parts…and get excited when they get to be this year’s rape victim. In a day and age where even the most tight-lipped conservative Christian is enough to elicit a chuckle in the office or at the fitness-center, imagine how difficult it would be to treat such an openly charismatic crowd with any sort of “gravity”.

Well somehow George Ratliff, the director of Hell House, does it. Somehow he takes what could have turned out to be a Chick tract at 24 frames per second into an extended gentle glimpse into the lives of a group of people with an entertaining idea of what “community outreach” is all about. The story is simple. Every year around Halloween Trinity Christian church in Cedar Hill, Texas set up what they call “Hell House”.  In Hell House, thousands of people come to see staged scenes of the extremes of immorality and emotional depression that often lead to the death of a character in each scene and their subsequent descent into the flames of Hell. School shootings, depictions of satanic rituals, a date rape saga, and other sordid things await the wide-eyed  or chuckling visitors around every corner until the final scene where everyone is given six seconds to pick a door. Behind one is members of the church waiting to answer questions about the gospel, behind the other is the parking lot. The theory is that having seen with a harrowing clarity what eternal choice ultimately lies behind the decisions we make in life, many will choose to pray for salvation. And many do…tens of thousands over the years of its operation according to the last few lines of the documentary.

At some points throughout the film you will find yourself laughing. Laughing at a shot of the spray-painted six-pointed Star of David in a circle that is supposed to be a satanic pentagram, or at one of the youth leaders trying to remember exactly what the name of that date-rape drug is. (Something like a “mickey” or something.) And the audience as well cackled at a few scenes when we find the church members worshipping and praying for one another in tongues or describing the imminent return of the Lord. But one thing is for sure, when you do find yourself laughing it is not through a manipulation of the footage by Ratliff.

Somehow he treats his subjects with an overwhelming gravity. One of the first scenes opens in the kitchen of one of the families that participates every year in Hell House. We follow around this single father as he wakes up his kids for school, feeds them, calls 911 to care for his baby with cerebral palsy who often has epileptic seizures, and then loads them all in the van to beat the school bell. He doesn’t make it on time. But when he lays his baby on the bed mid-seizure nobody in the theater was laughing at him for praying and then thanking God when his child woke up. In another scene the young lady who played the rape victim the previous year tells us how difficult it was when one night she noticed a guy who had actually raped her years before standing in line to watch her scene. Somehow it is hard to laugh at these people.

But a few in the audience do anyway. After the film one even turned around to us and said: “I lived down there. It really is that crazy. The people are really like that.” But by no means is Ratliff to blame for this. I was amazed to find the film closing on a scene when one of the Hell House directors gently and effectively deals with the angry reaction of a group of teenagers offended by watching a gay man die of aids. The teen-agers walk away angry and gesturing offensively, but this Hell House director walks away with his dignity. 

In short, Hell House is some pretty shocking stuff. It chronicles a very shocking way a church has chosen to reach their community with the gospel. But perhaps most shocking of all it does this with an even-handed gravity that allows us to see who these people really are before it judges what they do.

Michael Leary 10/30/2002

Scripture exhorts us to "speak the truth in love."

Hell House speaks the truth about its subject--a Pentecostal extremist community--with fairness and compassion. But the well-intentioned churchgoers in the spotlight shout only semi-truths in a presumptuous, tactless fashion that remains frighteningly un-Christlike. 

Hell House is a new independent film about one church’s unique method of spreading the gospel. It is not, as the title suggests, a horror film, although some viewers might be horrified by some of what they see. It is instead a challenging documentary that is starting debates among viewers, earning raves among critics, and winning awards at film festivals as it tours the country.

Director George Ratliff takes us behind the scenes in the construction of a haunted house organized by the Trinity Church (Assemblies of God) in Cedar Hill, Texas. The exhibits inside are written and performed by well-intentioned young churchgoers who want to “encourage” visitors to turn to Jesus by showing them melodramatic, bloody, nightmarish spectacles of sinful behaviors like suicide, abortion, domestic violence, and more.

The Hell House experience is drawing thousands of people, and a profit, to the church, not to mention a great deal of criticism from unbelievers and other Christians alike. The director of the program responds to the nay-sayers: “Is our ministry driven by fear? Is fear a part of it? Absolutely. A part of salvation is the fear of going to hell.”

Hell House organizers are proud of their conversion rate, and the numbers we are shown is indeed astonishing. But do the numbers represent true, life-transforming conversions, or split-second reactions as a result of pressure... the kind of conversion that evaporates overnight? I wonder... should Hell House even pay attention to the numbers? McDonalds has served something like 75 zillion customers. That doesn’t mean McDonalds deserves our money, nor does it mean McDonalds gives us much benefit.

Ratliff deserves all of the praise he earns for not taking sides in his film. He just lets the camera roll. He shows the brainstorming sessions for skits like “the Rave Scene”, where someone asks “Does anybody know the name of the date rape drug?” He shows the set construction, as designers try to paint a good pentagram on the wall of the Occult Scene, and others install openings in the floor where visitors will look down and see hell-dwellers trapped in their misery. Ratliff also takes us to the Sunday morning service at Trinity Church, complete with an outburst of tongues-speaking. 

It is impossible for me to discuss this film without editorializing about the event it covers. I hope you get to see the film, and that you share your own reactions with me.  The efforts of these young, passionate, well-meaning evangelists troubled me. Drawing stark lines between a sinner’s behavior and a saved person’s behavior, the performers imply that we can judge for ourselves who is going to heaven and who is going to hell. This seems to be a portrayal of life under a rigid law, where you can be sentenced to hell for participating in a certain list of sins like rape, spousal abuse, abortion, or homosexuality. More common sins like pride, jealousy, or self-righteousness, just as heinous in God’s sight, don’t show up on the Hell House radar. 

Further, in their zeal to warn people about cultural dangers, Hell House’s writers make dangerous generalizations, focusing on what they perceive as evil forces in popular culture rather than emphasizing the places that sin takes root in our hearts, the flawed thoughts that lead people into misbehaviors in the first place. Several of their assumptions remind me of the church leaders who once told me that listening to rock-and-roll records was going to fill me with demons, and that when I watched Star Wars I was being drawn into the occult. They equate reading Harry Potter with Satan worship, and going to a “rave” with participating in drug culture. These unfortunate assumptions soil their credibility in commenting on contemporary culture. It seems they want to pull kids out of popular culture and planting them in a church community where they will be safe. But popular culture is where we are to live and work, resisting temptation. We should not be afraid of it, withdrawing and forming our own fenced-in counterculture. Sin can be found in church communities too. 

Trinity's approach to Hell House will raise questions for viewers. How can they condemn “the rave scene” because attendees might encounter drugs or sexual predators, when these same evangelists spend time surfing the Internet and promoting their Hell House there, where pornography, gambling, violent video games, and all kinds of debauchery are available? How can they insist that homosexuality is a one-way ticket to hell, and yet not deal with the sins that are active in their own hearts even now, as they stand under the banner of the Saved?

It is also disturbing to watch young people giddily auditioning for the part of “rapist” or “abortion girl”, eager to scream and bleed in the spotlight. And when the show goes on and people file through the House, they are pressured to make a quick decision—choose Jesus and move into a room where church members will pray with you, or else leave the Hell House and show us that you are willing to “gamble” your life away to the Devil. “I’m going to count to five!” declares a grim tour guide, as the visitors make their hasty decision. How many lasting, healthy relationships with Christ have come out of such hurried, pressured, terror-induced decisions? 

The genius of Ratliff's film is that he is brutally honest about the sincerity and good intentions of these churchgoers. In spite of these uncomfortable revelations, Hell House also shows us that God is indeed at work in the Trinity community. We hear testimonies of changed lives, healthy relationships, and a sincere desire to serve God. A father testifies that he lost his wife to an Internet affair, and he patiently and steadfastly cares for his children, including a boy with cerebral palsy who slips into a seizure while the cameras roll at the breakfast table. As the father immediately calls out to God, what transpires might be a natural occurrence, or, as the father claims, it might be "the hand of God” caught on film.

There is much to think about in this thorough, challenging documentary. I encourage Christians to seek it out and watch it with fellow Christians, discussing the tactics of Trinity Church and the things that Jesus told us about ministering to the lost and feeding His sheep. I encourage everyone else to watch it as well, and discuss the difference between Christ's ministry and the "ministry" of these high-pressure gospel salesmen. Is Hell House a worthy response to Christ’s example? 

Jeffrey Overstreet  10/30/2002