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Hell's belles
What happens to bad girls who dance, take drugs, give themselves up to strangers and have abortions? Some Texas fundamentalists would like to take you on an infernal tour that answers that question in the fun and voyeuristic documentary "Hell House."
By JOSHUA TANZER
Offoffoff.com
"WOOHOO! HELL HOUSE ROCKS!" screams someone in a crowd of Dallas-area teenagers waiting to get into the local Halloween attraction called Hell House. He probably has no idea what awaits him inside.
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| | | HELL HOUSE | Directed by: George Ratliff.
Produced by: Zachary Mortensen, Selina Lewis Davidson, George Ratliff.
Related links: Official site |
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Because the subject of the new documentary "Hell House" is not your typical secular humanist haunted house filled with witches and goblins. No, these people have a very specific concept of hell, as in the place where you're going if you don't accept Jesus now. What they've put together is actually a live infomercial for Christ.
The horrors of Hell House include the classics: alcoholism, adultery, abortion, homosexuality — with a noticeable emphasis on fear of female sexuality. Told to "think outside the box" for this year's show, one member of the church group planning the whole thing suggests a brand-new attraction: a school shooting. But another planner fears trouble:
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| The strength that this family gets from its faith is not to be laughed at, and further revelations about their trials show how genuinely they take the battle between sin and salvation to heart. | |
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"The press is going to get hold of it and say it's those Hell House people just trying to create a Columbine thing," he warns.
"I'm okay with that," says the pastor, and it's decided. School shooting is in.
And that's a good thing for the teenagers who play Hell House's cast of sinners — the more evil to do, the better. One of the film's amusing ironies is the glee with which these kids embrace the parts of killers, rapists, druggies, libertines, adulterers and homosexuals. You suspect that they take a secret delight in their virtual debauch in a setting that allows them to vicariously enjoy exactly the sinful delights they condemn. One twenty-something veteran of the dance-club scene organizes the rave room with obvious pride in his former life on the wild side and his ability to put on a good party. Participants say that's the best room to work in "because you get to dance."
Take this glimpse into the mind of the Christian cultural conservative any way you like. The filmmakers don't make a lot of judgements, and an urbane, non-religious audience will have a few chuckles at the delusions that these God-fearers have about the world of sinners. Meanwhile, a fundamentalist audience will see Hell House as a sensible soul-saving idea, and indeed the movie notes that the concept has been imitated around the country.
On thing that the filmmakers have done to take their subject seriously is to focus on a family of five whose father helps run the haunted house while his daughter lands the coveted role of "abortion girl." (That's her above with fake blood slathered lovingly over her inner thighs.) Early in the film, we see this single father getting his kids ready for school when the youngest son goes into a seizure. The burly but gentle dad scoops up the boy and handles the crisis with practiced precision while praying for the child's safety. The strength that this family gets from its faith is not to be laughed at, and further revelations about their trials show how genuinely they take the battle between sin and salvation to heart.
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| | Some more tolerant kids from Dallas, after experiencing the full propaganda onslaught, challenge one of the organizers to justify the obvious homophobia and sweeping generalizations about drugs, dancing and sex. Inside, I'm cheering for these kids. |
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But there are other important moments that challenge the motivations behind Hell House. Some more tolerant kids from Dallas, after experiencing the full propaganda onslaught, challenge one of the organizers to justify the project's obvious homophobia and sweeping generalizations about drugs, dancing and sex. By their standards there is no justification, and the organizer — a police public-safety officer by day — has essentially no answer that makes sense outside the fundamentalist fold. Inside, I'm cheering for these enlightened and courageous kids.
There is also a kind of surprise ending — one last room in Hell House that is not like the rest. Without giving away what happens in this room, it is enough to leave a bad taste in your mouth about the whole enterprise. But again, it's up to you to decide whether to admire these people's dedication to their cause or be repelled by their dogmatism, manipulativeness and narrow, fearful view of American life. Either way, "Hell House" is a thought-provoking look at the culture that in many ways rules our country.
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NOVEMBER 15, 2002
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