Summary

• Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor is the best movie in the franchise yet, breaking from tradition and pointing to a bright future for the series.
• The new setting of the Carmichael Manor provides a fresh atmosphere and new lore, building real edge-of-your-seat tension and delivering the series' scariest entry yet.
• The fourth film connects to the first three movies through references to the Abaddon Hotel and delves into the origins of the haunting clown costumes, leaving room for future franchise movies to explore new settings while still digging into established lore.

This 8-year-old horror franchise quietly released its best movie yet. While newcomers to the Hell House LLC franchise probably missed the launch of the latest franchise film altogether, they shouldn't sleep on this surprisingly solid installment. The first film in director Stephen Cognetti's found-footage horror series hit streaming platforms in 2016 after making some waves at the Telluride Horror Show. Set in rural Upstate New York, Hell House LLC follows a group of Halloween haunted house creators as they prepare to open their titular attraction in an abandoned location: The Abaddon Hotel. Presented as a documentary, the film chronicles the strange goings-ons that plagued the crew.

Ultimately, an alleged "malfunction" resulted in the death of 15 people, both attraction visitors and Hell House staff, though the details of the case have never been made public. As the documentary crew delves deeper into the tragedy, more is revealed about the Abaddon Hotel's pre-Hell House past. This all sets the stage for the poorly received sequels, which rework the documentary angle to provide greater insight into the history of the Abaddon and its cult leader owner Andrew Tully. Thankfully, the fourth installment in the horror series breaks from tradition, leading to Hell House LLC's best film yet, all while pointing to a bright future for the franchise.

Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor Is The Best Hell House LLC Movie Yet

Once again written and directed by Cognetti, Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor trades the Abaddon Hotel setting of the first three films for the titular mansion. The Carmichael Manor, which also stands in a remote part of Rockland County New York, was the site of the 1989 Carmichael family murders — a fact that intrigues horror sleuth Margot (Bridget Rose Perrotta). With her girlfriend Rebecca (Destiny Leilani Brown) and brother Chase (James Liddell) along for the ride, Margot books five nights at the haunted manor, camera in tow. The group's footage is spliced together with other found-footage sources, including murder victim Catherine Carmichael's home videos.

At times, Hell House LLC Origins is hindered by the franchise's signature found-footage format. Margot, Rebecca, and Chase all make pretty amateur choices, often replicating the poor decision-making found in the first three Hell House LLC films. Tired genre tropes aside, Carmichael Manor manages to be the series' best (and scariest) entry, thanks largely to the new setting. Fans are beyond well-versed in the Abaddon Hotel's layout, so the Carmichael Manor provides a fresh atmosphere and new lore, allowing the film to build real edge-of-your-seat tension. Not to mention, Hell House LLC Origins tosses in a few series' best jump scares for good measure.

How Hell House LLC Origins Connects To The First Three Movies’ Abaddon Hotel

Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor serves as a prequel, sequel and spinoff to the other Hell House LLC films. In Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel, a group of journalists barges into the titular lodging to learn more about what happened to the Hell House team. However, even more is revealed about Andrew Tully, a devil-worshiping cult leader who owned the Abaddon Hotel ahead of its past tragedies. Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire, meanwhile, rounds out the Hell House LLC trilogy and sees a theater troupe staging an immersive show in the Abaddon, and viewers learn seemingly all there is to know about Tully.

While Hell House LLC Origins leaves the ruins of the Abaddon Hotel behind (notably, it collapsed at the end of the third film), it doesn't sever every connection. Early on, the Carmichael Manor's caretaker name-drops the Abaddon Hotel and tells Margot and Rebecca that a local antique shop has come into the possession of the hotel's belongings. Upon visiting the antique collector's shop, Rebecca discovers a hidden compartment in a grandfather clock that was seized from the Abaddon, full of photographic evidence of Andrew Tully's connection to the former inhabitants of the Carmichael Manor. In particular, the fourth movie delves into the origins of the series' haunting clown costumes.

Where To Stream Hell House LLC Origins

Much like Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel and Hell House LLC III: Lake of Fire, Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor streams exclusively on Shudder, which also served as a distributor for the three movies. Following a limited theatrical release on October 24, 2023, Hell House LLC Origins hit Shudder on October 30. While viewers can subscribe to Shudder on its own for $5.99 per month, there are also various packages available through related streaming services, like AMC+, and streamers with add-on channels, like Amazon Prime Video and YouTube TV.

Hell House LLC Origins: The Carmichael Manor Provides A Template For Future Franchise Movies

Given its spinoff nature, the fourth Hell House LLC isn't just a fun bit of fan service with connections to the first three movies, but a solid standalone watch. That said, The Carmichael Manor provides a great template for future franchise movies. Although each installment presents a new cast of characters, this one gives viewers a whole new setting to explore. The remote manor, which lacks cell service or even a stable Wi-Fi connection, effectively isolates its characters, while the house's interior is a maze of dark hallways and claustrophobic rooms. Effective at building atmosphere and deploying scares, the setting also sheds what made the other sequels feel tired.

Grafting the Hell House LLC franchise onto a new setting isn't just good for the fourth film, but for the franchise's future installments. There's no question that the second and third films jumped the shark when it came to Tully, his gateway to Hell, and the rest of the over-the-top, low-budget lore. However, Origins mines new information about Tully while grounding his story in a pre-established history and, most notably, the clowns that haunt the franchise's many halls. This approach proves that future Hell House LLC films can do something new — somewhere new — while still digging into the series' established legends and characters.