The Hell House phenomenon was first publicized in Hell House, a 2001 film by director George Ratliff, whose movie focused on the production staged by the Trinity Church in Cedar Hill, Texas. Most reviews of the film read a lot like this one.
Although Jerry Falwell is credited with originating the Hell House concept -- and his Liberty University is sponsoring an elaborate version, known as ScareMare, in Virginia this year -- any church can stage its own Hell House by purchasing an Outreach Kit from the Hell House Ministry of the Reverend Keenan Roberts, pastor of Colorado's New Destiny Christian Center ("Soaring at a Godly Altitude").
Being utilized to preach the Gospel from coast-to-coast and around the world! Hundreds of kits are equipping churches and ministries on the front lines of spiritual battle in virtually every state and eighteen foreign countries... and counting! For a basic charge of $299, with additional sin scene modules available for about $45 more, Pastor Keenan's kits provide all the resources a church might need to stage its own extremely realistic event as a "dynamic evangelism tool" -- including special effects CDs, advice on the best kinds of meat to buy to make stage prop fetuses, and ... oh, yes ... how could I have forgotten the guns?
What does a ticket to a Hell House buy? Sheer misogynistic, homophobic and anti-Semitic horror. As one reviewer of Ratliff's documentary explains, there's no "sin" left behind.
[A] young Baptist pastor named Keenan Roberts dreamt up an alternative to haunted houses for the month of October: he called it "Hell House," and it featured different rooms that re-enacted the ways you could go to hell. Abortion, heavy metal, homosexuality, even the RU-486 pill is not spared.
But this country apparently is big enough for hundreds of Hell House productions each and every Halloween. This year the production values of the official trailer for the Cedar Hill church's DARK RAIL House (presumably the train to hell, since nearby Dallas' public transportation system is known as DART) far exceed those in Ratliff's original film. The Cedar Hill church's elaborate production has grown into a tremendous moneymaker, but even more modest enterprises are effective. The following text and photos are excerpted from one Ohio church's account of its own 2005 Hell House production (all errors in the original).
And plenty of impressionable youngsters probably needed them. As George Ratliff discovered in Texas in 2001, Hell House is an important event for the participants.
You're not going to believe this but after Hell House every year, they have their own Oscar award night. It's their prom and awards ceremony merged into one. It's a huge night of the year because they don't really have a dance or prom -- they have this. So they get dressed up to the nines, their best clothes, buy dresses, rent tuxes. It's a seated formal dinner in the church and they have awards layed out for, you know, "Best Rape Girl," "Best Abortion Girl" and so forth. And it's a full ceremony with the screens and clips. It's huge, huge deal for them. And it's also a huge, huge deal for the thousands of impressionable children and adolescents who experience Oscar-worthy performances in countless other Hell Houses in churches across the country. Trick or Treat.
Jesus' Hell House | 23 comments (23 topical, 0 hidden)
I've read that people have been locked in these "hell houses" and not permitted to leave when they wanted to.
Someone should look into that, since this has become a subject.
It wasn't that long ago that the fundies wanted halloween banned!!! Now they've gone far beyond what the decried- and from the writeup here, doing the same old "blame the victim" nonsense.
I just HAD to laugh when I read about the hell house portrayal of a poor young "lesbian" in the casket, who because of her "alternated [sic.] lifestyle" died of AIDS. This is just so hysterically wrong on so many levels. Statistically, if you want to avoid AIDS, become a lesbian, since they have the lowest incidence. These extremists can't even get their facts right; but no, don't let a little thing like the truth get in the way of an opportunity to gay-bash. by SharonB on Tue Oct 10, 2006 at 12:08:39 PM EST
I grew up in Ovilla, TX which is just a few miles down the road from Cedar Hill. I also remember when this nonsense started up and how it created quite a stir in the community because the concept was from way out in Right field. Ultimately though most people came to see it for what it really is; a cheesy attempt at scaring people to Jesus. Most people go to regular haunted houses to get a giggle or two from the goofiness of it all. While the same can't be said of Hell House that doesn't change the fact of their generally poor quality effects and terrible acting.
I think it would be pretty cool for someone to set up an alternative to Hell House called Theocracy House where people get to view what this country might look like should the religious right ever really get their hands on power and change the U.S. over to biblical law. In one room the visitor could view children being beaten with sticks while reading from James Dobson's book. In another room we can watch a bunch of idiots trying to perform an exorcism on some kid with ADHD only to end up killing him instead. The next room could feature some guy who is losing his house to foreclosure because he was duped by his church to give so much of his money to them only to find that they refuse to help him in his time of need. Oh yeah, this has possibilities. Anybody else have some ideas? I could probably go on and on but I need to at least pretend to be working.
In the review you referred to above, Alex Mestas says:
That's what Hell House seems like to me. It's a way for the very suppressed religious right to act out in an environment that seems religious. It's a way for them to participate in raves, shoot people and pretend to have sex.
No one has a dirtier mind than the prude.
Even participants can be affected, as detailed in the Daily Texan story referenced above.
PromiseLand Church in East Austin has, for the past four years, created Virtual Hell, an evangelical haunted house that features "real life horrors," said youth pastor Ricky Poe - acted-out scenes of domestic violence, teen suicide, date rape, abortion, school shootings and fatal drunk-driving accidents. While critics call the house of horrors a fear-mongering conversion technique of the religious right, Poe says the aim is to reach youths on a spiritual level.
Just imagine what it's like for the unprepared ... especially if they're only 12 or 13 years old.
The dominionist church I left has operated one of these "Hell Houses" for the past fifteen to twenty years running, and they seem to be quite popular in Assemblies churches in general. (It probably shouldn't shock people to know that New Destiny Christian Center is an Assemblies church (and in fact "Destiny" is becoming a codeword, just like "Liberty" and "Christian Life Center" and "World Prayer Center", for neopente churches in general and Assemblies churches in particular that are dominionist and into "spiritual warfare" theology). "Hell House" kids have been sold to Assemblies churches as early as the early 90's, in fact.)
by dogemperor on Sat Oct 14, 2006 at 11:38:19 PM EST
I am really surprised at how many comments this article has generated. Looking around T2A's website you normally see anywhere from 3-7 comments. My comment here will be number 23. I guess Hell House really does hit on some people's nerves.
by Ross Raymond on Wed Oct 18, 2006 at 03:10:42 PM EST
Jesus' Hell House | 23 comments (23 topical, 0 hidden)
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