It’s not a secret that horror fans turn to scary movies to find a sense of comfort. Many have tackled the “phenomenon” of film buffs looking to some of the darkest media to find peace and relaxation, and it lines up with horror aficionados’ insistence that the biggest scares are the best way to calm down. Often that can mean walking away from what began as a moment of struggle with a whisper of fright that could take us from one powerful emotion to another.
So, while individual viewers could craft long lists of the best horror comfort movies, there is something particularly cozy about those that begin with Hell House LLC. Writer and director of the films, Stephen Cognetti, created a haunting collection of movies with a specific structure, style, and progression that makes them exceptional for cozy consumption.
Jumping off the psychological reasoning behind viewers using horror for comfort, there’s another psychological element that contributes to the comforting vibe of these movies. The way the found footage filming style is unleashed in these movies often leaves the camera sitting casually between a group of people conversing. The moments shown aren’t always of big events or “recordable” moments, but sometimes just of the characters having casual discussions. Whether at the rest stop lunch spot, a bar, or around a campfire, the camera is often an eye of a fly on the wall in conversations happening outside of them.
This story technique runs adjacent to the concept of parallel play. Parallel play refers to the form of interface where more than one party plays nearby another, without necessarily interacting. Often referenced in terms of childhood development, this is seen when children will play near, but not with, each other and perhaps learn from each other and modify what they’re doing. It’s mirrored later in life in things like independent coworking as employed by “study with me” videos and even the concept of podcasting as a whole.
In terms of childhood development, it’s considered a way people find comfort in an unfamiliar situation remaining parallel until the player feels comfortable enough. By exploiting this concept in the filming style, the Hell House LLC movies aren’t exclusively throwing the viewer into a POV shot of the scariest moments but are instead allowing the viewer to sit comfortably and choose how much to interact with the characters based on their initial level of comfort.
Another major contributor to the comforting element of this franchise comes by way of its constant forecasting. This happens in two major ways: the movies often starting at the end and thus forecasting exactly how scary the ending will be, and then forecasting the largest individual scares. Each installment doesn’t exactly give away its ending out of the gate, but it does often set up the climax as well as the known survivors. This way, the audience can be comfortable knowing which characters will meet their makers, and exactly what they’re being set up to experience.
Further, by utilizing the faux-documentary or faux-newscast framing device, the movies also brace the viewer for each individual large scare. “You’ll never guess what happened next,” isn’t even as direct as some of the talking head commentary in these movies. Scares are then presented like controlled burns, the audience appropriately teed up before each big moment and thus able to brace. This allows for shoulders to drop during the remaining parts of the film once the audience is trained to expect large moments only after a subtle warning and thus allows for a more comfortable horror consumption experience. Scares are then often sandwiched between cutaways to talking heads and daylight scenes which further give the audience an opportunity to take a breather.
An additional way these movies incidentally forecast and brace the audience is by sticking very close to trilogy (and later, reboot) rules. In a way that’s not subverted nor meta in the way the Scream movies are, the Hell House LLC movies opt to remain close to the trilogy model by, for instance, adding something in the third installment that changes things from the beginning. By walking on a well beaten path, these movies are able to surprise the audience with innovative characters, locations, and scares while letting them be subconsciously aware of what they’re in for, which allows them to remain prepared and comfortable.
Another subgenre popular for comfort viewing is, believe it or not, true crime. True crime has its faults but is often referenced as comforting and mindless for many viewers, perhaps as a result of them telling stories at you instead of to you. Documentaries with talking heads (especially the low rent true crime variety) often have someone staring down the barrel of the camera and explaining to the audience exactly what happened. The Hell House LLC movies do something similar by using their framing style and are able to do so in a completely low stakes way since they’re works of fiction.
The Hell House LLC movies aren’t looking for gold plated accolades and it’s obvious in their way of never asking you to take them too seriously. By using innovative scare tactics and a fun wild story, they craft a scary narrative around a haunted hotel and the town that might have created the monsters within it. With the franchise releasing its first non-found-footage installment in theaters last week, it’s nice to remember why the first four make such exceptional and rewatchable comfort movies.
Stay tuned for an at-home release date for fifth and final installment Hell House LLC: Lineage.
