In comparison to their other films this one comes off a little flat. The Manor isn't nearly as creepy as the Hotel and the shots aren't nearly as tight or focused.
In the past I've praised the previous Hell House LLC movies because they managed to capture the essence of found footage films by having good, clean shots that were still believable while not expecting the audience to have to put up with a lot of blurry and shaky footage or too much night vision.
I think part of this has to due to the fact that the story involves a company setting up a pop-up haunted house, which requires a lot of security. We were able to rely on the cameras in the first two films to get a view of everything that was happening.
You would think for someone who runs a YouTube channel and visits haunted houses they would have more than just old looking video cameras, especially given the number of tools employed by modern day ghost hunters.
Instead the film is shot from the perspective of shaky hand held video cameras and as a direct result the quality of the overall experience was less enjoyable for me. There's too many shots of people running with a camera in their hands that adds nothing to the overall movie in any meaningful capacity.
I think instead they would have been better off with the main character having a bunch of ghost hunting gear to give us a better view of the house and what was going on.
As far as the story itself is concerned, it's not much, it's never been much in any of the films. They kind of trickle information to the viewers. Unfortunately this film really lacks any sort of real hook to keep me actively engaged with what is happening.
I appreciate the desire to branch outside of the actual hotel, but if you are going to have the word "Origins" in your title, then I feel like it behooves you to do a little bit more explaining than what The Carmichael Manor did. It gives a loose connection to the Hotel and that's basically it.
This film was a slow burner when it didn't have to be. They could have packed in more lore or more creepy stuff, but a lot of the scenes are just characters bickering or wandering around the house.
The documentary parts of the film is also a lot shorter than in previous ones, which sucks because these were great devices to provide more information about what's going on, they were one of my favorite parts of the previous movies but appears to have taken a backseat to long winded scenes and shaky camera footage.
In the past I've praised the previous Hell House LLC movies because they managed to capture the essence of found footage films by having good, clean shots that were still believable while not expecting the audience to have to put up with a lot of blurry and shaky footage or too much night vision.
I think part of this has to due to the fact that the story involves a company setting up a pop-up haunted house, which requires a lot of security. We were able to rely on the cameras in the first two films to get a view of everything that was happening.
You would think for someone who runs a YouTube channel and visits haunted houses they would have more than just old looking video cameras, especially given the number of tools employed by modern day ghost hunters.
Instead the film is shot from the perspective of shaky hand held video cameras and as a direct result the quality of the overall experience was less enjoyable for me. There's too many shots of people running with a camera in their hands that adds nothing to the overall movie in any meaningful capacity.
I think instead they would have been better off with the main character having a bunch of ghost hunting gear to give us a better view of the house and what was going on.
As far as the story itself is concerned, it's not much, it's never been much in any of the films. They kind of trickle information to the viewers. Unfortunately this film really lacks any sort of real hook to keep me actively engaged with what is happening.
I appreciate the desire to branch outside of the actual hotel, but if you are going to have the word "Origins" in your title, then I feel like it behooves you to do a little bit more explaining than what The Carmichael Manor did. It gives a loose connection to the Hotel and that's basically it.
This film was a slow burner when it didn't have to be. They could have packed in more lore or more creepy stuff, but a lot of the scenes are just characters bickering or wandering around the house.
The documentary parts of the film is also a lot shorter than in previous ones, which sucks because these were great devices to provide more information about what's going on, they were one of my favorite parts of the previous movies but appears to have taken a backseat to long winded scenes and shaky camera footage.