You know that specific feeling when the camera pans slowly toward a dark doorway in the Abaddon Hotel? It’s not just about a jump scare. It’s that crushing sense of "I shouldn't be seeing this." Finding movies like Hell House LLC is surprisingly hard because most found footage is, frankly, garbage. You’ve probably sat through dozens of low-budget films where people just scream into a GoPro for ninety minutes.
That’s not what makes Stephen Cognetti’s 2015 cult classic work. It works because it treats the "haunted attraction" trope with a documentary-style seriousness that feels dangerously real. It’s the clowns. It's the basement. It's the way the geography of the house seems to shift just enough to make you feel claustrophobic in your own living room.
Why Found Footage Still Scares Us (When It’s Done Right)
Most people think the genre died with The Blair Witch Project or maybe Paranormal Activity. They’re wrong. The reason you're looking for movies like Hell House LLC is that you’re chasing a specific high: the "mockumentary" veneer that suggests there’s a real police file somewhere containing this footage.
Hell House LLC succeeded because it used "The Incident" as a hook. We knew everyone died or disappeared before the first frame even rolled. That creates a specific kind of dread. You aren't watching to see who survives; you're watching to see how they lose. It’s a slow-motion car crash involving demonic clowns.
The Heavy Hitters You Might Have Missed
If you want that exact "investigative team goes into a cursed place" vibe, you have to start with Grave Encounters. Directed by the Vicious Brothers, this 2011 flick is basically a mean-spirited parody of Ghost Adventures that turns into a literal nightmare.
The setup is identical to Cognetti’s work. A crew of "paranormal investigators"—who are clearly cynical frauds—lock themselves inside the Collingwood Psychiatric Hospital. They expect to fake some EVPs and go home. Instead, the building starts changing. Doors lead to brick walls. Windows open into infinite blackness. It’s one of the few films that captures the same "trapped in a logic-defying space" energy that made the Abaddon Hotel so terrifying. Honestly, the sequel is a bit of a mess, but the original is mandatory viewing for anyone obsessed with the Hell House sequels.
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Then there’s The Houses October Built.
This one feels like a sibling to Hell House LLC. It follows a group of friends traveling the country in an RV to find the "ultimate" extreme haunt. It taps into that very real, very niche subculture of people who want to be genuinely terrified by actors in masks. The line between "it's just a show" and "these people are actually trying to kill us" gets blurred until it's gone. It doesn't have the supernatural "ghost" elements of the Abaddon, but the psychological toll of being hunted by people who might just be "staying in character" is arguably scarier.
International Nightmares and Found Footage Evolution
We need to talk about Noroi: The Curse.
If you can handle subtitles and a nearly two-hour runtime, Kōji Shiraishi’s 2005 masterpiece is the gold standard of the genre. It’s structured as a documentary by a paranormal journalist named Kobayashi. It’s dense. It’s complicated. It involves ancient demons, creepy neighbors, and a psychic girl. It doesn't rely on jump scares. Instead, it builds a web of interconnected dread that makes the final ten minutes feel like a physical weight on your chest. It’s basically the "final boss" of investigative horror.
Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum is the South Korean answer to Grave Encounters, and in many ways, it surpasses it. It follows a horror web series crew streaming live from an abandoned asylum. The use of modern technology—GoPros, drones, live-chat feeds—makes it feel immediate in a way that older 2000s films don't. The "ping-pong ball" scene and the "whispering" scene are moments that will stay with you long after you turn off the TV. It nails the "building tension until it snaps" rhythm that Hell House LLC fans crave.
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Why The "Haunted Attraction" Trope Hits Different
There is something inherently creepy about a place designed to look scary being actually scary.
Haunt (2019) isn't found footage, but it’s the most logical companion piece to Hell House LLC. It’s written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (the guys who wrote A Quiet Place). A group of friends goes to an "extreme" haunt on Halloween. The performers start doing things that aren't in the brochure. It’s a tight, brutal slasher that understands the geography of a funhouse. You get that same sense of being funneled toward a climax you can't escape.
The Technical Mastery of the "Background Scare"
One thing movies like Hell House LLC do better than big-budget horror is the "did you see that?" factor.
Think back to the scene where the clown statue moves its head. It’s subtle. It’s in the background. Lake Mungoe—a mockumentary from Australia—is the king of this. It’s not a "scary" movie in the traditional sense. It’s a movie about grief and a family dealing with the death of their daughter. But there is a sequence involving a cell phone video found at the end of the film that is widely considered one of the most chilling reveals in cinema history. It uses that same low-res, grainy "truth" that makes Hell House feel so authentic.
If you like the "static camera" aspect, you can't ignore the first two Paranormal Activity films. While the franchise eventually went off the rails, the first one captured a domestic version of the Abaddon’s dread. It’s about the violation of a safe space. Your bedroom, your basement, your hotel room—these are places where you should be in control. Found footage strips that control away.
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A Quick List for Your Next Watch Party
If you're looking for a quick fix, here’s how these stack up against the Hell House vibe:
- The "I want more haunted hotels/asylums" vibe: Grave Encounters, Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum, 7 nights of Darkness.
- The "I want more extreme haunts" vibe: The Houses October Built, Haunt, Hell Fest.
- The "I want a deep, disturbing mystery" vibe: Noroi: The Curse, Lake Mungo, The Borderlands (also known as Final Prayer).
- The "I want to see people lose their minds on camera" vibe: The Blair Witch Project (obviously), The Banshee Chapter, Savageland.
The "Final Prayer" Warning
Speaking of The Borderlands (2013), this is a British entry that most American audiences missed. It follows a team from the Vatican investigating a "miracle" in a remote country church. The chemistry between the skeptical tech guy and the devout priest is actually good—which is rare for this genre. But the ending? The ending is a visceral, body-horror gut-punch that rivals the basement scene in Hell House. If you think you've seen everything the genre has to offer, watch this one. It changes the "found footage" rules in the last five minutes in a way that is genuinely upsetting.
Realism Over Budget
The secret sauce for movies like Hell House LLC isn't money. Cognetti made the first film for peanuts. The reason it worked is that the actors felt like real people who were stressed out about a business venture. They weren't "scream queens"; they were guys worried about their ROI and electrical permits.
When looking for your next movie, look for the ones that spend time on the "boring" stuff. The movies that show the crew setting up lights, arguing about money, or complaining about the commute. That mundane reality is what makes the supernatural intrusion feel so violent. If the movie starts with people screaming in the woods within five minutes, it’s probably not going to have the same impact.
How to Maximize the Fear Factor
To actually enjoy these films, you have to commit to the bit. Found footage is designed to be watched in the dark, preferably on a smaller screen (like a laptop or a tablet) where the graininess feels intentional.
- Kill the lights. Every single one.
- No phones. The moment you check a text, the "reality" of the footage is broken.
- Headphones are mandatory. Sound design is where these movies hide their best scares. The subtle creaks, the distant footsteps, the heavy breathing—you miss 50% of the movie if you’re using TV speakers.
- Watch the "Director’s Cut" if available. For Hell House LLC specifically, the "Director's Cut" on platforms like Shudder adds context that makes the sequels make way more sense.
Moving Forward With Your Horror Deep Dive
If you've exhausted the main list, your next step is to explore the "Analogue Horror" trend on YouTube. It’s not a movie, but series like The Mandela Catalogue or The Backrooms (the original Kane Pixels shorts) use the same lo-fi, found-footage aesthetic to create a sense of existential dread that is currently outpacing Hollywood.
Stop looking for "the next big thing" and start looking for the "small" things. The best horror is usually found in the projects where the filmmakers had to get creative because they couldn't afford a CGI monster. They had to use a mask, a shadow, or a clown statue that just... turns its head.
Actionable Next Steps
- Check Shudder or Screambox: These platforms specialize in the found footage subgenre and often have "The Blackwell Ghost" or "Bad Ben" series, which are lower budget but scratch that same itch.
- Search for "Mockumentaries": Sometimes these aren't labeled as horror. Films like Savageland use a photo-investigation format that is arguably more chilling than a moving camera.
- Re-watch the Hell House LLC: The Director's Cut: Even if you've seen the original, the extra footage provides the connective tissue for The Carmichael Manor, which is actually a fantastic return to form for the franchise.