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Film shot at Waldorf to be released Tuesday

A film based at the Waldorf Estate of Fear is about to be made available to viewers across the country.

“Hell House LLC” — which was filmed at the haunt will be released on major online streaming services like iTunes and Google Play on Tuesday.The movie explores what would happen if something paranormal took place in a working haunted house — and how long it would take for them to realize the frights are not a part of the show, according to director Stephen Cognetti.“That’s kind of the basis of this film: ‘When would you know that it’s not part of the show anymore?” Cognetti said.Filmed over 10 days in May 2014, “Hell House” should have a lot of familiar sights for local residents. Many of the scenes in the film come right out of the haunt, and Waldorf owner Angela Moyer was actually the set designer for the film. It was her first experience on a film set, but she said it was a natural fit from her experience with the Waldorf.“It was just an awesome experience, exhausting and awesome,” she said. “We did certain things for the movie that are still there.”Moyer recalled discovering that one of the actors was playing a haunted house owner after he kept asking her specific questions about how she did her job.“I finally figured out he was picking my brain to see exactly what we do,” she said.About 100 people from the area are featured in the film as extras, and a few of the Waldorf’s regular employees got to play their characters on the screen.The extras’ moment in the spotlight comes in the opening scene, where they are supposed to be thrill-seekers checking out the haunted house.Cognetti couldn’t say enough about the locals who volunteered their time on a cold and rainy May day to make the Waldorf look like it was in the middle of its busy season.“They were in the rain and cold, and they gave up their Saturday,” he said. “The payoff of that scene is great, the extras and everything look great.”For Cognetti, the release culminates a process that began all the way back in 2012, when an investor challenged him to make the jump from short comedy films to a feature-length horror movie.“It was really just perfecting the scares,” he said. “I wanted to avoid cheap scares and do everything with subtlety.”After screening the film at horror festivals, Cognetti sold the rights to Terror Films, which distributes independent horror films. Terror is marketing the film, and set the release date for Nov. 1.Cognetti said that releasing the film the day after Halloween is actually a positive for an independent film. During the month of October, there is so much money spent marketing major studio films that there’s the potential for indies to get lost.Moyer is hoping that the film will become a hit. The ultimate thrill for her would be if Hollywood noticed the film and decided to make a big-budget follow-up.“My hope is that people love the movie. I never saw a horror movie that touched on something going on in a haunted house,” Moyer said. “I would love to see a sequel.”“Hell House LLC” will be released Nov. 1 on iTunes, Amazon Instant, VUDU, Google Play, YouTube, Vimeo On Demand, PlayStation and Xbox.

About 100 extras from the area took part in the filming of Hell House LLC back in 2014. The movie comes out Nov. 1. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO