In a careful, found-footage style documentary released in 2023, the film stitches together real-world recordings created by a small team: a filmmaker and paranormal investigator, Margot Bentley, her girlfriend Rebecca Vickers, and her brother Chase Bentley. The recovered material is brought into sharper focus by the hand of editor Bradley Moynahan, who supplies running commentary, while journalist Alice Harper provides an external perspective. This documentary not only documents a haunted investigation but also nods to the franchise’s broader lore, tying events to the infamous Abaddon Hotel and the shadowy history surrounding cult leader Andrew Tully.
The core expedition sends Margot and Rebecca to a remote manor house in Rockland County, a location that sits just a town over from the site of Hell House LLC’s most talked-about tragedy. Their target: the Carmichael family murders, a case once thought solved but now reopened by fresh footage and fresh questions. The pair learn that Arthur Carmichael and his son Patrick were the main suspects, yet both disappeared from public view long ago, leaving behind only a single set of footprints when the crime unfolded. Margot’s lifelong fascination with the supernatural traces back to childhood, when a man in a clown costume attempted to abduct her at a carnival, a memory that drives her deeper into this particular investigation. Joining them is Chase, whose own history of psychosis brings a volatile edge to the group, yet his commitment to supporting Margot’s work convinces him to stay.
Within the manor, the investigators uncover a locked storage room crammed with carnival relics—props and mementos that hint at a link to the same terrible carnival that shaped Margot’s fears. Among them are three clown mannequins, a visual echo of the dangers she believes lurk in this story, and a clue that the site is far more layered than a simple case study. The tension rises when the team learns that artifacts from the Abaddon Hotel have found a new home in a local antique store. In a tense sequence, Rebecca Vickers recognizes a grandfather clock from the hotel, revealing within its hidden compartment a cache of film reels, documents, and a cross pendant. The attic-like room becomes a portal to the past, stitching Margot’s present danger to the younger, darker history of the Carmichael family and the cult that would follow them.
Back at the manor, Chase Bentley faces terrifying moments alone; he witnesses the clowns move and a masked woman appears, amplifying the sense that the house itself is pressing in on them. When Margot and Rebecca return, Chase convinces them that the manor is haunted in a way that feels almost methodical, as if a hidden plan is at work. The recovered reels then move to the film’s editing desk, where Bradley Moynahan weaves them into a broader narrative—and the footage reveals a chilling arc that ties Margot’s past to the present danger.
As the documentary unfolds, the reels reveal the pivotal arc of Catherine and her relationship to the Carmichael family trauma. The material shows that Margaret Carmichael, long presumed dead or lost to history, is in fact the masked woman from earlier accounts. In a harrowing turn, a car crash involving Patrick Carmichael results in Margaret’s death, leaving Patrick alive but scarred, a physical reminder of the violence that surrounds the family. Patrick’s subsequent withdrawal and disturbance play directly into the cult’s evolving storyline, as Catherine later gives Patrick a pendant meant to protect him, a symbol that takes on a haunting significance as the narrative advances. The tapes show Patrick’s descent into the world of Andrew Tully’s cult, with the disturbing decision to relocate the clowns to his own bedroom and to preserve Margaret’s blood-stained dress as a macabre keepsake.
The danger intensifies as the cult infiltrates the manor, and Margaret’s ghost returns with lethal intent, killing Catherine as the historical wounds reopen. In a contemporary scene, Rebecca’s presentation to a real estate partner is interrupted by the supernatural interference of Catherine’s spirit, forcing the pair to retreat to the manor as night settles in. Amid this chaos, Chase suddenly vanishes, leaving behind scattered belongings that hint at a scene still unfolding off-camera. The footage then shows that Chase was pursued in his own bedroom by one of the clowns, ending in his murder and adding a personal stake to Margot’s investigation.
The present-day chase moves from the house to the surrounding woods when the car battery dies and the duo attempt to walk toward safety, only to be cornered by the cult’s members. They return to the manor, where a series of ominous texts from Chase urge them to escape. As they flee back to the house again, the cult surrounds them, and Margot discovers Chase’s eyeless corpse in a macabre tableau. The clown—the figure behind the terror—is identified as Patrick Carmichael, the man who once tried to abduct Margot when she was a child. In a final, troubling twist, Patrick speaks to a camera with a hollow apology before shouting at an unseen man to be quiet and stepping through a doorway into a red-tinted chamber that fans of the franchise recognize as a potential gateway to Hell.
The film closes with a mid-credits moment that shifts slightly to a sense of ongoing danger: journalist Alice Harper mentions that the town’s fair will return, while a distant window shows the silhouette of a clown, a final, unnerving hint that the story may not be finished.
Characters whose faces and actions anchor the narrative appear repeatedly through the footage, including [Margot Bentley], [Rebecca Vickers], [Chase Bentley], [Bradley Moynahan], [Alice Harper], [Catherine Carmichael], [Margaret Carmichael], [Patrick Carmichael], [Arthur Carmichael], and the imposing figure of the Hell House Clown. The story’s texture is enriched by small but essential threads—from a hospital-dark past in the manor to the uncanny echoes of the Abaddon Hotel’s relics—creating a cohesive, persistent sense of dread that stays true to the franchise’s lore while presenting a standalone, earnest documentary investigation.
