Hell House of the stars: the freaky fundamentalist frightfest gets a production Hollywood will never forget.

At first it seems exactly like any other cheesy Halloween "haunted house, featuring moody lighting, creepy music, cackling demons, victims caked in fake blood. But you'll see where Hell House is different as soon as you enter the Hospital Room. Your demon tour guide gestures to a young man lying in agony in a hospital bed.

"Meet Steve," the demon says. "He thought his homosexual lifestyle was everything a real man could want, but now he's dying of AIDS."

Hell House--the Christian frightfest meant to put the fear of God into kids--isn't the kind of drama hip Angelenos generally go for. Hollywood Hell House, however, promises to be the hottest ticket of the fall season in Los Angeles: The Hell House characters will be played by the likes of Bill Maher (Satan) and Andy Richter (Jesus). Performances run every Saturday through the end of October--plus one Sunday show on Halloween--at the Center for Inquiry-West's Steve Allen Theater.

To explain the appeal, a little history is in order. For the past decade Hell Houses across the country have been bringing the fire-and-brimstone gospel to teens and tweens who might never set foot in church. Usually produced by local churches and youth ministries, the Hell House experience terrifies young audiences with nightmare "real-life" scenarios--like the one about the kid who reads Harry Potter books only to become a satanic human sacrifice.

Minister Keenan Roberts is credited with creating Hell House, which he began presenting at his church in Colorado in 1995. These days he sells a 263-page Hell House kit that provides not only scripts and costume designs but instructions on such matters as how to use hamburger meat to portray an aborted fetus.

Los Angeles-based actress and writer Maggie Rowe first learned about Hell House from the 2001 documentary of the same name. The product of a strict Southern Baptist upbringing, Rowe quickly became obsessed.

Under the guise of a West Hollywood youth group leader, Rowe contacted Roberts and paid him $200 for the Hell House kit. She can honestly say that she wasn't looking to rewrite Hell House--far from it.

"The big [question]," explains Rowe, was "can we just change the context? Can we take this thing that's very big in the South, move it to Hollywood ... [and] will it all of a sudden become incredibly laughable? Is it ridiculous enough to parody itself?"

Rowe enlisted the help of Six Feet Under scribe Jill Soloway, with whom she produces a popular Los Angeles comedy show. Soloway had already made a cult hit of The Real Lice Brady Bunch, a hilarious literal reenactment she created along with her lesbian sister, Faith [see sidebar].

Volunteers flocked to the project. At this point, Rowe and Soloway--joined by producer Becky Thyre of HBO's Mr. Show--have recruited about 120 actors, comedians, and colleagues, each of whom will perform at least one night. The performers will stage the Hell House scenes--which include a graphic abortion, a gang rape that ends with the victim's suicide, and a Columbine-like school shooting as earnestly as possible.

"The Christian right," explains Soloway, "[is] always talking about ... how Hollywood doesn't care about families. And yet they'll bring their children to this thing." Indeed, Roberts's kit suggests that Hell House is suitable for ages 10 and up.

"They act like [we in] Hollywood are the people who have no morals," Soloway continues. "I consider Hell House an immoral tiring too ... [especially] the literal portrayal of hell within modern Christianity. [What we are doing is] really about the literalism--not against religion, against Christianity."

As for Roberts, he's long since discovered that his kit is in the hands of Hollywood types, as he was in Los Angeles for opening night August 28. "People have been trying to damage this message since they crucified the founder of the movement," he told Denver's Rocky Mountain News before making the trip. "It's exciting. Hell House is going to another state of exposure."