Deity Clutch

Every actor onstage in this Porters of Hellsgate effort masters heightened language. Too bad that language, and the storytelling it attempts, can be described at best as plodding and at worst as pretentious. In writer-director Gus Krieger's play, a cult falls apart within a mysterious house, even though the outside world is a bad, bad place—you know, don't trust "the man"! Yet just as the residents are about to escape, they find the time to chat, two at a time, heading out the door, to give the audience closure. Its 135-minute running time is ideal for turning this bad play into a bad movie.

The Porters of Hellsgate at the Complex, 6476 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Closed.