Hotel Dunsmuir

This is not my genre, but found this title when recalling the motel I stayed in DUNSMUIR, CA in 2019. Startled to find this. Dunsmuir is a nice underrated town well above Sacramento. It's not remote as it appears, but just off the I-5 freeway. Great location choice.

Anyway, the story is a complete mess with holes. Yet I feel it's worth recommending. This is atmosphere horror, not very 'slashy'. A road picture, with ghosts and David Lynch ORBS in tow. Thinking about it, this could fall into the "Manos: The Hands of Fate" universe mixed with a "Twin Peaks: The 2017 Return" episode, yet not too derivative.

What stood out was the fantastic cinematography on such a low budget. The director and DP are from contemporary A-list title visual FX crews, and this must be their pet project. For once I could not tell if it was film stock or digital. Great depth and compositions. It was leagues ahead of many A-list shot movies, which have all gotten dark & flat looking to me. I'm an 80s kid who won't let film stock go. If this was digital, I'm blown away.

The lead actress is quite good, and the supporting cast has their moments. Everyone involved seems enthusiastic about what they are doing. Some of the sound editing choices are weak, in addition to handfuls of other flaws, but was never taken out of this film. Accomplishment is a missed opportunity at greatness. Go in expecting a mood piece, not a horror classic. Video cover art makes it look like disposable streaming content, but it's way better than that.

Look up the crazy history of the actual hotel. It's one of many underground architectural anomalies of the distant past that aren't talked about enough. These submerged structures are everywhere. Honestly they could have done more with the underground setting like Joran Peele's "US" had attempted.

I been watching horror movies for more than 64 years and this one falls into the second highest rating I have given horror movies as in a 9. I guess there was not that much killing actually shown, or maybe people were watching a different movie. I found the characters to be pretty close to what you would expect from a psychotic individual with a very young wife. "I've told you to call me daddy" while exhibiting (unknown to her) to his war buddies. The kind of low life now being focused on by a very recent movie. Turns out she has a limit of the abuse she is willing to take, which turns her courageous. Then there is the person she takes along. Really liked this movie.

I suspect "Hotel Dunsmuir" will divide audiences pretty harshly, but I really liked it. Jen Jandreau plays Billie, a young women who is dealing with a seriously abusive husband. After a particularly unpleasant event, she finally gets up the courage to leave him and go stay with her grandmother.

During her travels she stays a night in Dunsmuir, California at a hotel named the "Hotel Dunsmuir." In an unfortunate coincidence, she runs into a friend of her husband and makes up an awkward excuse as to why she's alone. But during the night, weird, possibly supernatural events start to happen, and she decides to get away as quickly as she can. She also meets a fellow abuse survivor and agrees to take her along on the drive...

As I said, this movie is going to divide viewers. I'm calling it a "slow burn" but that doesn't really communicate how much of a slow burn it is. Part of what makes the movie work so well is Jet Jandreau, who is a revelation here -- she is enormously appealing in the role and gives the character enough emotional weight that we are really, actively rooting for her. That makes the scares and dangers more effective when they show up (and they do show up). And while there are a lot of times where it appears not much is happening, we know her rat of a husband is looking for her and there are sounds in the background that make the sequences really suspenseful.

It's not perfect, of course. Billie is a beautiful, smart, sweet, and pious woman. There's no indication of why she would abandon her life to go live in the sticks with this hideously abusive redneck. Some of the story resolution is probably going to be pretty obvious to viewers. And we have the old "important stuff happens in the poor light so we can't actually see what happened" issue that plagues so many low budget films.

But overall, it hit all the notes for me. As I said, serious slow burn territory so if that turns you off, this might not be the flick for you. But gets a pretty strong recommendation from me.

First off, there's some great scenery on display in this movie. Scenery I haven't seen in another film before. The actors are pretty darn good too, given that it's a small indie. You can feel the budgetary constraints in the post-production, and there's some pacing issues. But all that aside I think it's a rather well made little supernatural movie. I would be inclined to recommend it as a October spooky watch, for those that enjoy low budget outings with their own character. Jet Jandreau and Amber Gaston are good as two young ladies fleeing some angry men. Does it all come together at the end? Not really, but I still enjoyed the ride.

While they clearly made this on a shoestring, there is some nice work on display here. The photography is often rich. The sets and backdrops are nice. The actors do a good job overall. There is a quirky factor which I liked. It's not all heavy and brooding. At times the film is playful. There are a few jumps which were nicely done. It created a mood, and felt like a throwback. There was a time I remember when horror movies were slower and not "that" intense. I'm fine with a slower paced spooky movie, in fact I prefer it to so many loud jumps. This scratched that itch.

I'd recommend Hotel Dunsmuir to someone looking for a slow spooky indie. For those that prefer modern studio horror, this might not be appealing. Definitely for fans of indies that are rough around the edges.