Haunted Hotel

Plot

A reporter discovers all is not as it seems at an infamous hotel.

Cast

Several familiar faces from ITN's usual suspects and lead by Chrissie Wunna.

Verdict

There's something creepy about elevators and there have been some great horrors set in them, this is not one of them. In fact frustratingly the elevator in question is barely a part of the film and is rarely featured at all.

The Elevator suffers all the usual ITN Productions tropes. The same faces, the same naff acting, the same dreadful visual effects and the same inability to tell a coherent enjoyable story.

The plot is very weak here and entirely nonsensical with one of the worst endings yet, it's not that it's bad exactly it's just that it doesn't have one. You're waiting for a finale then boom credits.

Chrissie Wunna has a likeability factor to her, but that's likely for the wrong reasons. She's no leading lady and I've seen her in nothing worth more than 3 stars.

I'd like to say there was potential here, but I'd be lying. This is a standard ITN film, so you should know exactly what to expect.

Rants

There's a side story in the film that involves the lead characters daughter that feels so incredibly pointless and tacked on. It's barely a thing, the twist is inevitable and it contributes nothing to the story in the slightest. Why does it exist? Probably to get Wunna's 1 facial expression 1 tone of voice daughter in the film as she tends to do so. No really, I cannot stress how bad an actress this girl is. Want a laugh? Go watch Rag Doll (2023) and stare in awe at her performance it's truly a wonder to behold.

The Good

Chrissie Wunna, guilty pleasure

The Bad

Ruby Wunna Ugly visual effects Story is horrible No ending.

Honestly, for a movie made in 2023, it is very poorly done; Bad acting from the very beginning and a lot of cliches. Obvious CGI in many scenes and the plot jumped around way too much, so I ended up mostly laughing at how bad it was. I got bored rather quickly and, although I did make it to the end, spent most of my time looking at my phone to pass the time. I guess this movie is a depiction of a real event, but it was hard to guess that until I looked at the other reviews, and even then it isn't that obvious. I probably would have had more fun actually participating in this so called "Elevator Game" to see what happens.

Coming across this, and being familiar with the story of Elisa Lam (she may not be mentioned directly but references to the case are definitely made), I gave it a chance and here are my thoughts......

The Elevator, Hellevator Hotel or Haunted Hotel, whatever the title is, it is far from the worst British made b-movie horror I've ever watched but it's not exactly the best.

The script is filled with every cliché going, the acting on many occasions, does leave a lot to be desired also.

The filming location offers some atmosphere for the plot line and the accompanying music is easily the best thing going for this film and personally, I like the design of the demonic creature that's shown very rarely on screen.

At 86 minutes, it's not a long film but still feels like it drags and does not move at a consistent pace, and doesn't hold any of the tension the film builds at points.

The flashback scenes throughout are underwhelming and the effects overall are mediocre at best.

This effort will definitely be one that's easily forgotten and one I won't be watching again.

Okay... to begin with, we couldn't even make it through to the end of this movie. We lasted maybe 30 minutes before we had to walk away. I don't usually expect much from the special effects in these movies, but they're bad enough in this one to disappoint even me. The acting is mediocre. The direction is not great. The writing is poor. And then there's the confusion about the title. I had a heck of a time even finding the imdb page for this movie. I came across it on tubi with the title Elevator. Here they call it Haunted Hotel. Then in the opening credits it says Hellavator Hotel. I almost felt like they were tricking me into buying something sight unseen.

This really is a poorly produced film on every account. The acting is atrocious, especially from the lead actress whose face seems to be stuck on Botox as her mouth hardly even moves when she talks. I thought half the time she was narrating with how little change her face makes.

The boring direction, the lack of lighting, the nothing special effects, the voice on the phone sounding like she's in the same room, how every single character wears their same one outfit everyday the entire film, the dialogue, the repeated 3 note piano cue for a score, hotel rooms decorated like military barracks... it's just all bad.

It very much has the look of a made for TV movie from 2003, not 2023.