The Haunted Hotel

An enjoyable series of linked stories set in a real Ipswich hotel. The stories vary from the atmospheric, to more spooky with some gentle British humour in between.

Honestly not bad, for it's budget restraints this 8 horror-Short cereal could of been so much worse but its more then decent. Sure, the first story doesn't really do much. Is it cleverly written? Sure, but it doesn't do much other then be cleverly written and have good set design. So if your completely taken out by that one short then that's understandable, but despite a slow start it gets better.

I love Story 2. The set designs are immaculate and very interesting. A man remembering his wife and having a dance with her is definitely touching. And I'm guessing she's past away.

I also really enjoyed Story 3 for adding some Supernatural elements to the movie/Anthology. The plot twist is definitely creepy.

Another story which I enjoyed was the one with Maisy, and her trying to please the owner. And having to clean up despite the weird occurrences.

Sure the Anthology isn't amazing, but it's an easy watch. Is it scary? Not particularly no, has it been done before and been done before? Yes is the awnser. But it's different, and if given the chance. Some may enjoy it more. It's very Entertaining and clever in the way it's presented. Each story has a segment. And some stories will be better then others. With unexpected plot-twists. And some stories feel like there in a conological order. The end of one of the stories was the start of the 5th story.

The scariest is probably the fifth story, because it's got the creepy man. And has a great plot-twist. It's an entertaining episode, with being a short story. I like the simplicity of it. Honestly, it's more then acceptable. Now time for my verdict.

Verdict,

6/10 Solid.

I liked the idea of watching the various segments tied together by the haunted hotel but the quality was pretty low and unfortunately none were particularly scary. Despite it being the setting for the whole feature, the hotel itself doesn't have a very strong presence and as a result, each segment feels unrelated to the others. The acting was very hit and miss as were the concepts for each segment, although there was definitely some welcome originality.

I enjoyed this collection of short films. They aren't overly dark or cynical. The stories aren't necessarily scary but they do range from being fun, to poignant to creepy. "The Writer" and "40 Years" were my favorites. Overall, the acting is consistent with the overall tone and "spirit" of the films. What I found impressive is that each film took place during a different time period but within the same location; the lighting, production design and costumes all tied the different time periods together nicely while grounding them all within the hotel. I definitely recommend this to viewers who enjoy a good-natured spooky film.

If you're a fan of Inside Number 9 you will appreciate the format and the dark humour. However it doesn't quite measure up to the tv series in terms of cleverness, or scary. But an entertaining watch nonetheless.