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Nicky (Louis Mandylor) has just been released from prison after five years, and the first thing he wants to do is to make up with his daughter Eliza (Roxana Luca) for lost time ... but Eliza isn't the innocent girl he has once known anymore, she has ditched momma's (Manuela Harabor) home, become a junkie and moved on with dealer Bogdan (Bogdan Marhodin). Nicky somehow denies to himself that this might have to do with his own criminal past, his prison stint and his failure as a father, so he wants to "save" her, and together with his best pal Jimmy (Peter Dobson) he drags her out of Bogdan's apartment to drive her off, with Bogdan in the trunk to eventually teach him a lesson or something. But then their car gets into an accident, and as all of them emerge bruised or more, it's quite a distance to civilisation, and there's no cellphone reception, they decide to spend the night in a nearby abandoned hotel complex. The atmosphere is of course tense, and it doesn't get any better when they find out that the hotel's also inhabited by a group of cannibals, and eventually the cannibals find out who's just moved in, and they go after them ... and our heroes, with all the alpha dog games they can't stop playing even in the eye of grave danger, suddenly find themselves on the run, with their options running low.

Now I have to admit here, Hotel of the Damned isn't the most original film, especially The Hills Have Eyes comes to mind regarding the premise, and one also has to admit, the film is by no means free of clichés, some of them almost hurting (especially the ex-con macho father with a heart of gold comes to mind), and the lead characters don't necessarily show any depth. And all that said, DAMN this movie is tense! Seriously, this is one movie where you more or less can discard story and characters and just focus on tension, suspense and jump scares, all well-placed and executed, and set in a very atmospheric location that really helps bringing the film across. True, you might not want to go into this if you expect depth of any sort, but for pure entertainment, you'll be well-served!

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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