Murder, Mayhem and Fish-People: Movie Hotels To Avoid
In the course of our lives, many of us will be unfortunate enough to experience what we call the "hotel from hell". Maybe it's a family holiday that you share with some unwanted insect life, or place that used another photograph for its brochure picture. The worst I've ever stayed at was a place in Frankfurt, with a stinky room, no room facilities and a breakfast that was an outright health hazard.
There are some notable movie hotels where you wouldn't want to stay even a single night in order to remain sane and alive. For starters, there's Bates Motel which rocketed Anthony Perkins to fame in Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho". Don't worry about registering your uk credit cards to pay for the room, money is no problem for Norman Bates (or Mother) when it comes to disposing of the evidence of what happened to former occupants. Provided your room isn't next to Norman's and hasn't got the added extras of spy holes and easily-replaced shower curtains, you may well survive your stay. Just double-check that the maid knocking on your door for room service isn't dressed like an old lady and sporting some serious cutlery from the knife drawer!
The next movie hotel is from Hostel, a 2005 horror film set in a small town in Slovakia. In the film, students on a backpacking holiday find themselves lured to a luxury hostel where they are the centre of attention from the local girls. Things are not quite as they seem however, and the hostel which seems to be far outside the price range of students with bad credit rating, proves to be a market-place for victims who are sold to the highest bidder of the "Hunters Club". The Tarantino-produced film immediately rubbed censors the wrong way with its scenes of violence, but still contains a dark satire on the wealthy tourist trade in impoverished countries.
If you have escaped the previous locations, how about a change of scene in the Mediterranean and a quaint village on the Spanish coast called Inboca . . . sounds idyllic, doesn't it? Well think again if this is "Dagon" by Stuart Gordon! A modern version of the Lovecraft chilling tale "Shadow Over Innsmouth", the survivors of a shipwreck on a reef outside the town wait in the Gilman Arms, waiting for help to arrive that has been summoned by the odd-looking and bulgy-eyed inhabitants. The waterlogged, rotting hotel is unspeakably awful, and things don't get any better when it's clear that help is not on the way and town requires participants in its religious worship . . . as a sacrifice in their pagan ceremony!
Looking at the cinematic alternatives, a bad bathroom and breakfast in Germany seem to be the least of my problems regarding bad hotel experiences.
tags:movies,hotels,horror films
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