The Hotel Haunting

After arriving on the island of Cyprus, a film crew looking into the tragic history of a hotel in the area for a special documentary, but the longer they stay there come to believe the area is haunted by a series of supernatural entities due to its grisly history and must get away alive.

This was a rather enjoyable if overall cliched genre outing. One of the few standout areas here is the standard setup in play which makes for a great premise as to why the area would be so haunted. Featuring a long-winded amalgamation of curses, Satanic sacrifices, the introduction of some demon raised during one of the sacrifices, and ghostly residents trapped inside, this all offers a rather fine starting point to get everything going once the supernatural shenanigans start. That the film crew arriving and beginning their show during this final stage of the restoration process following these incidents taking place is a solid background point to get this going in the right direction. The only other part of this one that really works is the final half here where this finally manages to get its storylines out of the way and some fine action can take place. There's a nice bit to like with the various beings coming into play with the film employing nearly everything from slasher attacks including the ambush in the elevator, the cult's antics with the abduction taking place, or a series of brutal brawls that showcase the ruthlessness of the opposing group to the remaining film-crew still left alive which makes this quite a bit more gruesome than expected. It's far more energetic and kinetic than expected which is a fine touch and helps to set up the nice twist in the final moments that have an apocalyptic flavor to pay off a fine storyline from earlier to give this some positive points. There are some big flaws here that keep this one down. The main issue featured here is the overall underwhelming pace here that gives this a decidedly dull tempo for the first two-thirds of the running time. Full of exposition about the hotel's history and the exploits of the crew going through the motions of filming their show, very little actually happens here which makes for a generally dull time getting started with the lack of interest in what's going on. It also doesn't help that the other big issue here is also associated with this section in that it has way too much going on to make sense of it all, with the story of mass poisonings, secret cult happenings around animal sacrifice, ghosts, and other monsters running around which are never explained either their origins or purpose so it's all-around confusing. These factors are the major parts holding this back.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, and Brief Nudity.

Well, I wasn't exactly harboring much of any expectations or hopes for this 2022 horror movie titled "The Ghosts of Monday", yet I still opted to see it. Why? Well, first of all, the movie has Julian Sands on the cast list, and secondly it was also a horror movie that I hadn't already seen.

Now, I am pretty amazed by the fact that Francesco Cinquemani, Loris Curci, Andy Edwards, Barry Keating and Mark Thompson-Ashworth could collectively manage to compile a script so mundane and bland. I suppose it goes to say that too many writers does not make for a particularly better end result.

The storyline in director Francesco Cinquemani's 2022 movie was bland. And as the movie came to an end after 78 minutes, I must admit that I was left with a sensation of 'was that really it?'. Yeah, this wasn't by any means a memorable or outstanding horror movie experience. It was watchable, sure, but you're not in for a stellar experience.

The acting performances in the movie were adequate. Nothing outstanding here really, but then again, the actors and actresses didn't really have all that much of properly constructed material to work with.

Visually then "The Ghosts of Monday" was adequate. Though, keep in mind that this movie is not heavily relying on special effects, so you're not going to be blown away by a display of grand CGI and practical effects. There were some effects here and there, and they worked out well enough.

"The Ghosts of Monday" is the type of movie that you watch once, then shelve it and never return to it a second time.

My rating of "The Ghosts of Monday" lands on a three out of ten stars.

To call this film rubbish, would be insultive to the term rubbish. This film is 1 hour and 17 minutes of pure bilge. Directed with a plot that seems to be made up, take by take, shot by shot. This 'stinker' features some supremely wooden performances by a group of rank amateurs who run the whole emotional and acting gamut from A to B. They should not give up their day jobs! The plot seems to have stolen its scenes (and executed them very badly) from the Shining, from Ghost Ship and from a myriad of hack and slash Z-list productions. The plot stinks, the actors stink, the production stinks. Confine this bilge to the 'crapper' and don't waste a minute of your time trying to endure it!

About the only good thing about this movie is that Julian Sands was in it. A very promising premise, there are so many great directions this story could taken. Instead, it ends up being this weird slasher movie that really has nothing to do with ghosts. And the ending is...vague, at the very least. At least I can say I saw it? Hmmm. A review must have 600 characters. So I'll just add that I like the hotel's owners, even if that is the one predictable thing I guessed from the start. I've seen a lot of ghost movies over the years. I guess that's the thing about ghost movies- when one is bad, it's really, really bad!

Lighting: atmospheric 5/5

Plot: It could've been better. The story itself has potential but the delivery is quite awkward.

Acting: First 15 minutes was nice because it's full of mystery then comes the awkward and cliche acting to the point it was too funny. I really laughed in the cinemas (not trying to insult) because of the awkwardness is so beyond my comprehension.

You can already tell who's the antagonist and what's going on without even thinking.

Impact: No impact at all, even at the climax of the story gave me a laugh.

Sound: they use the "horror" sound too much to the point it doesn't scare the audience anymore or keep them on their toes.

The verdict: Story could've been better, Awkward delivery, acting and camera angles especially when they emphasize the antagonists.