Haunted Hotel

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.

Answering a night manager's open position, a woman arrives at a hotel where rumors abound concerning the grisly deaths of visitors over the years have consistently been reported which soon brings her into contact with the demonic forces operating within the facility and try to get away alive.

Overall, there's quite a lot to like with this one. One of the better elements present here is the solid setup that provides the kind of workable foundation for everything despite the immensely cliched work about it. The initial setup of the hotel and the series of accidents that have taken place at the location, including the opening attack of the guest inside the elevator which also serves as the most recent incident, starts this off rather nicely by tying it into the common story of the cursed hotel operating in the city. With the job at the location taking place as a means of allowing an in so that she can investigate the incidents herself, this all comes off incredibly well with the idea of making the area have such a creepy backstory that seems worthy of investigation while also working to generate the kind of budding mystery that convincingly drags her in the longer this goes on. That brings about the kind of effective supernatural attacks and ambushes that are immensely effective. The first attack showing the demonic figure attacking the guest in the room and out into the elevator brings a fine start to things, while the later encounter with the bloggers trying to perform a bit for their project is a fine way of going about showing off the threat implied by the beings even further. As this launches into the investigation of the hotel's incidents and history that brings about her continuing visions helping to connect the clues left around the hotel which helps to signal what's really going on that slowly starts to get unraveled as time goes on. The ending revelation involving the supposed satanic cult operating in the location that has been messing with her head the entire time as this all leads to a rather intriguing finale putting that into play for a lot to like here. There are some minor drawbacks at play with this one. The biggest drawback here is the generally sluggish and rather sedate pacing which is quite hard at injecting much energy in the opening half. Other than the series of encounters mentioned here, the need to investigate the incident under the main manager's nose means that there's more focus on her sitting at computer screens looking over the footage or slowly wandering through the hotel corridors attempting to figure out what's going on. However good this is at setting the stage for the ending revelation, there's not much in the way of enthusiastic engaging with the stiff and static tone that runs rampant with everyone not bothering to get involved much which does get a little tiresome. As well, that also causes the low-budget to get highlighted quite readily as there's not much in the way of spectacle-inducing setups or sequences which all end up coming together to bring this one down.

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

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.

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.

Terrible Acting. TERRIBLE writing- the poor actors had nothing to work with... not that it would've made much difference because I'm pretty sure none of these people have much talent. Just saying it's not entirely their fault. The whole atmosphere of the film is like something my friends and I filmed in highschool with a handheld camcorder. Nothing that happens makes any sense at all. I can't tell you a single character's name. Most of the deaths happen off camera, so not it doesn't even get points for gore. Then there's the part where I had a hard time coming here to make this review, because the movie is called "The Elevator" on Peacock, but for some reason it's called "Horror Hotel" on here? My advice: avoid this film. The acting is soooooo cringey I actually suffered second hand embarrassment while watching. At best you'll get a couple laughs out of it... but it's so bad that really it's not even worth making fun of.