Hotel Dunsmuir

Here's a rather unusual micro budget outing. It can't really decide what genre it is, but maybe that's not a bad thing? The first part of the movie concerns itself with small town redneck life. What were the inspirations here? Maybe something like Coal Miner's daughter. It aims to show a day to day "white trash" life, with a few hints of the supernatural starting to sneak in. Perhaps the movie spends too much time on this at the start, but I didn't mind it.

It then changes into a different gear, when the Billie character steals her nasty husband's truck and drives to an old hotel that has a ghost in it. At this point the movie has some creepy parts and goes into a different direction. While not for everyone I enjoyed it.

First off, there's some great scenery on display in this movie. Scenery I haven't seen in another film before. The actors are pretty darn good too, given that it's a small indie. You can feel the budgetary constraints in the post-production, and there's some pacing issues. But all that aside I think it's a rather well made little supernatural movie. I would be inclined to recommend it as a October spooky watch, for those that enjoy low budget outings with their own character. Jet Jandreau and Amber Gaston are good as two young ladies fleeing some angry men. Does it all come together at the end? Not really, but I still enjoyed the ride.

I been watching horror movies for more than 64 years and this one falls into the second highest rating I have given horror movies as in a 9. I guess there was not that much killing actually shown, or maybe people were watching a different movie. I found the characters to be pretty close to what you would expect from a psychotic individual with a very young wife. "I've told you to call me daddy" while exhibiting (unknown to her) to his war buddies. The kind of low life now being focused on by a very recent movie. Turns out she has a limit of the abuse she is willing to take, which turns her courageous. Then there is the person she takes along. Really liked this movie.

While they clearly made this on a shoestring, there is some nice work on display here. The photography is often rich. The sets and backdrops are nice. The actors do a good job overall. There is a quirky factor which I liked. It's not all heavy and brooding. At times the film is playful. There are a few jumps which were nicely done. It created a mood, and felt like a throwback. There was a time I remember when horror movies were slower and not "that" intense. I'm fine with a slower paced spooky movie, in fact I prefer it to so many loud jumps. This scratched that itch.

I'd recommend Hotel Dunsmuir to someone looking for a slow spooky indie. For those that prefer modern studio horror, this might not be appealing. Definitely for fans of indies that are rough around the edges.

What a great line. And one worthy of a entire movie just in itself.

But the line is part of a larger whole. This is an interesting one. Much like Psycho, the story starts out as one thing, then part way through the movie, becomes something very different. Toward the end, almost something different again.

But like all great horrors this one starts out creepy and never lets up.

In the closing scenes several plot lines intersect and not all of them land, but overall I thought this was a really interesting mash up.

Well worth viewing. I'll be interested to see what this writer/director does next.