Dante's Hotel

What do you get when you combine a totally ridiculous screenplay, an inept director, a cast with no acting talent whatsoever and an editor who has no clue how to assemble a scene? Yep, this horrible mess. They even left in flubbed lines, apparently not even noticing. The filmmakers violate the "rules" they established and good luck trying to follow the story line.

Several times I considered just backing out, but I wanted to see how much worse it could get. I wasn't disappointed. I wish IMDB would allow a negative number.

One good thing - the "actress" who stood next to the DJ at the party seemed to be able to throw her arms into the air for four hours straight. Impressive.

I wasn't expecting much from 'A Tubi original', but I was pleasantly surprised.

The pacing was tight, it was eminently watchable and the ending (if a bit predictable) didn't detract from the overall impact, as I had earlier feared it might.

Some of the FX were a bit dodgy, but others were fine. It's a bit like they had a time limit in which to film and couldn't miss deadlines, so couldn't go back.

Judd Nelson was the best actor, but some of the other acting was indifferent.

Overall, however, I didn't pause and go to Youtube once, as I often do if a film was dragging.

As I said I was pleasantly surprised and entertained for a low budget movie.

Worth a watch.

Dante's Hotel offers an intriguing blend of mythology, low-budget ingenuity, and the kind of atmospherics that make you think you're watching an old-school B-movie reimagined through a modern lens. Think The Shining meets The Twilight Zone, with just enough budget to avoid looking like a high school play-though a couple of rubber-faced monsters might make you double-check if you're still in the right movie.

The story, weaving ancient mythology with a sinister hotel setting, is both clever and engaging. The direction is impressively stylish: Kudos to the director for squeezing maximum suspense out of every angle, pan and scene. Even when the CGI wobbles like a particularly unsteady drunk at closing time. The performances are surprisingly strong, with Judd Nelson in one of his better roles since The Breakfast Club, proving that he's still got that raw, world-weary charm.

That said, the film falters toward the end. The grand finale is more chaotic than a Fast & Furious set-piece, leaving you wondering if the writers took a wrong turn halfway through. And the script has occasional hiccups-"They've booked hotel's in the room!" being a prime offender. Then there's Father Time, all rubber hands and a dodgy mask. Still, Dante's Hotel is a flawed gem worth checking in for-just don't plan on staying the night.

I was not familiar with this 2023 horror movie from Tubi and The Asylum. But with it being a horror movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I opted to give the movie a fair chance, as I happened to stumble upon it here in 2025.

Initially I have to say that the fact that it was a Tubi movie didn't exactly have me harboring the biggest of expectations. But I will say that writers Anthony C. Ferrante and William C. Martell actually put together a fair enough script and storyline. Sure, it wasn't exactly a revolutionary script in terms of horror movies go, but it was definitely entertaining enough for what it turned out to be.

Something that did impress me about "Dante's Hotel" was the cast ensemble. There were a lot of familiar faces on the cast list, with the likes of Moon Bloodgood, Ted Raimi, Judd Nelson, Ken Davitian and Emilio Rivera. It should be noted that the acting performances in the movie were fair.

The effects in the movie were actually good, and that certainly helped adding to the overall enjoyment of the movie.

All in all, "Dante's Hotel" was a surprise of a movie. And it is one that I would actually recommend, if you enjoy a good old fashioned supernatural horror movie.

My rating of director Anthony C. Ferrante's 2023 horror movie "Dante's Hotel" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Preparing to throw a New Year's Eve party, an event planner planning a lavish celebration finds that a series of disappearances are part of a regular pattern of events happening at the hotel where a figure arrives and murders guests forcing her and a guest who knows the truth to try to stop it.

This one wasn't too bad of a genre effort and has some rather likable elements present. One of the finer aspects of this one is the rather fun setup present which makes for a really fun time here. With the initial background of the curse haunting the specific hotel where the series of murders repeats every decade or so, the connection between this and the figure staying at the hotel that's continually involved in the crime sprees every time but no one can do anything about it provides a wholly intriguing and rather solid background for everything. The resulting rampage that occurs here at the party as it sets out carrying out the curse at the location once again while the others try to find out what's going on with the disappearing bodies while investigating the possible connections is all handled incredibly well here serving up an immensely fun storyline. That gets the film setup for the series of supernatural-tinged rampages that take place as a means of featuring the cloaked figure acting as a slasher-type being. The incidents being made to look like suicides or accidents before realizing that the figure is running around doing everything gives everything a great touch as there's some fine suspenseful stalking at play throughout here. The exaggerated nature of the killers' powers generates a great series of confrontations here including the attack on the couple who sneak into the party, a fantastic ambush on a couple partaking in a pool game, or the chilling encounter with the family guests who arrive at the hotel which all manage to bring about some thrilling motivations for everything on top of the great action utilized to make it come to life. As they finally learn the truth about the killer and how it all ties together with his past coming in to explain how it all works, this comes to a fantastic finale where everything comes into fine form featuring some great gore, some surprising revelations, and a nice sense of fun to make for a great time here. There are a few minor issues here that bring this down. The main drawback to be had here is the incredibly illogical way the finale spreads out the reveal of everything regarding the killer. While the setup for the most part works quite well due to the setup, that only highlights how little this starts to make sense with the history of the location and the events at play. The series of events takes place in a recognizable and clear-cut pattern yet what happens here is seen as something that really only makes sense if the individual in question isn't an undead lord of space and time they literally figure it as so this whole section is a bit underwhelming. As well, some of the low-budget limitations in the wonky CGI does become a bit of an issue here but not enough to be as detrimental as the other factor.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language.