New Terminal Hotel

There should be an extra tax for abysmal theatrical productions. This was a wretched waste of time. My senses want to be compensated for the time spent on this.

Since there is a requirement for how long a review should be I decided to think if there was any good walk aways from this flic. I guess the fact that it started off a bit confusing but with enough plot development that it kept my attention long enough to watch more was a promising thing. But soon after I realized that I was only sticking around for disappointment. Others may find this as something interesting or entertaining enough with which to pass the time. Unfortunately, I am not one of them.

Ever since, or perhaps even before, 1960 classic 'Psycho' extolled the horrific virtues of a motel as a venue for horror, the home-from-home has proven an effective place in which terrifying, sometimes unworldly things can happen.

Eccentric writer Don Malek (a terrific performance from Stephen Geoffreys), is torturing his boss in a bathtub filled with ice cubes. It's as good an introduction as any, especially in an off-kilter film like this. We're given no clue as to why this is going on. Director BC Fourteen is in no hurry to reassure us with anything so mundane as an explanation. Malek feels the hotel surroundings will be beneficial to his writing.

Fourteen's style is to people this picture with a variety of acerbic, curious characters, none of whom offer any reassurance, and none of whom are keen to endear themselves to the audience. Thus what we are left with are the stained walls of the hotel, the strained relationships. As Malek leaves the cocoon of the awful residence, he comes across Jasper Crash (a brief cameo from Corey Hiam), another very odd addition to the cast, complete with a dreadful English accent.

Not an easy watch in places, the weirdness of it all provides a palpably eccentric atmosphere for Malek and his murky motives. If it fails to grab you immediately, stick with it. My score is 7 out of 10.

In this edited-down version of "New Terminal Hotel", screenwriter Don Malek (Stephen Geoffreys, Fright Night, 976-Evil, and quiet possibly one of the worst horror film I've ever seen Mr. Hush), still smarting from his girlfriend being murdered, decides to get vengeance while holed up in a seedy motel room andkeeping a powerful movie producer drugged up in the bathtub. Tiffany Shepis is (former Tromette) Ava, his heavily put-upon agent who becomes an unwitting accessory in the macabre little game he's playing. Oh and Corey Haim has a small cameo for no reason whatsoever.

It's a slowly paced film and I'd only label it horror loosely. However, seeing this after Don's film, Mr.Hush, it can't help but appear to be a better film, if only by default. Worth what I paid to watch it (for the sake of transparency, I get four free rentals from Redbox Instant per month, this is the first one I picked for August) but if you've paid more than me, you'll likely to be horribly disappointed. The film is disjointed, awkward, slow and not particularly engaging.

Eye Candy: Danielle Fortwangler gets topless, Tara Sukustis shows T&A

Very poor. A waste of classic 80s cult actors Corey Haim & Stephen Geoffreys. Even with a small budget of 500G they surely could have afforded a few more locations than mainly one room considering the story line definitely was holding up the film. It's no 1408 so spread it around! If it wasn't for the name of the film, you wouldn't even know it's meant to be a hotel/motel. Story line is basically nothingness...no twists or character development...guy kills a few people he ethically believes deserves it sometimes unexplicably wearing a mask and sometimes not and the fact the guy was a writer had no relevance even though they mention that a lot. Finnally no logic to Corey Haim having what I think was meant to be a British accent. Love Corey Haim (rip) but weird accent not a good direction from well...the director. Spoilers...I have none..because there is nothing to spoil. The blurb you see written next to the film title...that's basically it. As the gang in "Friends" said to Joey after watching his "Mac&Cheese" TV show......eh....the Lighting was really good.

Don Maleck (Stephen Geoffreys) is a revered Hollywood screenwriter who hasn't hacked out a script in quite some time. When agent Ava Collins (Tiffany Shepis) approaches Don in his skid row apartment to demand his latest pages, she discovers he's been getting into the mindset of serial killers for his latest script by becoming one. Rather than ratting him out, Ava decides to use Don's new hobby to her advantage.

The reviews here on IMDb are a bit befuddling - it's certainly not the utter crapfest that most have made it out to be. The film is talky with a plodding pace (it sorta has the feel of a stage play), but if you're looking for brutality and gore, it occasionally delivers the goods. And as for the talk, there's a lot of fun, pithy dialogue. Tony Award nominee Geoffreys (in his first lead role since 1988's "976-EVIL") gives a great performance and infuses the character with his patented brand of pathos; and Shepis matches him beat-for-beat, making her sleazy character downright lovable. Across the board, the rest of the acting is decent as well -- the weakest link is an obviously strung-out Corey Haim in a minor role (sporting a hokey Australian accent)... and even he isn't too bad.

I saw "Do Not Disturb" since the original version, "New Terminal Hotel," was yanked from circulation when RLJ Entertainment issued it on DVD. I'd like to see the original because it feels like there's something major missing in the truncated version (according to amazon's defunct listing, "Terminal" ran an extra 12 minutes). It's not much of a spoiler to say that Don is initially motivated to kill to avenge his girlfriend's death (this is made clear in the first scene) but that plot point seems to suffer in the edited version.

No, it's not particularly groundbreaking, but the film is a solid entry in the low-budget indie revenge-horror genre - and if you like Geoffreys (who spent too many years on the outer fringes of Hollywood), I'd certainly recommend it.