Not Only 1408 and The Shining: 4 Most Suspenseful Horror Movies About Hotels
These movies play on our fear of being locked up, and we don't know what's worse – alone or with other people.
Horror films set in hotels or motels can be considered a separate subgenre of horror. The isolated atmosphere of such places serves to create tension through the feeling of being trapped and unable to escape.
1. Hostel, 2005
Three friends, Americans Paxton and Josh and Icelander Oli, travel through Europe in search of entertainment. In Amsterdam they hear about a mysterious hostel in Slovakia where the most beautiful girls live.
The friends go there and do indeed find a hostel full of beautiful women. But the trio ends up in a trap, because the hostel is actually a front for an organization that kidnaps tourists and sells them to rich clients willing to participate in torture and murder.
2. Identity, 2003
During a severe thunderstorm, ten travelers are forced to stay in a remote motel to wait out the bad weather. All these strangers are somehow connected.
They include a former cop, an actress, a family with a child, a newlywed couple, and a driver transporting a prisoner. At the same time, we learn about the trial of a serial killer who seems to have nothing to do with the characters.
Soon, one of the guests is killed, and the motel turns into a trap. And yes, John Cusack tries to survive in cursed rooms again.
3. Hotel, 2004
Irene gets a job as an administrator at an elite hotel in the Alps. The place itself is not very popular, and the main attraction in the area is a cave where a healer lived who was burned as a witch in the Middle Ages.
The woman tries to please everyone, but her colleagues are frighteningly distant. When Irene finds out that her predecessor disappeared under unclear circumstances, it turns out that the hotel staff, unlike the police, is not at all interested in this fact.
The film unfolds the plot slowly and viscously, paying more attention not to events and dialogues, but to a gradually growing, patchwork atmosphere of hopeless, dark fear.
4. Bad Times at the El Royale, 2018
The El Royale Hotel, once popular with celebrities, is now in decline. One day, singer Darlene, Catholic priest Daniel, vacuum cleaner salesman Laramie and hippie Emily end up there.
They meet the hotel's only employee, concierge Miles. Then the charming leader of a strange sect, Billy, joins them.
As they communicate with each other, the guests find out that they are all here for a reason, and their secrets are intertwined in a single ball. The El Royale is a place where everyone must face the consequences of their actions.