Haunted Hotel is kind of like if The Ring was crossed with the legend of Samudra Beach Hotel and then crossed back over with The Ring again. It's not beat for beat The Ring, but you are going to recognize quite a few set pieces.
The setting is a Javanese beach community in the 1980s. Two lovely young women have inherited a mysterious hotel from their father. Their grandparents have begun managing it, but the sisters have been having a rough year, so they decide to move in to help out and be near their remaining family. That was probably a mistake.
Grandma tells them not to visit the third floor, and gives an excuse about renovations which does not pass the sniff test. Elder daughter Raina disobeys that missive on the first dang day, and meets the evil spirit which will haunt the rest of the movie. The phantom delivers a cryptic deadline to which Raina responds by leaving her to her creepy privacy, as you do; but it's not long before Raina discovers that the spooky looking lady was actually quite serious with the threat making.
The rest of the movie is mostly a Ring style countdown in which Raina and her ex-boyfriend Arno try to find out who the ghost is and what she wants in order to save both Raina and her younger sister Fey from an untimely death. What they discover is a tragic love story featuring the most hilariously convenient case of amnesia I have ever seen in a horror movie. Wait 'til you hear what Raina's dad was up to in Jakarta. That part was supposed to be sad, but it made me laugh out loud in places.
The special effects in this movie are pretty decent, and the actors do a good job with some pretty schlocky material. There is a Ring style fake-out. I don't think I'm spoiling too much with that, you'll notice it yourself when they wrap up the mystery and you realize there's more than fifteen minutes of runtime still to go. All in all, I can say I'm not sorry I watched it, while also feeling no particular need to go watch it again.
The setting is a Javanese beach community in the 1980s. Two lovely young women have inherited a mysterious hotel from their father. Their grandparents have begun managing it, but the sisters have been having a rough year, so they decide to move in to help out and be near their remaining family. That was probably a mistake.
Grandma tells them not to visit the third floor, and gives an excuse about renovations which does not pass the sniff test. Elder daughter Raina disobeys that missive on the first dang day, and meets the evil spirit which will haunt the rest of the movie. The phantom delivers a cryptic deadline to which Raina responds by leaving her to her creepy privacy, as you do; but it's not long before Raina discovers that the spooky looking lady was actually quite serious with the threat making.
The rest of the movie is mostly a Ring style countdown in which Raina and her ex-boyfriend Arno try to find out who the ghost is and what she wants in order to save both Raina and her younger sister Fey from an untimely death. What they discover is a tragic love story featuring the most hilariously convenient case of amnesia I have ever seen in a horror movie. Wait 'til you hear what Raina's dad was up to in Jakarta. That part was supposed to be sad, but it made me laugh out loud in places.
The special effects in this movie are pretty decent, and the actors do a good job with some pretty schlocky material. There is a Ring style fake-out. I don't think I'm spoiling too much with that, you'll notice it yourself when they wrap up the mystery and you realize there's more than fifteen minutes of runtime still to go. All in all, I can say I'm not sorry I watched it, while also feeling no particular need to go watch it again.