A pretty stupid story but it has a decent foundation. You can easily see they had an idea then actually had to write a script around it. It reminded me a lot of the straight-to-rentals of the late 90's but that's not a bad thing. The deaths in the movie seem just written in to have a death but for the most part they're pretty cool. The antagonist has a pretty good look and then he talks and the dialogue is comical. The acting, cinematography, effects, sound design, and lighting are pretty good and it doesn't have that poor low budget look like a lot of movies shot on a low budget. I watch a lot of horror and most of it is pretty terrible so I actually do recommend this if you're looking for something different and kinda fun to watch.
10 Reviews
"Elevated" Shlock
tacelano25 October 2023
For some reason Tubi original horror movies aren't pure garbage.
This one is actually an attempt of an interesting plot hook combo'd with a slasher.
Overall, there's a lot to like about this one, like some decent practical effects and set pieces.
However the direction and acting really hurt this film.
For one the acting (except Raimi and the male lead) is pretty bad. I'm not sure if the direction was just terrible: the cops constantly go into rooms with their guns out regardless of what is happening and they do so in the most exaggerated and ridiculous fashion.
The CG at parts is also really hit or miss. Some parts are well done, others look like flat renders someone made in 10 minutes.
The ending was also a bit of a let down. Really liked the hook but the resolution was really cliche.
Overall, give it a go if you want to see some decent shlock horror that tries to elevate it with an unusual story.
This one is actually an attempt of an interesting plot hook combo'd with a slasher.
Overall, there's a lot to like about this one, like some decent practical effects and set pieces.
However the direction and acting really hurt this film.
For one the acting (except Raimi and the male lead) is pretty bad. I'm not sure if the direction was just terrible: the cops constantly go into rooms with their guns out regardless of what is happening and they do so in the most exaggerated and ridiculous fashion.
The CG at parts is also really hit or miss. Some parts are well done, others look like flat renders someone made in 10 minutes.
The ending was also a bit of a let down. Really liked the hook but the resolution was really cliche.
Overall, give it a go if you want to see some decent shlock horror that tries to elevate it with an unusual story.
So much fun!
BandSAboutMovies20 October 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Directed by Anthony C. Ferrante (Blind Waters, Sharknado), who wrote it with William C. Martell, Dante's Hotel is the Dontene Hotel and their annual New Year's Eve party. This year, Goldie Stanton (AnnaLynne McCord, Titanic 666) has been hired to run the event. As she gets her life together and continues her sobriety, she wonders if she can handle working this demanding event for the exacting Mr. Emitt (Ted Raimi). Meanwhile, Detective Stone (Moon Bloodgod, Terminator Salvation) is obsessed with the hotel and a man named Daniel Brayer (Judd Nelson), who has been in the hotel for two massacres, one when he was 12 and his parents were killed and another when he was 24. However, no bodies have ever been found. And Stone's superior Captain Pasado (Emilio Rivera) warns her to not make the same mistakes his father did and throw his life away investigating this case.
Dante's Hotel has some really interesting ideas that go beyond the typical horror film. Now, it's Halloween but this is a fresh New Year's Eve movie to add later in the year. I loved the idea that the hotel is just one of many cursed buildings where Father Time (Kevin Porter) kills his 12 victims every year, as well as Bryaer being the only resident of the cursed 12th floor in room 1224. Father Time also has a unique look and the building itself conspires to kill people, even pulling them into walls and ripping them to pieces.
What helps this movie and places it above the everyday Tubi original is the talent in the film, the fact that it's not afraid to get super weird -- an elevator that takes you to a portal to Hell is a strange place to make small talk -- and it has production values that feel way higher than most Asylum films. There's also a bit of Eurohorror to the villain and the endless clocks and gears that appear everywhere.
By the way, this has nothing to do with the video game of the same name.
Dante's Hotel has some really interesting ideas that go beyond the typical horror film. Now, it's Halloween but this is a fresh New Year's Eve movie to add later in the year. I loved the idea that the hotel is just one of many cursed buildings where Father Time (Kevin Porter) kills his 12 victims every year, as well as Bryaer being the only resident of the cursed 12th floor in room 1224. Father Time also has a unique look and the building itself conspires to kill people, even pulling them into walls and ripping them to pieces.
What helps this movie and places it above the everyday Tubi original is the talent in the film, the fact that it's not afraid to get super weird -- an elevator that takes you to a portal to Hell is a strange place to make small talk -- and it has production values that feel way higher than most Asylum films. There's also a bit of Eurohorror to the villain and the endless clocks and gears that appear everywhere.
By the way, this has nothing to do with the video game of the same name.
Stephen King meets Sam Raimi, Aslyum-style!
rdfranciscritic20 October 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Yeah, we're feeling "The Shining" meets "The Evil Dead" meets "1408" mystery-thriller shakes in the frames. That's not a bad thing; the haunted-familiarity gets us up to speed so there's no long-winded preamble to set the story: the red herrings flop immediately and blood flows quickly across the frames -- and not in CGI, but as practical in-camera effects -- and that's appreciated.
This well-shot, acted and paced Tubi-exclusive streamer (debuted this morning, October 20th, 2023) comes courtesy of prolific writer-director Anthony C. Ferrante (in both disciplines, here; you know him from the highly-rated SyFy Channel "Sharknado" series). As with another of The Asylum's writer-director warhorses, Jared Cohen ("Swim," "Shark Season," and "Street Survivors"): even when the plots jump-the-shark, Ferrante always competently works his limited B-List streaming budgets to craft theatrical-level shot films.
While my personal, name-on-the-box streaming encouragement comes courtesy of the always-on-point Judd Nelson: our real leads are the always-dependable AnnaLynne McCord (50-plus streaming flicks-strong; most recently of The Asylum's actually-pretty-good-despite-its-'this is gonna be cheesy'-title, "Titanic 666") and the more mainstream-established Moon Bloodgood (2009's "Terminator Salvation" and 2010's "Faster" with Dwayne Johnson; a recent, multi-episode arc of "NCIS: Lost Angeles").
THE PLOT
We're in a haunted hotel celebrating its 72nd anniversary where, (the story flashes back to the New Year's Eve, 1975 murders, to start) -- and every 12 years, since -- an unknown assailant (we catch a glimpse in the opening frames: he looks like a ragged grim reaper; reminds me of the zombie-knights in Amando de Ossorio's Giallo-bent "Blind Dead" series) murders 12 people (to help with the movie math: murders occurred in 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, and today).
Daniel Brayer (Judd Nelson) is the tale's loopy "legacy tenant": a mysterious "12th Floor" resident -- residing in "Room 1224," natch -- from when the hotel was a residential, rental abode. In a '70s Giallo fashion: he's obsessed by numbers and rants about "multiples of five" and lock-stares walls as he waits for phantom portals to open, etc.
AnnaLynne McCord is Goldie, our public relations/event planner under Ted Raimi's (uh-huh) manager: both are devil-may-care about the guy that just plunged off the roof (to start off the 2023 murders) and all about the party at hand. Moon Bloodgood is the won't-let-the-case-go detective despite her not-showing-all-his-cards boss (played by the always-great Emilo Rivera from FOX-TV's "Sons of Anarchy" and "Mayans MC") urging otherwise. Eventually, Goldie gets wise and teams up with the oddball Brayer to stop the curse once and for all.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
As result of its Stephen King-styled story, I'd enjoy reading "Dante's Hotel" -- as well as "Titanic 666" -- in an expanded novel-adapted form, as both are well-crafted, twisty tales worthy of novelesque backstories (yeah, let's get an eBook division, going, Asylum!). If backed by a major studio with a multi-million budget, either film could have been an effective A24 or Blumhouse-inspired Giallo homage.
This well-shot, acted and paced Tubi-exclusive streamer (debuted this morning, October 20th, 2023) comes courtesy of prolific writer-director Anthony C. Ferrante (in both disciplines, here; you know him from the highly-rated SyFy Channel "Sharknado" series). As with another of The Asylum's writer-director warhorses, Jared Cohen ("Swim," "Shark Season," and "Street Survivors"): even when the plots jump-the-shark, Ferrante always competently works his limited B-List streaming budgets to craft theatrical-level shot films.
While my personal, name-on-the-box streaming encouragement comes courtesy of the always-on-point Judd Nelson: our real leads are the always-dependable AnnaLynne McCord (50-plus streaming flicks-strong; most recently of The Asylum's actually-pretty-good-despite-its-'this is gonna be cheesy'-title, "Titanic 666") and the more mainstream-established Moon Bloodgood (2009's "Terminator Salvation" and 2010's "Faster" with Dwayne Johnson; a recent, multi-episode arc of "NCIS: Lost Angeles").
THE PLOT
We're in a haunted hotel celebrating its 72nd anniversary where, (the story flashes back to the New Year's Eve, 1975 murders, to start) -- and every 12 years, since -- an unknown assailant (we catch a glimpse in the opening frames: he looks like a ragged grim reaper; reminds me of the zombie-knights in Amando de Ossorio's Giallo-bent "Blind Dead" series) murders 12 people (to help with the movie math: murders occurred in 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, and today).
Daniel Brayer (Judd Nelson) is the tale's loopy "legacy tenant": a mysterious "12th Floor" resident -- residing in "Room 1224," natch -- from when the hotel was a residential, rental abode. In a '70s Giallo fashion: he's obsessed by numbers and rants about "multiples of five" and lock-stares walls as he waits for phantom portals to open, etc.
AnnaLynne McCord is Goldie, our public relations/event planner under Ted Raimi's (uh-huh) manager: both are devil-may-care about the guy that just plunged off the roof (to start off the 2023 murders) and all about the party at hand. Moon Bloodgood is the won't-let-the-case-go detective despite her not-showing-all-his-cards boss (played by the always-great Emilo Rivera from FOX-TV's "Sons of Anarchy" and "Mayans MC") urging otherwise. Eventually, Goldie gets wise and teams up with the oddball Brayer to stop the curse once and for all.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
As result of its Stephen King-styled story, I'd enjoy reading "Dante's Hotel" -- as well as "Titanic 666" -- in an expanded novel-adapted form, as both are well-crafted, twisty tales worthy of novelesque backstories (yeah, let's get an eBook division, going, Asylum!). If backed by a major studio with a multi-million budget, either film could have been an effective A24 or Blumhouse-inspired Giallo homage.
Holy cow this is a mess.
fbpwbtcsp24 October 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This movie.would be outlawed in all states that are against abortions, because it is a spectacular one. The only saving grace is the set, as every aspect requiring actual human involvement was handled with embarrassing incompetency. I cannot slam the actors TOO badly, considering the disjointed and sometimes aimless script they had to work with, though certainly no awards will be won here. The protagonist seems to be completely clueless until key points in the plot, where he suddenly reveals insights to the bad guy that he could not possibly know and yet still somehow are rendered completely irrelevant. The bad guy has no discernibly consistent M. O., either: Does he kill you himself? Set ghosts on you? Cause people to kill each other? All of the above, for the obvious reason of simply padding the laughably 'horror' aspect. At least until it REALLY matters, and then he is somehow beholden to be... nice? The ending was hurried and wholly unsatisfying, with another (different) break in consistency just to defeat the Great Evil. There are no rules here, despite the script trying (not very hard) to make you think otherwise, so don't bother trying to figure it out. I think the best that one can hope for is to just treat this movie like an episode of Supernatural or something, though even those were better written, acted, produced, etc. If you want a goofy horror that works best as ambient background noise, this is it, but If you want a decent foray into horror this season, there are about 8,253,643 movies that WON'T leave you utterly confused and wanting a refund for a free show. I really think this is one of those movies that was detrimental to everyone involved; I almost feel bad for the cast.
And, ***SPOILER*** anyone who has ever seen "Murder, She Wrote" knows to keep an eye on any face/name you recognize in a sea of nameless actors.
And, ***SPOILER*** anyone who has ever seen "Murder, She Wrote" knows to keep an eye on any face/name you recognize in a sea of nameless actors.
A Toxic Mixture
Zoltanko21 October 2023
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.
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.
Cool story but....
banjopayton27 April 2024
Certainly not the greatest quality movie. There were a number of editing errors and line mistakes by actors. It could have almost moved to comedy/horror due to the actual concept of the movie.
It was a joy to see Judd Nelson on screen again and his quirky character was probably the most quality performance in the whole movie.
The character and setting development was a high point. Who doesn't love a good old haunted hotel kind of movie and the back story on the main characters kept me watching.
A really great story which could have been better done with a higher budget I'm sure. A good watch if there is nothing else on and you love the horror genre.
It was a joy to see Judd Nelson on screen again and his quirky character was probably the most quality performance in the whole movie.
The character and setting development was a high point. Who doesn't love a good old haunted hotel kind of movie and the back story on the main characters kept me watching.
A really great story which could have been better done with a higher budget I'm sure. A good watch if there is nothing else on and you love the horror genre.
Give it a chance
sbarker-7633524 October 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This movie is actually pretty good,. The characters are likeable, except for the woman cop who is awful, the idea is creative and the deaths are gruesome. The blood and gore effects are believable. I thought the whole movie was quite entertaining. It won't appeal to everyone but I would recommend it to anyone that is looking for some gory fun without it being"too much" you do have to pay attention to some of the explanations or you might not understand it. That woman cop dies in a great fashion, let's just say elevator 1 bad woman cop 0! So I would say give it try you might actually be surprised!
Enjoyable Horror
ladymidath25 October 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Okay Tubi you had me at Ted Raimi and Judd Nelson. That was enough to convince me to watch it. This is a neat little horror. A Tubi original and they are generally pretty good.
This is one of the better ones with an interesting story and a really great antagonist in Father Time. He is definitely one of the more memorable characters and has a menacing look that really adds to the overall feel and tone to the movie.
A New Years Eve party at a large up market hotel turns into a creepy bloodbath with some wonderful special effects.
This is a great Halloween movie with some food acting and very frightening scenes. Grab the candy corn and settle in for a enjoyable movie.
This is one of the better ones with an interesting story and a really great antagonist in Father Time. He is definitely one of the more memorable characters and has a menacing look that really adds to the overall feel and tone to the movie.
A New Years Eve party at a large up market hotel turns into a creepy bloodbath with some wonderful special effects.
This is a great Halloween movie with some food acting and very frightening scenes. Grab the candy corn and settle in for a enjoyable movie.
A highly enjoyable genre effort that's better than expected
kannibalcorpsegrinder1 January 2024
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.
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.
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