13 Hotel Horror Movies to Check Into
This accommodation might cost you an arm and a leg
It’s early December and the holiday season is almost upon us.
Feels like the perfect time of year to watch hotel horror movies, don’t you think?
Hotels and motels are places where we might already feel a little on edge, especially if we only travel a few times a year, or even less. We’re out of our comfort zone and feel a touch unsafe. And that’s the feeling that horror stories love to grab hold of and double down on.
You may have seen or know of some of these hotel horror movies, but here’s hoping there are a couple you haven’t. So, check yourself in and enjoy your stay.
Although, you might want to keep your eyes open next time you stay in a hotel or motel. You never know who’s watching.
Contents
1. The Shining (1980)
Starting with a classic. Love it or hate it, most of us know the 1980 movie version of Stephen King’s novel, The Shining.
“A masterpiece of modern horror”
The Shining is a psychological horror movie that takes place at the Overlook Hotel in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.
Aspiring author and recovering alcoholic, Jack Torrance takes a job as caretaker of the Overlook Hotel which closes down over winter. The Torrance family (Jack, Wendy, and Danny) will be alone and cut-off during the icy months of shutdown.
As the family is being shown around the hotel, the head chef tells Danny about a telepathic ability the two share, which he calls “shining”. He tells Danny the hotel also has a “shine” due to residues from unpleasant past events, and warns him to avoid Room 237.
Jack’s mental health slowly starts to deteriorate with the season as the hotel and its ghostly inhabitants mess with him, pushing him closer and closer to ‘correcting’ his family.
Ratings
Hmm, judging by the ratings, more of us like it than hate it.
IMDB: 8.4 out of 10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 93% audience score | Amazon: 4.7 out of 5
2. Identity (2003)
“The secret lies within.”
Identity is a slasher horror movie that takes place at a remote motel in Nevada.
Ten strangers are stranded at a remote motel during a torrential rainstorm that has washed out roads and knocked out communications. As they get to know each other, they start to get killed off one by one, with the murderer leaving a calling-card of a motel room key, starting at Room 10.
Ratings
IMDB: 7.3 out of 10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 75% audience score | Amazon: 4.6 out of 5
3. 1408 (2007)
“The Dolphin Hotel invites you to stay in any of its stunning rooms. Except one.”
1408 is a paranormal horror movie that takes place at the Dolphin Hotel in New York City.
Mike is an author who debunks paranormal phenomena. When he receives an anonymous postcard depicting the Dolphin Hotel in New York City, with the message: “Don’t enter 1408”, he takes it as a challenge.
He checks into Room 1408 despite the hotel manager telling him that in the last 95 years, no one has lasted longer than an hour in the room and 56 people have died.
He soon finds himself trapped in the room and discovers the reason why.
Ratings
IMDB: 6.8 out of 10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 61% audience score | Amazon: 4.6 out of 5
4. The Beyond (1981)
“Behind this doorway lie the terrifying and unspeakable secrets of hell. No one who sees it lives to describe it. And you shall live in darkness for all eternity.”
The Beyond is an Italian supernatural horror movie that takes place at the Seven Doors Hotel in New Orleans.
In 1981, Liza inherits the Seven Doors Hotel and decides to refurbish and reopen it. Determined to continue, despite bizarre events and warnings, she learns that the hotel is built over a gateway to Hell and that there’s something weird about Room 36.
Ratings
IMDB: 6.6 out of 10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 76% audience score | Amazon: 4.5 out of 5
5. Hell House LLC (2015)
“New York’s Scariest Haunted House Tour.”
Hell House LLC is a found-footage horror movie that takes place in the abandoned Abaddon Hotel in Rockland County, New York.
This is the first of three Hell House LLC movies set in the same hotel.
A haunted house attraction in the abandoned Abaddon hotel was the scene of a horrific tragedy in which fifteen tour-goers and all except one crew member died.
A few years later, a documentary crew investigates the incident. They track down the surviving staff member who gives them film footage shot in the lead-up to the tragedy.
After the crew sets up at the old hotel, strange things start to happen to each of them but the CEO of the company is determined to get the story, no matter what.
Ratings
IMDB: 6.4 out of 10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 72% audience score | Amazon: 4.1 out of 5
6. Cold Prey (2006)
“Prepare for your final descent.”
Cold Prey is a Norwegian slasher horror movie that takes place an abandoned ski lodge.
Five young Norwegians are on a snowboarding vacation when one of them breaks his leg. Their car is too far away for them to reach it before nightfall, so they take shelter in an abandoned hotel.
However, the hotel, which was closed in the seventies following the disappearance of the manager’s son, is not as empty as they think. They soon discover that surviving their stay won’t be easy.
Ratings
IMDB: 6.3 out of 10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 55% audience score | Amazon: 4.0 out of 5
7. Vacancy (2007)
“How can you escape…if they can see everything?”
Vacancy is a thriller horror movie that takes place at the Pinewood Motel, which could be any motel in small town America.
David and Amy are returning home from a party when they take a wrong turn on a remote mountain road. Their car breaks down and is repaired by a local auto repair garage. However, when it breaks down again, they walk back and find the garage is closed, so they book into a nearby motel for the night.
But, there’s something odd about the slasher movies the motel broadcasts for its guests. David and Amy realize that the room in the movies is the same room they are in. They find themselves trapped with hidden cameras watching everything they do. They desperately try to find a way out before they become the stars of the next movie.
Ratings
IMDB: 6.2 out of 10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 42% audience score | Amazon: 4.4 out of 5
8. Bug (2006)
“First they send in their drone… then they find their queen.”
Bug is a psychological horror movie that takes place at a run-down motel in Oklahoma.
A lonely woman trying to stay away from her abusive ex-husband shacks up in a seedy motel with an equally lonely but paranoid war veteran. When he discovers a bug in the bed, they both start to believe their bodies are infested with bugs and the line between reality and delusion starts to blur.
Ratings
IMDB: 6.1 out of 10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 34% audience score | Amazon: 4.1 out of 5
9. The Night (2020)
“It never ends.”
The Night is a psychological horror movie that takes place at the Hotel Normandie in Los Angeles.
An Iranian couple living in the United States with their one-year-old daughter, are driving home one night when their car’s navigation system starts malfunctioning, and they end up getting lost. After driving around for a couple of hours, they decide to spend the night at the Hotel Normandie. The receptionist tells them that they have one suite available, and that the hotel doors are locked at night.
Throughout a seemingly endless night, mysterious disturbances ruin their night’s rest as they soon realize they’re locked-in with a malevolent force that hungers for the dark secrets they’ve kept from one another.
Ratings
IMDB: 5.5 out of 10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 50% audience score | Amazon: 3.6 out of 5
10. The Innkeepers (2011)
“Some guests never check out.”
The Innkeepers is a supernatural horror movie that takes place at the Yankee Pedlar Inn in Connecticut.
The Yankee Pedlar Inn, once a grand hotel, is now in its last week of operating. Claire and Luke are the only two employees left and they’re both fascinated by the haunted history of the hotel, particularly the death of a bride who hanged herself after being left at the altar and whose body was hidden in the basement by the hotel owners.
As they investigate, spooky things happen as old guests check in for a last stay.
Ratings
IMDB: 5.5 out of 10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 42% audience score | Amazon: 4.1 out of 5
11. The Whittler (2020)
“A southern ghost tale about getting what’s comin’ to ya.”
The Whittler is a supernatural horror movie that takes place at a 200-year-old haunted inn.
With the help of a vengeful ghost, a young girl must rescue her parents from a brutal gang of rednecks who are robbing her parent’s 200-year-old haunted inn.
Ratings
IMDB: 5.3 out of 10 | Amazon: 3.8 out of 5
12. See No Evil (2006)
“This Summer, Evil Gets Raw.”
See No Evil is a slasher horror movie that takes place in the abandoned Blackwell Hotel.
Ex-police-officer Frank is working as a guard in the County Detention Center. He takes a group of delinquents to the abandoned Blackwell Hotel with the purpose of cleaning it up and preparing it to be a shelter for the homeless. In return for their help, the delinquents will have their sentences reduced.
None of them are aware that a reclusive psychopath has holed up in the rotting hotel. When one of the teens is captured, those who remain band together to survive against the brutal killer.
Ratings
IMDB: 5.0 out of 10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 50% audience score | Amazon: 4.4 out of 5
13. Followed (2018)
“What happened to #DropTheMike?”
Followed is a found-footage horror movie that takes place at the Lennox Hotel in Los Angeles.
DropTheMike is a controversial vlogger who decides to spend the Halloween weekend at the supposedly cursed Lennox Hotel to increase his subscriber numbers. What starts out as a bit of fun soon turns terrifying and deadly for him and his crew.
Ratings
IMDB: 4.9 out of 10 | Rotten Tomatoes: 46% audience score | Amazon: 3.7 out of 5
Published: 6 December 2022
