The Hotel
Director: Anukul Jarotok
Year: 2002
Starring: Winai Klaibutr, Panu Suwanno
Time: 109 minutes
This low budget horror/supernatural film plays
out very slowly and has next to no scares. The ending is actually fairly
good and somewhat touching but by then you will likely long have lost interest
in the proceedings. The most annoying thing about the film is that it falls
into that horror genre that should be labeled “stupid characters who deserve
to die”. Fairly early on it is clear that living in their environment is
deadly and yet no one has the good sense to just say adios even after a
number of deaths.
A family of two older brothers and a nephew and
niece has just purchased an old hotel and begin the process of renovating
it. One day a wall is torn down and a Buddhist relic is uncovered and soon
very bad things begin happening to people. A college friend of the nephew
arrives and is immediately attracted to the niece and a small romance blooms.
It starts off slowly – an accident, then an apparent suicide by one of
the guests and then murder. The finger of guilt seems to point at one of
the uncles but he swears that he knows nothing. It soon becomes apparent
that an angry ghost is taking possession of the hotel inhabitants and causing
them to commit violence. A priest is brought in but he can do no good and
slowly it seeps out that the roots of this go back a generation and is
very personal.
The Thai DVD and VCD have English subs.
My rating for this film: 5.0