Hotel (2004)

What a waste of my time!!!

Best movie ever!

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

"Hotel" is a German-language movie from 2004, so this one is already considerably older than a decade. It was written and directed by Jessica Hausner who is probably among Austria's most known filmmakers, maybe even top of the pile if we talk about females. This film received a pretty strong deal of awards recognition back then, for example also at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. It is a really short movie as it gets barely to the 75-minute mark and this already includes the credits. In terms of the cast, lead actress Franziska Weisz is among Austria's most known while Birgit Minichmayr made it even bigger and is really well-known here in Germany too. This film is the story of a young woman and we find out about her first days as a hotel employee. It is all about the mystery really. It is a film that is really uncomfortable to watch, but this atmospheric take also makes it so efficient. The woman who worked there before Weisz' character disappeared without a trace apparently and there are other creepy aspects about the film. I personally enjoyed the mystery more than supernatural references about witches, but that is of course just personal take. These parts (i.e. the middle part of the film) is where the movie does the least perhaps. The beginning is much better and the ending is really nice too, especially the very final shot and sound. The apparent dislike from the other employees towards the central character also add a lot to the story as you never know what is wrong with these people and what may be the reason for the reactions. The lost chain scene is one of the very best the film has to offer. So yeah, as a whole I can understand why this film was received so well, maybe not necessarily by critics, but by audiences. A lot stays in the dark and hidden here and this is exactly the approach I like. There is a reason why Blair Witch Project is my favorite horror film of all times. Sure this one here is not anywhere near that level or best of the year material, but it is worth checking out fur sure. It is also not really an actors' movie, but this is nothing new about horror films and frequently the case there. of course this doesn't mean that the actors were weak or anything. they are as good as the rest about it all. I suggest you watch it. Thumbs up.

I saw that movie at a film festival in Januray 2005. On my personal record, it was the second best out of the 10 movies I had seen there. The film does polarize very much - either you like it or you hate it. Especially the end is very controversial. "Hotel" is not a conventional horror movie and it is certainly not meant to be shown at the big block buster cinemas. It is much more a low budget, minimalist, purist version of a scary movie. The film has very subtitle, psychological horror! If you liked "Blair Witch Project", you will enjoy this movie too.The Austrian accent of the most actors give the soundtrack a special note and make the already very reserved atmosphere between the characters even more chilly. By the way: No one left the cinema or fell asleep during screening as reported in other comments on this site ... <:

I saw this "movie" last year and I'm sorry to say that it was the worst movie I ever saw. There is no acting, no story, no suspense, no music, ... There is NOTHING lasting the whole film long. The "highlight" of the "movie" is that a door is shut when the main character returns (of course you don't see how it's shut since the "movie" doesn't contain any action).I wouldn't call this piece even a "movie" since it is such an unbounded cheek. If i was possible to vote not from 1 to 10 but from -10 to 10 I would have chosen -10 without hesitating!How can 80 minutes of boredom win a prize?

I saw this "movie" on a movie festival yesterday. The story sounded moderately interesting, so I entered the cinema hall with the feeling the movie will be somewhere around the average level.Now I'm re-reading the previous review and still can't believe the author founded this movie great... Different people, different points of view, I would say.I'll tell you what happened at the cinema.10 or 15 minutes after the beginning, maybe 3 or 4 people already had left the hall, grumbling for what crap they gave their money! Most of the rest (including me) were gazing at the screen, refusing to believe a movie released at 2005 could be so incomparably stupid! When the agony finally finished, this movie, out of a sudden, made most of the people roar with laugher! I would really suggest it for all the people suffering from some sort of depression or inferiority complex;) You feel really dumb? Believe me, yours is nothing... :) I personally found this movie unbelievably boring, with boring storyline (well, I would say no storyline at all), boring characters that are just moving around and do nothing, and totally boring dialogue. After 30 minutes of watching you will just want to get out and stop that pain... However, the average score of the movie shows that it has its audience, and this audience loves it (I can't believe that, but it's a fact). Look, I'm European too, and hearing (and saying) every day how stupid are Hollywood movies these days, expect from an European movie (awarded!) to not be one of the top 3 worst movies ever in my personal list!