All You Can Eat

One subject that can be an effective horror tool is food and body health. Stephen King explored the horrifying effects of rapid weight loss in his book Thinner. Freddy Krueger has had a few particularly delicious food-related kills, involving a meatball pizza or stuffing a person’s face. So, it’s natural that a filmmaker explores a whole body horror aspect of the topic. Enter Natalie Erika James. James is known for Relic and Apartment 7A and has written and directed Saccharine. IFC and Shudder have just released the savory trailer, which you can view in the above embed.

A buffet of info

Saccharine stars Midori Francis, Danielle Macdonald and Madeleine Madden.

The official synopsis in the press release reads,
“Hana (Midori Francis), a lovelorn medical student, becomes terrorized by a sinister force after taking part in an obscure weight loss craze: eating human ashes.

Filmmaker Natalie Erika James’ (RELIC) third feature offers a modern and timely take on toxic messaging around weight and appearance that permeates every corner of our culture. With her latest film SACCHARINE, James takes an intimate look into one woman’s struggle with body image, self-worth, and shame-driven compulsion, told through a supernatural body-horror with a queer lens.

Independent Film Company will open SACCHARINE in theaters across the U.S. on Friday, May 22nd followed by a Shudder streaming release in July.”

The film has made the rounds at film festivals, including Sundance, the Berlin International Film Festival and the Overlook Film Festival. Guy Lodge of Variety said of the film, “The third feature from writer-director James is a timely one… functions as a cautionary tale for the mania caused by a relentlessly body-conscious culture, tainting everything from friendly conversation to punitively aspirational Instagram feeds.”

What did we think?

Our own Chris Bumbray gave a positive review for the film after screening it at Sundance, saying in his review, “While it’s not The Substance, and isn’t as much of a knockout as another great Sundance body-horror flick from last year, The Ugly Stepsister, Saccharine is always stylish and compelling. It will make its debut on Shudder later this year and seems bound to be one of the streamer’s buzzier titles, with the film received warmly here in Park City. It’s one to keep an eye out for.”

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In 2002, director Michael Rymer showed us a different side of the vampire Lestat in Queen of the Damned. Today, Anne Rice‘s iconic blood-sucker returns to the stage for a trailer that fans of AMC‘s Interview With the Vampire series will want to sink their teeth into. In The Vampire Lestat trailer, Sam Reid’s Lestat Lioncourt performs Billy Idol’s “Dancing with Myself” in front of an arena full of screaming fans. It’s a sight to behold, and we’re already sweaty from the heat Rice’s undead Lothario is giving off.

What’s The Vampire Lestat About?

The latest chapter of Rice’s Immortal Universe follows Reid’s Lestat “as the world’s first immortal rock star on an electric multi-city tour, while he’s haunted by “muses” from his rebellious past. As his band’s popularity and star power rise, so does Lestat’s influence over vampires and humans alike, leaving others to contend with Lestat’s power in the face of the Great Conversion, an unnatural surge in the vampire population.”

According to the new trailer for The Vampire Lestat, Reid’s dreamy character has been alive and undead for 265 years. He’s witnessed the French Revolution, the electric light, and the atomic bomb; now he’s ready to cast a spell over billions, drinking in their adoration as he becomes more like a god than ever before.

Who Else Stars in The Vampire Lestat?

In addition to Reid, The Vampire Lestat stars Jacob Anderson, Assad Zaman, Eric Bogosian, Delainey Hayles, and Jennifer Ehle. Mark Johnson executive-produced The Vampire Lestat alongside creator, writer, and showrunner Rolin Jones, Hannah Moscovitch, Christopher Rice, and the late Anne Rice. Technically, The Vampire Lestat is the third season of AMC’s The Interview with the Vampire series, featuring original music and lyrics by composer Daniel Hart, performed by Reid.

What Happens in The Vampire Lestat Trailer?

The Vampire Lestat trailer offers a super-charged look at Lestat’s ascent from a wandering vampire to a rock-and-roll god worshipped by fans. Once Lestat gets a taste of the spotlight, he’s intoxicated by its unique pull and power over the masses. He doesn’t want to be adored by thousands; he wants billions to worship at the altar of his band. Still, as Lestat begins to lose control of his dream, his bandmates and rival vampires begin challenging his place at the center of the world stage.

What do you think about today’s trailer for The Vampire Lestat? Are you excited for the new season of Anne Rice’s Immortal Universe to begin? Let us know in the comments section below.

The Vampire Lestat premieres Sunday, June 7 at 9 pm ET/PT on AMC and AMC+.

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Before the cinematic universes of both Marvel and DC, the superhero genre was a scattered dartboard of “who knows how this is going to do at the box office.” For every Batman (1989) directed by Tim Burton, there was a The Punisher (1989) from Cannon Films. Instead of interconnected worlds and guaranteed franchises, audiences got throwbacks and one-offs like The Phantom, The Crow, The Shadow, and Darkman. Only one of those is secretly, or not so secretly, a horror movie too.

Darkman was a shot at major studio redemption for its creators. It went through multiple rewrites, a difficult casting process, and a challenging shoot and edit. And yet, somehow, miraculously, it still ended up with a shockingly long legacy.

The film hit number one at the box office and became wildly successful in spite of itself, bringing heavy horror vibes to a hero who doesn’t hesitate to kill or let people die. This is Darkman, and more than three decades later, it’s still the best horror superhero movie ever put to screen.

How Darkman Almost Didn’t Happen

It’s honestly amazing where Darkman ended up, considering how easily it could have failed. It never reached the heights of Batman or Batman Returns, but it surpasses nearly everything that came before it and holds up better than most entries in the Marvel or DC film catalogs. Its would-be successors stumbled. Jonah Hex failed outright, while Dylan Dog: Dead of Night never really got a fair shot. Yet somehow, Darkman became a franchise and even expanded into multiple forms of media.

So where did it all start?

Ironically, Sam Raimi originally wanted to make a movie about The Shadow. But Universal Pictures owned the rights and wasn’t interested in handing them over. So Raimi did what Raimi does, he created his own version.

In the early 1980s, he developed the idea for Darkman, starting with a short story about a man who could change his face. That evolved into a 40-page treatment about a hero who had lost his face entirely. Raimi has claimed it wasn’t meant to be horror, but his inspirations say otherwise: The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Phantom of the Opera, and the classic Universal monster movies of the 1930s and 1940s.

He may see it as tragedy. But let’s be honest, it’s horror. And it’s the best superhero horror movie ever made.

A Writing Process That Shouldn’t Have Worked

In 1987, Raimi pitched the project to Universal, which greenlit it with a modest $8–12 million budget. The script, however, became a bit of a nightmare.

Films with too many writers usually turn into a mess. But here, Raimi assembled a surprisingly strong group: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, his brother Ivan Raimi, and writers Daniel and Joshua Goldin. After 12 drafts, Raimi finally had a shooting script packed with ideas, characters, and a tone that somehow held together. And while the horror might not scream off the page, it absolutely comes alive on screen, rooted in a distinctly 1940s noir-horror sensibility.

Horror in Style, Sound, and Substance

That tone starts immediately with the opening credits, backed by a sweeping score from Danny Elfman. It feels almost like a Tim Burton film, complete with operatic emotion and gangster imagery, but then it pivots into something darker. After a deliberately over-the-top opening, a blood-curdling scream carries us into the story.

At first, it plays like a detective story with a touch of romance. But once Larry Drake’s Durant and his crew confront Dr. Peyton Westlake, played by Liam Neeson, the horror fully kicks in.

Westlake isn’t just beaten. He’s tortured in his own lab, his skin melting before he’s blown up in an explosion that should have killed him.

Body Horror Done Right

The special effects lean hard into horror, and they work. Unlike later attempts like Jonah Hex, which relied on weak CGI, Darkman uses practical effects to make Westlake’s condition genuinely disturbing. His melted features, exposed wounds, and unstable synthetic skin all create a sense of physical discomfort.

There’s even a strange, almost Ray Harryhausen-like quality to some of the effects; uncanny and tactile in a way CGI rarely achieves. The closest comparison might be Clayface from Batman: The Animated Series, but Darkman is far more unsettling.

The Real Horror: What He Lost

The physical damage is only part of it. Westlake loses everything: his work, his identity, and his relationship with Julie, played by Frances McDormand. Worse, he loses the ability to feel. And as the film explains, when physical sensation disappears, emotional control starts to unravel.

What we get is a man teetering on the edge, one who snaps violently and unpredictably. Raimi visualizes this with his signature style: rapid zooms, distorted imagery, and flashes of something monstrous lurking beneath the surface. This isn’t just a revenge story. It’s a psychological breakdown.

Carnival Chaos and Pure Raimi Energy

One of the film’s most infamous scenes happens at a carnival. Trying to reconnect with Julie, Westlake attempts something simple: winning her a prize. When the carny refuses, he snaps. What follows is one of the most bizarre and memorable moments in the film: screaming, finger-breaking chaos that feels more like Evil Dead II than a superhero movie.

It’s absurd. It’s violent. It’s horror-comedy at its finest.

A Monster, Not a Hero

Darkman borrows heavily from classic Universal horror. Westlake’s abandoned factory becomes his gothic castle. He lurks in shadows, stalking those who wronged him. But unlike Batman, he doesn’t stop at intimidation. He kills. Brutally.

Whether it’s dropping a man into traffic or watching another fall to his death with disturbing satisfaction, Westlake crosses every line. By the end, he’s not a hero. He’s a monster shaped by tragedy, and fully aware of it.

A Surprise Hit with a Lasting Legacy

Against all odds, Darkman was a hit. It earned around $48 million on a $14 million budget and was well received by critics and audiences alike. After the struggles of The Evil Dead films and the failure of Crimewave, Raimi had finally delivered a major studio success. And more importantly, he created something unique: a superhero film that fully embraces horror.

Sequels, Spin-Offs, and Strange Afterlives

No one expected Darkman to become a franchise, but it did. It spawned two direct-to-video sequels: Darkman II: The Return of Durant and Darkman III: Die Darkman Die, both starring Arnold Vosloo.

There was also an unproduced TV pilot, a video game released on platforms like the NES and Game Boy, and even comic book crossovers, including one with Evil Dead.

It never got a toy line or cartoon, which feels like a missed opportunity.

Final Thoughts

Darkman was well received in 1990 and it still holds up today. It’s everything you want from a Sam Raimi film: inventive, chaotic, funny, and just a little unhinged. But more than that, it’s still the best horror superhero movie ever made.

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Antoine Fuqua’s Michael moonwalks into theaters this Friday (read our review here). Still, before the divisive biopic about the Gloved One arrives in theaters, Paramount Pictures is capitalizing on the hype with a new Michael Jackson-themed trailer for Scary Movie.

The new promo features Saturday Night Live alum Kenan Thompson as a recording artist dressed like Michael Jackson. As Thompson’s character gets ready to lay down some tracks, his producer reminds him that he’s not MJ. However, Kenan disagrees and argues that he doesn’t need a monkey like Michael, since he’s got a llama (dressed like Jackson from his “Beat It” music video). When his producer isn’t convinced, Thompson begins busting out signature moves like hand gestures, kicks, and the moonwalk. After inadvertently laying the smackdown on his backup singers, Thompson moonwalks out of the recording booth before falling down a flight of stairs.

Who Stars in Scary Movie?

In Scary Movie, two friends (Cindy and Brenda) find themselves caught up in mayhem involving killers, monsters, and supernatural creatures once again. Anna Faris and Regina Hall lead the cast, which includes Marlon Wayans, Damon Wayans Jr., Lochlyn Munro, Chris Elliott, Heidi Gardner, Anthony Anderson, Cheri Oteri, Jon Abrahams, Dave Sheridan, Shawn Wayans, Sydney Park, Charlene Amoia, Kim Wayans, Felissa Rose, Olivia Rose Keegan, Savannah Lee Nassif, and more.

What Movies Does Scary Movie Parody?

Michael Tiddes (Fifty Shades of Black, A Haunted House, Naked) directs Scary Movie from a script by Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Craig Wayans, and Rick Alvarez. The upcoming horror comedy spoofs movies like Scream, Michael, Halloween, Smile, Get Out, Longlegs, Sinners, Terrifier, and many more.

What’s Scary Movie About?

“Twenty-six years after outrunning a suspiciously familiar masked killer (“Ghostface”), the Core Four are back in the killer’s crosshairs and no horror movie IP is safe. Marlon Wayans (“Shorty”), Shawn Wayans (“Ray”), Anna Faris (“Cindy”), and Regina Hall (“Brenda”) reunite in Scary Movie alongside returning favorites and fresh faces to slash through reboots, remakes, requels, prequels, sequels, spin-offs, elevated horror, origin stories, anything with the word legacy in it, and every “final chapter” that absolutely isn’t final. Nothing is sacred. No trope survives. Every line gets crossed. The Wayans are back to cancel the Cancel Culture.”

Scary Movie arrives in theaters on June 12, 2026.

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Last week, Warner Bros. and DC Studios unveiled a “disturbing” teaser for what some are calling a full-blown body-horror movie, Clayface, at CinemaCon. For the time being, we can only take the witnesses’ word for the film’s grotesque imagery and unsettling tone. However, today brings some teases for DC’s experimental feature in the form of faux magazine clippings featuring the movie’s central character, Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries), and information from Gotham Medical about a game-changing technology that could literally change the face of society as we know it.

The faux magazine pages are making the rounds on social media, with the first tease being a cover from Gotham Medical magazine, highlighting “The New Face of Regenerative Medicine,” thanks to Caitlyn Corr. The latest issue of the medical-based publication also features stories about a Mental Health Revolution, The Future of Organ Transplants, and Urban Health Challenges. Meanwhile, a second teaser features rising star Matt Hagen looking buff, handsome, and ready for the spotlight. Matt is a hot ticket in Hollywood, but as we all know, a star’s light can quickly fade if they’re not careful.

First official teases for the CLAYFACE movie.

In theaters October 23, 2026.

Trailer coming soon. pic.twitter.com/zeuzD5VqOE

— Bloody Disgusting (@BDisgusting) April 21, 2026

Based on the shape-shifting villain of the same name from the Batman comics, Clayface will be a big departure from what we’ve seen in the DCU so far. DC Studios co-head James Gunn has even described the movie as a “complete horror film,” so pushing the release into October makes sense.

“We’ve got Clayface, which is a totally different thing,” Gunn said. “Although it’s in the same universe, it’s a complete horror film. That’s one of the things we want to do – there’s not a company style. It’s not like every movie is going to be like Superman. The artists – the directors and the writers – each one will bring their own sense to it… That’s what we want to bring to the films because we don’t want people to get bored. We want to invigorate people.”

James Watkins (Speak No Evil) directs Clayface from a script by Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House) and Hossein Amini (Obi-Wan Kenobi). Tom Rhys Harries (The Gentlemen) stars alongside Naomi Ackie (No Time to Die) and Max Minghella (The Handmaid’s Tale).

Clayface oozes into theaters on October 23.

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Jake

A hotel should be the safest kind of nowhere, and that’s exactly why the genre loves it. From the moment Psycho turned a quiet roadside motel into a terror hot spot, horror movies have been obsessed with turning places you’re supposed to trust into places where nothing can be trusted. Since then, films like The Shining have taken things even further, transforming entire hotels into living nightmares. These are the scariest, sleaziest, most unforgettable horror hotels ever put on screen… and trust us, you won’t want to stay the night.

What is the scariest horror hotel?

The scariest horror hotel is the Bates Motel from Psycho (1960).

• It defined the “killer motel” trope
• Introduced psychological horror tied to location
• Turned an everyday roadside stop into a place of terror

Runner-up: The Overlook Hotel from The Shining (1980), which elevates the haunted hotel into something vast, supernatural, and psychologically consuming.

COMPARISON LAYER

Types of Horror Hotels (Ranked Entries Explained)

Psychological / Haunted Spaces

• The Shining (Overlook Hotel)
• 1408 (Dolphin Hotel)

Fear comes from:

• Isolation
• Madness
• Supernatural influence

Slasher / Human Threat Locations

• Psycho (Bates Motel)
• Vacancy (Pinewood Motel)

Fear comes from:

• Voyeurism
• Predators hiding in plain sight
• Loss of safety in everyday spaces

Exploitation / Sleaze Hotels

• Slaughter Hotel
• Private Parts
• Eaten Alive

Fear comes from:

• Moral decay
• Grimy environments
• Unpredictable human behavior

Torture / Trap-Based Locations

• Hostel
• Crawlspace

Fear comes from:

• Physical suffering
• Power imbalance
• Elaborate death mechanisms

Horror-Comedy / Grotesque Settings

• Motel Hell

Fear comes from:

• Absurdity mixed with brutality
• Tonal contrast (humor + horror)

#1. PSYCHO (1960)

Hotel: Bates Motel
Horror Type: Psychological / Slasher
Why It’s Scary:

• Normal setting turned deadly
• Iconic voyeurism and identity horror
• The house + motel create layered tension

Key Scene: Shower murder sequence

One-Line Verdict:
The blueprint for every killer motel that followed.

You already knew what awaited us in the top spot. Without the Bates Motel, perhaps the following establishments would never exist. So we owe a debt of gratitude to Hitchcock for changing the game in 1960, not just giving us a modern day slasher template, but for also incorporating the motel setting as the backdrop. Think of the jarring taxidermy room, with all those stuffed birds, or the infamous shower scene with Bernard Herrmann’s searing strings. Think of the main house atop the hill, the winding staircase, and the window where we see Norman silhouetted in drag. Or that surreal inside shot of Arbogast falling down the stairs after Norman blades him across the face. All of these sequences, all legendary film lore, take place in the famed Bates Motel. Horror history!

#2. THE SHINING (1980)

Hotel: Overlook Hotel
Horror Type: Psychological / Supernatural

Why It’s Scary:

• Massive, inescapable environment
• Reality distortion
• Constant sense of dread without darkness

Key Scene: Room 237

One-Line Verdict:
A haunted hotel that feels alive and wants you to stay forever.

King + Kubrick = The Overlook Hotel, perhaps the most daunting and ghastly horror hotel of all. On sheer vastness and production value alone – the extravagant lighting schemes, labyrinthine corridors, the reflective surfaces, myriad mirrors – The Shining aptly subverts horror convention and gives us a fright flick, one of the scariest of all time, that never takes place in the dark. At least, not until the finale, but even then it takes place during a nighttime whiteout, and in a lit hedge maze. The genius of Kubrick! Then of course there’s the hallway where the sinister twin girls reside, not to mention room 237 where the old hag rises from the tub. On and on… the sumptuous Gold Room, the blood-red lavatory, the giant kitchen and storeroom, the regal lobby, Ullman’s eerie office… all spectacular set-pieces from one of the all time greats!

#3. EATEN ALIVE (1977)

Hotel: Starlight Hotel
Horror Type: Exploitation / Backwoods Horror

Why It’s Scary:

• Filthy, grimy atmosphere that feels suffocating
• Unpredictable violence from unstable characters
• Crocodile-fed body disposal adds grotesque edge

Key Scene: Victims fed to the gator

One-Line Verdict:
A sleazy swamp nightmare where survival is pure luck.

I can’t broadcast it loud enough: I love, love, love everything about Tobe Hooper’s Eaten Alive. The filthy look of it, the off-kilter tone, the deplorable characters, and of course the setting, the misnamed Starlight Hotel. There’s nothing dreamy about the place at all, it’s pure nightmarish hell! I mean, when the flick opens up with Robert Englund, pre-Freddy, dropping a line that Quentin Tarantino would later paraphrase in Kill Bill, you know you’re in for a fun ride! This is backwoods horror at its finest, where if you step on the wrong toes, you’ll be sliced to death with a giant scythe and fed to a hungry gator that lives in a swamp-puddle beside the house. Yeah, no joke. But it’s still funny. Go figure. Interestingly enough, an alternate title for Eaten Alive is Slaughter Hotel.

#4. SLAUGHTER HOTEL (1971)

Hotel: Slaughter Hotel (psychiatric clinic)
Horror Type: Exploitation / Giallo

Why It’s Scary:

• Blurs line between hospital and hotel
• Unhinged characters and unchecked hedonism
• Murder mystery layered over sexual chaos

Key Scene: Masked killer stalking patients

One-Line Verdict:
A depraved asylum posing as a luxury retreat.

Akin to an X-rated picture, the 1971 Italian sleaze-fest known as Slaughter Hotel, starring the great Klaus Kinski, has everything you’d ever want in a seedy-hotel-set exploitation doozy. Aside from Kinski skulking around in the night, perving out on random female tenants, the flick features awesome death sequences, lesbian shower scenes, up-close full-frontal shots, and if that isn’t enough, a masked killer anchoring a murder whodunit. I love this movie. Thank you Fernando Di Leo! Even better, to murk things up, the titular hotel is actually a psychiatric clinic for deeply disturbed rich women, which I suppose is to blame for the unabashed hedonism and violent debauchery most of the inmates indulge in. Oh, how I wish such hotels existed!

#5. CRAWLSPACE (1986)

Hotel: Apartment complex (Kinski’s building)
Horror Type: Psychological / Torture

Why It’s Scary:

• Hidden passageways enable constant surveillance
• Predator lives inside the walls
• Trap-based violence foreshadows later horror trends

Key Scene: Kinski watching tenants through vents

One-Line Verdict:
A building where privacy is an illusion and death is built in.

The sublimely unnerving Klaus Kinski double dips on this list, as the dude’s clearly the master of running habitats for troubled young women. In the excellent 1986 sleaze-fest Crawlspace, Kinski plays the demented son of a Nazi surgeon and oversees a rundown apartment complex for a range of such gals. Thing is, the women don’t realize Kinski has festooned the place with deadly booby traps, hidden peep rooms, and secret air-duct passages that he slithers through all day to disgustingly peek through. And if the girls get out of line, Kinski kills them at once! This movie rules, not only for inspiring the entire Saw conceit (trap and torture with elaborate devices), but for the slightly offbeat tone and hilarious dark humor stitched throughout. Kinski plays the straight man for comedy like no other!

#6. HOSTEL (2005)

Hotel: Slovakian Hostel
Horror Type: Torture / Survival Horror

Why It’s Scary:

• Hospitality masks a system of organized torture
• Victims are commodified for entertainment
• Sudden tonal shift from travel fun to nightmare

Key Scene: The torture chamber reveal

One-Line Verdict:
A backpacker’s paradise turned industrialized nightmare.

Just when you thought hostels were a sensibly affordable alternative to ritzy hotels, Eli Roth put that thought to eternal sleep with his 2005 trap and torture ditty Hostel. Of course, Roth sequelized the premise two years later with reversed-gender leads. But the thing about that first flick was the element of surprise behind the reason for such a horrifying place existing to begin with. Only in a late expository scene do we come to understand that these elaborately gruesome tortures are sick psycho-fantasies played out by rich, thrill-seeking businessmen. That reveal is almost as disarming as the visuals that come before it, including repulsive living quarters that surely decreased Slovakia’s tourism rate. Straight heinous!

#7. 1408 (2007)

Hotel: Dolphin Hotel (Room 1408)
Horror Type: Psychological / Supernatural

Why It’s Scary:

• Single room becomes a reality-warping prison
• Targets the psyche of someone expecting fear
• Relentless escalation with no escape

Key Scene: The room begins reshaping reality

One-Line Verdict:
Proof that one room is all horror needs.

Probably not the best Stephen King adaptation, but certainly not the worst. I’ve always enjoyed many things about the haunted hotel yarn 1408. First off, I’m a lifelong John Cusack fan, and getting to see him basically do a one-room, one-man show, running the full gamut of human emotion, is always a fun watch. Throw in a spine-tingling twist finale, the ominous presence of Samuel L. Jackson, and the lavish quarters of the Dolphin Hotel itself, and 1408 deserves rank among the horror-hotel pantheon. Part of the reason is also the character Cusack plays. He’s an author who specializes in paranormal experiences, so when he agrees to stay in the notorious room 1408, he’s already expecting horrible things to happen. Things he’s already used to experiencing. That adds a complex dimension to what he encounters in the room, and ultimately how he handles it.

#8.VACANCY (2007)

Hotel: Pinewood Motel
Horror Type: Thriller / Slasher

Why It’s Scary:

• Hidden cameras turn guests into victims
• Snuff-film concept adds disturbing realism
• Isolation with no outside help

Key Scene: Discovery of snuff tapes

One-Line Verdict:
A roadside stop where you become the entertainment.

One of the cool things about Nimrod Antal’s Vacancy is how it used modern motel technology to create a suspenseful thriller. Hidden surveillance cameras play a large role in the flick, as they basically function to capture human death on film at the Pinewood Motel, which serves as a real-life snuff joint. Obviously, Kate Beckinsale as the damsel in distress lends instant sympathy, and while my man Frank Whaley’s initial appearance is a bit too fishy to forget about come conclusion time, the movie is a fun and original enough spin on the isolated motel subgenre to cast some love at. Again, I found the final reveal of the bad guy a bit predictable, but so what, the single-location thriller is brisk enough to remain entertaining throughout (and it’s only 85 minutes long).

#9. PRIVATE PARTS (1972)

Hotel: Skid-row hotel
Horror Type: Horror Satire / Exploitation

Why It’s Scary:

• Unpredictable, bizarre character behavior
• Constant sense of unease and moral decay
• Mystery driven by perversion and paranoia

Key Scene: Discovery of the hotel’s twisted secrets

One-Line Verdict:
A bizarre descent into sleaze and psychological chaos.

Nope, not the cheeky Howard Stern flick from the 90s, the Private Parts I wholeheartedly urge you to ogle is Paul Bartel’s 1972 horror satire. And I urge you to do so ASAP! While uneven, the grimy L.A. skid-row hotel and all its gnarly skin-crawling exploits are too good to merely pass by. See, the flick follows a female Ohioan who goes out west to stay with an eccentric band of L.A. innkeepers, only to become embroiled in a taut web of murder mystery, deeply perverted debauchery, and other foul head-scratching oddities. This one gets bizarre! As with good exploitation slime, the flick doesn’t rely on well known actors or stars, it instead creates a mood and atmosphere, a tone of the utterly insane, all of which come together to form a memorably wicked experience.

#10. MOTEL HELL (1980)

Hotel: Motel Hell
Horror Type: Horror-Comedy / Slasher

Why It’s Scary:

• Victims turned into food products
• Cheerful tone clashes with brutal violence
• Rural isolation amplifies helplessness

Key Scene: Victims buried alive in the garden

One-Line Verdict:
Where the hospitality is deadly and the menu is worse.

It’s right in the title, is it not? This grisly 1980 horror-comedy remains one of the pillars of roadside terror, and while I may slightly enjoy the unheralded 1986 flick Mountaintop Motel Massacre a tad bit more, Motel Hell cannot go unmentioned. You already know what amenities are offered: Farmer Vincent will scoop you up, bury you alive in his lovely motel garden, and if you’re lucky, he’ll turn you into one of his food-stand fritters. Quite the host! The flick comes from the somewhat underrated Kevin Connor, whose first feature was the Amicus horror anthology Beyond the Grave. Motel Hell is probably Connor’s second best flick, largely due to the balance of gruesome violence and irreverent black humor.

Top 10 Scariest Horror Movie Hotels (Quick List)

1. Psycho (1960) – The original killer motel that redefined horror
2. The Shining (1980) – A haunted labyrinth of madness and isolation
3. Eaten Alive (1977) – A filthy swamp motel with a deadly secret
4. Slaughter Hotel (1971) – A depraved asylum disguised as luxury lodging
5. Crawlspace (1986) – A building wired for surveillance and death
6. Hostel (2005) – Backpacking turns into industrialized torture
7. 1408 (2007) – A single hotel room becomes a psychological prison
8. Vacancy (2007) – Guests become victims in a snuff-film operation
9. Private Parts (1972) – A bizarre descent into sleaze and madness
10. Motel Hell (1980) – Where the hospitality is deadly and edible

FAQ SECTION

What is the most famous hotel in horror movies?

The most famous is the Bates Motel from Psycho (1960), followed closely by the Overlook Hotel from The Shining (1980).

Is the Overlook Hotel based on a real place?

Yes. It was inspired by the Stanley Hotel in Colorado, where Stephen King stayed while writing the novel.

Why are hotels so common in horror movies?

Hotels create:

• Isolation
• Temporary identity (no roots)
• Vulnerability in unfamiliar spaces

These elements make them ideal for horror storytelling.

What horror movie has a killer motel owner?

Psycho features Norman Bates, one of the most iconic motel owners in film history.

Are there modern horror hotel movies?

Yes, films like Hostel and Vacancy modernize the concept with surveillance, globalization, and torture-based horror.

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A little while back, I wrote an article about how difficult it would likely be for Sony, the current rights holder of Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, to do a proper 4K transfer. Whatever the case may be, Sony Home Entertainment is ploughing ahead with a 4K physical media release, with 28 Days Later set for its 4K debut on September 1st.

So, why is that controversial?

It’s because Boyle’s film was famously shot on consumer-grade Canon XL-1 cameras, which have a maximum resolution of 480i—roughly the same as a regular DVD. For years, the film has only existed in an upconverted HD transfer, which roughly recreated the film’s theatrical look, although to me it’s always looked cleaner than it did theatrically. What many fans fear is that a 4K transfer, by its very nature, will use AI trickery to significantly alter the film’s signature look. Even if it doesn’t, the very notion of releasing it in 4K seems like a waste of effort, as how good can it possibly look?

In their press release, Sony sought to assuage fan fears by explaining how the transfer would be done:

To fully capture and correctly present the unique visuals of this movie for its 4K High Dynamic Range debut, the assembled original source video was used along with sections from the original camera negative, as used in the original theatrical release. These elements were then color-corrected to take full advantage of the wider available color gamut. The picture and Atmos mix were approved by Danny Boyle.

While having Boyle on board is reassuring, I’m still not convinced this is a good idea. Even if it’s hugely faithful, will it really look any different than the Blu-ray?

Here are the specs:

Special Features:

• Commentary by Director Danny Boyle and Screenwriter Alex Garland
• Deleted Scenes and Alternate Endings with Optional Commentary
• Pure Rage: The Making of 28 Days Later featurette
• Jacknife Lee music video
• Animated storyboards
• Still photo galleries
• Theatrical teaser and trailer

In the meantime, there’s no news yet on whether the third film in the new 28 Years Later franchise will be moving forward. Hopefully it does, as it promises Cillian Murphy’s long-awaited return to the franchise, which was teased at the end of 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, a terrific movie that, unfortunately, flopped in theaters—only grossing $58 million worldwide compared to the $151 million earned by its predecessor.

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