We have all had that moment in a hotel when a strange noise from the next room makes us pause for a second. Usually, there is nothing to it. But horror films have a way of taking these small, everyday moments and making them feel much more sinister. A dim corridor, a room at the end of the hallway or a motel in the middle of nowhere can suddenly become the setting for a nightmare.
Some of the most memorable horror films have done exactly this. They have given us hotels and motels that are now almost as famous as the films themselves. From the Bates Motel to the Overlook Hotel, here are six places where you definitely would not want to spend the night.
The Bates Motel — Psycho (1960)
Few horror locations are as recognisable as the Bates Motel, Alfred Hitchcock’s deceptively ordinary roadside property in Psycho. Set off an old highway, the motel is run by the soft-spoken Norman Bates, who seems harmless enough until Marion Crane checks in for the night. The large Gothic house behind the motel, where Norman lives with his mysterious mother, adds to the unease.
Marion is given Room 1, which comes with a hidden peephole and very little privacy. But it is the bathroom that makes the room truly infamous. The shower scene remains one of cinema’s most well-known moments, turning an ordinary motel room into a place audiences have been wary of ever since.
The Overlook Hotel — The Shining (1980)
In Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, the Overlook Hotel is more than a setting. The enormous, isolated property in the Colorado Rockies becomes a world of its own when Jack Torrance arrives with his wife and young son to work as the winter caretaker. With the hotel cut off by snow, the family is left almost completely alone.
Its endless corridors, imposing rooms and confusing layout make the Overlook feel unsettling. Kubrick uses strange perspectives and wide, symmetrical shots to make the building seem both enormous and claustrophobic at the same time. As Jack begins to lose his grip on reality, the hotel’s violent past starts to emerge, with Room 237 becoming one of its most infamous locations.
The Dolphin Hotel — 1408 (2007)
A luxury hotel in the middle of New York City might not seem like the obvious setting for a horror film, but that is exactly what makes Mikael Håfström’s 1408 so effective. The Dolphin Hotel looks polished and respectable, yet Room 1408 has a reputation so terrible that the hotel manager refuses to rent it out.
Writer Mike Enslin, who specialises in investigating supposedly haunted places, decides to spend the night there despite the warnings. Once inside, he discovers that the room seems to have a life of its own, distorting time, space and his perception of reality. Even familiar objects, such as the room’s alarm clock, become increasingly threatening as the night goes on.
Motel Hello — Motel Hell (1980)
Kevin Connor’s Motel Hell takes the familiar roadside motel and gives it a bizarre, gruesome twist. Farmer Vincent and his sister Ida welcome travellers to Motel Hello, where Vincent has built a reputation for his delicious smoked meat. What their guests do not know is where the ingredients come from.
Vincent does not see every traveller as someone simply passing through. Some are kidnapped and buried up to their necks in the motel’s garden, where they are kept alive until they are ready to become part of his meat operation. The result is deliberately strange and over-the-top, giving Motel Hell a mix of horror, dark comedy and splatter that makes Motel Hello difficult to forget.
The Pinewood Motel — Vacancy (2007)
The motel in Nimród Antal’s Vacancy is frightening for a very different reason: there is nothing supernatural about it. When a couple’s car breaks down, they have little choice but to spend the night at the rundown Pinewood Motel. Their stay takes a disturbing turn when they find a collection of violent videos in their room.
The couple soon realises that the footage was filmed inside the very motel they are staying in. Hidden cameras have been placed throughout the rooms, while the people running the property secretly record their guests for profit. What should be a temporary stop on a journey becomes a carefully planned trap, with even the ventilation grilles and other ordinary fixtures hiding a much darker purpose.
The Seven Doors Hotel — The Beyond (1981)
Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond pushes the haunted-hotel idea into surreal and supernatural territory. Set in Louisiana, the film follows Liza, a woman who inherits the old Seven Doors Hotel and begins renovating the neglected property. She soon discovers that the building is hiding something far more sinister than its rundown appearance suggests.
The hotel has been built over one of the seven gateways to Hell, and renovation work begins to disturb whatever lies beneath it. From mysterious deaths to bizarre creatures and increasingly surreal visions, the horrors quickly spread through the property. The basement, where the gateway is hidden, becomes the heart of the nightmare as the boundary between the hotel and the world beyond it begins to disappear.
FAQs
1. What are some famous hotels in horror movies?
The Bates Motel from Psycho and the Overlook Hotel from The Shining are among the most recognisable hotel and motel settings in horror cinema.
2. What is the Bates Motel from Psycho?
The Bates Motel is the roadside property run by Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960).
3. What is the Overlook Hotel in The Shining?
The Overlook Hotel is the isolated Colorado hotel where Jack Torrance works as a winter caretaker in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980).
4. Which horror movie features Room 1408?
Room 1408 is the infamous hotel room at the Dolphin Hotel in the 2007 horror film 1408.
5. What happens at Motel Hello in Motel Hell?
Motel Hello is run by Farmer Vincent and his sister Ida, who secretly kidnap travellers and use them in Vincent’s disturbing meat operation.
