Return to Horror Hotel (2019)

Return to Horror Hotel is an anthology feature with 4 segments. One is about giant a bedbugs, one is about a magical charm that turns girls beautiful, one is about a WWII sailor who hasn't aged and one is about a terrorizing severed hand.

Review

Boom! Straight out the gate, Return to Horror Hotel starts with glorious micro budget gore. In this anthology of the strange, the first segment, "Sleep Tight" centers around a dealer peddling bed bugs, and the bodybuilder next door inadvertently 'roiding them up. Scenes are definitely stolen by hotel manager, Haji Abdullah (Sabotage), and without doubt, R.C. Sayyah (Horror Hotel the Movie) who can say so much without speaking.

The movie skirts around the usual connecting segment - usually the fifth vignette - and presents the four segments in the style of short stories. It's a refreshing change. Writer, Al Hess (Horror Hotel the Movie) does a good job in presenting four very different stories here. On initial watching, I wasn't sure my stomach would be up for the promise of three further segments with as much squick as the first, but the change up is swift, and each part has a very different feel.

Without the adjoining segment, we roll straight into the second - "Guillotine" which gives a heavy vibe of Death Becomes Her. It's more of a horror / comedy feel, and feels good nestled in after the first which is squick heavy. Starring Stephanie Stevens (Closet Space: The Movie), it's short, but keeps your attention, and is probably this reviewers favorite segment.

The third segment, "No Time For Love", stars Jason Will Gaglione (feature debut) as a love lorn sailor, in what could easily have been an episode of The Twilight Zone. There's some impressive effects on screen here, and a truly heartbreaking story.

The final episode is "Houdini's Hand" in which a stolen artifact - the titular hand - wants to go home. It begs to be a little silly, but is enjoyable, nonetheless, with Tony Folden (The Holloway Story) as the standout.

Overall the collection is fun - and while the hotel is the glue that holds it all together - it allows for a eclectic collection of shorts. They all bend to the genre well, although each is unique in it's style. If you like a spot of bodily fluid horror, the collection will start well for you, and there really is nothing to bring it down after, however, if you don't, then perhaps cover those eyes for the first twenty minutes.

A fun watch, and good example of low budget horror anthology film making. One to watch.