Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
The age guide for ‘Haunted Hotel’ is 16+ due to violence, gore, and dark humor.
Is ‘Haunted Hotel’ the spookiest or the funniest horror comedy series out there? Probably not. But it’s got enough funny moments, creepy ghosts (some of whom are also literal creeps), demons, and a few murders, to make it an entertaining watch for fans of both horror and animation. Thrown in some witchcraft, zombies, ghost girlfriends, serial killers, and suicidal cults, and you keep having something fresh to look forward to in its ten episodes.
Created by Matt Roller, the series follows the daily horrors faced by single mom Catherine Freeling (voiced by Eliza Coupe) as she tries to run a haunted hotel she inherits from her dead brother Nathan (Will Forte), who, by the way, becomes one of the many ghosts residing on the spooky property. Joining Catherine in her supernatural misadventures are her son Ben (Skyler Gisondo), daughter Esther (Natalie Palamides), and Abaddon (Jimmi Simpson), a notorious demon trapped in the body of a boy from the 1700s.
The central gag in ‘Haunted Hotel’ is that Catherine’s family is more entangled with crazy ghouls than guests, but ghost Nathan is always around to help. Amidst the paranormal pandemonium, 13-year-old Ben finds himself smitten with Annabelle, a ghost from another era. But it’s younger sister Esther who is the most fun character, she is obsessed with witchcraft and dark arts, she’s forever tinkering with spells she barely understands. Think of Esther as a hyper, less-emo version of Wednesday Addams, the kind who meets every crisis by gleefully causing more mayhem.
But my favorite character from ‘Haunted Hotel’? The odd little demon Abaddon, once the gatekeeper of hell, now reduced to a powerless boy with zero grasp of human behavior. He snacks on lightbulbs and naps under kitchen sinks like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Abaddon’s charm lies in scarcity, the less you see of him, the funnier and more delightfully weird he seems in his brief appearances.
The 2D animation recalls the style of 2000s Cartoon Network shows, yet the backgrounds are impressively detailed, with the haunted hotel’s facade subtly changing through the seasons. Instead of leaning on a gloomy palette, the series embraces color, bringing its ghosts and demons to life in varied hues, costumes, and eccentric get-ups. It often feels like watching an extravagant Halloween party. Take Ben’s ghost girlfriend Annabelle, for instance, she looks like she’s stepped straight out of a roaring jazz-age soirée.
From cheeky nods to pulpy slasher flicks and oversexed teen victims, to a direct homage to horror manga master Junji Ito (with a character reading Tomie) the show brims with Easter eggs and tributes to the supernatural genre. The creators also tip their hats to classics like ‘Ghostbusters’ and that iconic door scene from The Shining, which, by the way, recently got an excellent tribute in the slow-burn horror film Weapons, a must-watch for any horror fan. Honestly, one might just have to write an entirely different article over the references made through the series.
While ‘Haunted Hotel’ isn’t the kind of show you can binge in a single sitting (it took me over a week), it’s perfect for casual viewing. You can watch an episode of each day without feeling anxious about what happens next. By the end of episode ten, Catherine and Co. might grow on viewers and the series has already been renewed for a season 2!
Rating: 7.5 on 10. Watch ‘Haunted Hotel’ on Netflix.
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