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Hotels in Horror RATED: Which Horror Hotel Would Be Nicest to be Murdered In and Why

We rate the best (and worst) hotels in horror. While most of the action takes place on the asphalt as psychotic hillbillies chase their prey down in trucks and slashers hide in the backseat of their target’s cars, both killers and victims alike need somewhere to stay on long nights. You need a place to lay your head down. You need a hotel. And because Horror Press always has the concerned traveler in mind, we’ve reviewed some classic horror movie hotels and motels and rated how nice they’d actually be to stay in.

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As August’s theme is Road Trip Month here at Horror Press, there is one aspect of horror out on the open road you might have forgotten about. While most of the action takes place on the asphalt as psychotic hillbillies chase their prey down in trucks and slashers hide in the backseat of their target’s cars, both killers and victims alike need somewhere to stay on long nights. You need a place to lay your head down. You need a hotel.

And because Horror Press always has the concerned traveler in mind, we’ve reviewed some classic horror movie hotels and motels and rated how nice they’d actually be to stay in.

We’re factoring in four key qualities and rating them on a scale of 1 to 10:

  • The quality of the staff and management
  • The cleanliness and comfort of the rooms
  • The amenities available to guests

Oh, and most importantly, how cool I am with dying here (abbreviated as H.C.A.I.W.D.H?).

Because…it’s a horror movie hotel, you’re probably going to die there.

We’ll be beginning with the most unpleasant and working our way up to the best. Unsurprisingly, we start with…

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RATING HOTELS IN HORROR

THE KAHIKI PALMS MOTEL (THE DEVILS REJECTS)

Even before the brutal torture and murders that took place here, the Kahiki Palms Motel wasn’t a sight for sore eyes when pulling off the highway. It’s got many of the same problems the Bates Motel has (more on that later), and the place is completely filthy even before the Firefly’s step foot in it.

Beyond that, you’re in the middle of Texas cooking in the heat, with no AC and an ice machine that has definitely got sand in it. No bueno. The exterior looks cool at least, just stop and take some photos out there without actually checking in.

STAFF & MANAGEMENT: 1/10

ROOMS: 1/10

AMENITIES: 1/10

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H.C.A.I.W.D.H?: NOT EVEN A LITTLE BIT/10

OVERALL RATING: 1/10

SEVEN DOORS HOTEL (THE BEYOND)

The Seven Doors Hotel is smack dab in the southern United States, in a woody and almost swampy part of Louisiana, near New Orleans but sitting directly over one of the seven gates to hell. It’s in disrepair, like many of the others on the list, but that’s nothing a little tender care and love from the new management can’t fix!

Just kidding, this place is unfixable. 

You should never stay at a hotel being run out of desperation. The owner, Liza, is hard up on cash and willing to put up with some supernatural nonsense to try and turn a profit, but she’s in way over her head. Some people just don’t have the heart or brains for hospitality, let alone hospitality when there’s some Lovecraftian black magic going on. An abundance of zombies and a possessed dog put this pretty low on the list of voluntary stays, especially when there aren’t any good views of nature to make up for it.

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Steer clear of this weird antebellum health hazard if you can, although a one-night excursion might be your only choice if the state of Airbnb in New Orleans is as terrible as it is everywhere else.

STAFF & MANAGEMENT: 3/10

ROOMS: 5/10

AMENITIES: 3/10

H.C.A.I.W.D.H?: 3/10

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OVERALL RATING: 3/10

BATES MOTEL (PSYCHO FRANCHISE)

Let’s get all the iterations of this place out of the way, since they’re pretty much the same: they’re kind of sleepy, fairly dusty, and completely underserviced given they don’t get much business. The biggest highlight of staying here is that beautiful house out back, and you don’t even really get to enjoy that outside of seeing Norman pace in the window. Sorry, seeing Mother pace in the window. There’s a difference.

Assuming you are not a woman Bates falls in love with or someone investigating him, you’re pretty safe; after all, it’s just him. But it’s also just him running the motel. He is fairly nice when he isn’t consumed by a homicidal persona but remember: all it takes is one of his mental breakdowns happening during the night for him to be in a mumu walking around with a kitchen knife while the front desk phone is left ringing. Next thing you know, you’re waiting for room service while he’s cleaning up the remains of some private detective off the floor. You’re alive, but you’re also waiting for a cold, probably poorly cooked burger.

Staff and management get two points since it’s technically one guy with two personalities, but that’s being generous.

STAFF & MANAGEMENT: 2/10

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ROOMS: 4/10

AMENITIES: 3/10

H.C.A.I.W.D.H.?: 6/10

OVERALL RATING: 4/10

THE HOTEL CORTEZ (AMERICAN HORROR STORY: HOTEL)

I’m not staying here, there’s like eight different ways you could die and none of them are good! Why would I ever—wait was that Lady Gaga?

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STAFF AND MANAGEMENT: 10/10

ROOMS: 6/10

AMENITIES: 6/10

H.C.A.I.W.D.H?: 1/10

OVERALL RATING: 6/10

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THE YANKEE PEDDLER INN (The Innkeepers)

I like Ti West’s directing, but I’m not going to Connecticut to sleep in a tough queen bed with a scratchy quilt. It could be worse, as we’ve seen with previous entries on this list, but it could also be better. Claire and Luke seem like pretty reliable employees, and as long as you don’t go around swinging crystal pendulums and disturbing the traumatized ghosts, you should be fine. 6’s across the board, I guess?

STAFF & MANAGEMENT: 6/10

ROOMS: 6/10

AMENITIES: 6/10

H.C.A.I.W.D.H?: 6/10

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OVERALL RATING: 6/10

THE DOLPHIN HOTEL (1408)

There is only one room in the hotel that is technically haunted, but we have to assume you’re getting that one because it’s kind of the whole premise of the movie. In which case, you have a 99% chance of dying in a horrible way, and you don’t get any rest or relaxation as the spirits haunting Room 1408 pump your brain full of harrowing illusions.

It’s not a very safe space for people wrestling with trauma or suffering from pre-existing mental health issues, but I guess what a haunted house is? Our protagonist, Mike, does manage to escape in the end (at least, one of the four endings this film has, I haven’t seen the others), but unless you have a bottle of 151-proof in your luggage to torch the place, you’re ironically kind of cooked.

Staff seemed nice when they aren’t letting you walk to your death, it’s got a good view, and you’ll at least have something interesting to write about if you make it out of there.

Editor, don’t even think about it.

STAFF & MANAGEMENT: 7/10

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ROOMS: 7/10

AMENITIES: 7/10

H.C.A.I.W.D.H?: 1/10

OVERALL RATING: 6/10

THE OVERLOOK HOTEL (THE SHINING, DOCTOR SLEEP)

A scary giant hedge maze, snow-blanketed exteriors, and a high-quality turn-of-the-century architectural experience. Good lord, it even has high vaulted ceilings and clean-cut interior design. There are even opportunities to go skiing nearby. The Overlook gets a bad rap for being the site of a bunch of gruesome killings, but in their defense, your honor, the hotel was just evil. All that other stuff happened because the vibes were off.

Is it possible to rehabilitate the place like the Torrance family tried? Not at all. Will you die if you stay there? Absolutely. Is it kind of worth it, cause the place is just so gorgeous? I’m not here to make that judgement for you, but you know you only get to travel so many times in your life, you might as well make the last one a bang.

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You can always count on the management and other guests to be particularly friendly, helping you out of pickles like getting locked in a pantry. They enable your bad habits too, of course, but at least you’ll have company once you’ve frozen to death out there. Who knows, they might even put you in one of their cool time paradox photos!

STAFF & MANAGEMENT: 8/10

ROOMS: 8/10

AMENITIES: 6/10

H.C.A.I.W.D.H?: 6/10

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OVERALL RATING: 7/10

THE GREAT NORTHERN HOTEL (TWIN PEAKS)

This is objectively the right answer, no? The entire Great Northern Hotel is gorgeous with its rich, dark, wood interiors, lit warmly and designed with comfort in mind. It’s serene, has a beautiful look to it, and if you’re not Dale Cooper, your chances of getting shot in the stomach are zero to none!

And sure, the Horne Family that runs it is, on occasion, embroiled in scandal. And MAYBE Benjamin Horne is an irredeemable piece of garbage who wants to tear down the Ghostwood forest. And MAYBE he also owns a combination casino and brothel that he frequents. And MAYBE he’s partially responsible for the murder of a young woman who may or may not have been tortured to death by a demon/spirit/tulpa/doppleganger/Lynchian nightmare butI mean, look at it! Tell me you wouldn’t want to stay there! Stop trying to take this away from me!

At least the Great Northern doesn’t have fish in its percolator.

STAFF & MANAGEMENT: 2/10

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ROOMS: 10/10

AMENITIES: 10/10

H.C.A.I.W.D.H?: 10/10

OVERALL RATING: 8/10

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Luis Pomales-Diaz is a freelance writer and lover of fantasy, sci-fi, and of course, horror. When he isn't working on a new article or short story, he can usually be found watching schlocky movies and forgotten television shows.

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Misc

Our Halloween Giveaway Is Here!

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Halloween and our final giveaway of the month is also here to spice up your Fall before the Holidays take a snowier, and less creepy turn. So be sure to enter now for a chance to win this prize that’ll be sure to keep the thrills going all season long! Don’t miss out—grab your costume, some BBQ and join the fun.

Enter Our Halloween Giveaway!

How to Enter:

Step 1. Make sure to FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK AND JOIN OUR FACEBOOK GROUP!

Step 2. LIKE AND SHARE the giveaway post!

Step 3. This is the most important step, email us at contact@horrorpress.com with your FULL Facebook name (so we can verify you’re in the group) and who your favorite character is from the Texas Chainsaw franchise.

**Giveaway entries are limited to addresses in the United States.**

**All entries must be 18 or older to enter**

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What You’ll Win

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) Limited Edition 4K UHD from Arrow Video

  • 4K (2160p) Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
  • Original DTS-HD MA 7.1 and 5.1 surround audio and lossless stereo audio
  • Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • Brand new audio commentary with Dread Central co-founder Steve “Uncle Creepy” Barton and co-host of The Spooky Picture Show podcast Chris MacGibbon
  • Archival audio commentary with director Marcus Nispel, producer Michael Bay, executive producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form and New Line Cinema founder Robert Shaye
  • Archival audio commentary with Marcus Nispel, director of photography Daniel Pearl, production designer Greg Blair, art director Scott Gallager, sound supervisor Trevor Jolly and composer Steve Jablonsky
  • Archival audio commentary with Marcus Nispel, Michael Bay, writer Scott Kosar, Brad Fuller, Andrew Form and actors Jessica Biel, Erica Leerhsen, Eric Balfour Jonathan Tucker, Mike Vogel and Andrew Bryniarski
  • Reimagining a Classic, a brand new interview with director Marcus Nispel
  • Shadows of Yesteryear, a brand new interview with cinematographer Daniel Pearl
  • The Lost Leatherface, a brand new interview with actor Brett Wagner
  • Masks and Massacres, a brand new interview with makeup effects artist Scott Stoddard
  • Chainsaw Symphony, a brand new interview with composer Steve Jablonsky
  • Chainsaw Redux: Making A Massacre, a making-of documentary
  • Ed Gein: The Ghoul of Plainfield, an in-depth look at the infamous killer who inspired the character of Leatherface
  • Severed Parts, a look at the cutting room floor and some of the scenes excised from the final edit
  • Deleted scenes including an alternate opening and ending
  • Screen tests for Jessica Biel, Eric Balfour and Erica Leerhsen
  • Behind-the-scenes featurette
  • Cast and crew interviews
  • Theatrical trailers and TV spots
  • Concept art galleries
  • Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Aaron Lea
  • Double-sided foldout poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Aaron Lea
  • Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Michael Gingold
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Misc

NYCC 2025 Horror Highlights: A Sneak Peek at ‘The Lost Boys’ Musical, ‘Resident Evil: Requiem,’ and More!

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As soon as New York Comic Con announced that its 2025 theme would be “haunted,” I started lacing up my comfy shoes and making a beeline for the Javitz Center! Horror has always been represented at the con, but it felt fitting that it should play a central role in this year’s event at a time when the genre seems more popular than ever. 

From beloved family-friendly properties like The Nightmare Before Christmas to pants-dampening titles like the upcoming Resident Evil: Requiem, horror appeared in countless shapes and forms. Here are all the best and scariest insights I gleaned from the show floor, panel rooms, and pop-ups of New York Comic Con 2025! 

Our NYCC 2025 Horror Highlights

Resident Evil: Requiem Is Going to Test Your Bladder Strength

Full disclaimer: I’m not a gamer. I’m honestly pretty bad at games, which made my Resident Evil: Requiem play session all the more frightening because I was convinced that everyone around me would realize I’m a fraud. But with easy-to-grasp controls, even for a newb like me, the latest installment in the iconic horror franchise quickly sucked me in and left me on edge for entirely different reasons. 

During my 30-minute session, I was introduced to FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft, Requiem’s central character. She swims to consciousness to find herself strapped upside down on a gurney with a needle in her arm, siphoning her blood. After Grace managed to free herself, the controls were handed over to me to explore the creepy facility through Grace’s eyes, looking for a fuse. Some spaces were bathed in red light; others were lit only by flickering bulbs that left me white-knuckling the controller, waiting for something to emerge from the shadows and swallow me whole, not helped by Grace’s anxious, stuttering breathing in my ear. 

I took a moment to appreciate how detailed video games have become since my childhood experiences playing Evil Dead: Hail to the King on the original PlayStation (seriously, you can see the dust drifting in beams of light now?!), only for the sound of movement somewhere in the facility to yank me back to the present. I renewed my frantic search for the fuse, only to run blindly into a pitch-black room and encounter something enormous that dragged me into the darkness. Sorry, Grace!

You can find out what happens next when Resident Evil: Requiem releases for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2 on February 27, 2026.

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Megan Fox Is Among the New Cast Members in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2—And Blumhouse Hasn’t Given Up on Its Other m3gan Yet

Blumhouse made several announcements at their NYCC panel, most notably that Megan Fox (Jennifer’s Body) is voicing Toy Chica in director Emma Tammi’s highly anticipated sequel Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, coming to theaters on December 5. Other new additions to the cast include YouTuber Matthew Patrick, aka MatPat, who cameoed in the first movie and will voice Toy Bonnie, and Kellen Goff, who has voiced multiple characters in the game series and will now lend his pipes to Toy Freddy.

I’m interested in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, not least because my best friend is terrified of the franchise and makes a wildly entertaining moviegoing companion—but I’m more interested in the future of another Blumhouse franchise, M3GAN. After the sequel underperformed, likely due in part to its hard genre pivot away from horror and into action territory, the future of the killer doll is uncertain. But in a special industry presentation on “The Business of Fear,” Jason Blum revealed that “we’re all working to keep M3GAN alive,” adding that Blumhouse is exploring other potential mediums before trying to resurrect her on film. 

Does that mean a M3GAN video game might come our way in the future, or perhaps a TV series? I don’t know, but I have a feeling this isn’t the last we’ve seen of the silicone diva.

Photo taken by Samantha McLaren.

The Lost Boys: A New Musical Will Feature Flying Stunts and a Live Vampire Band

My queer heart is a sucker for musical adaptations of horror films I love, so you can be certain that I’ll be heading down to the Santa Carla Boulevard—aka Broadway’s Palace Theater—for The Lost Boys: A New Musical, which begins previews on March 27, 2026. At their NYCC panel, producer Patrick Wilson (The Conjuring franchise), director Michael Arden (Maybe Happy Ending), and cast members LJ Benet, Ali Louis Bourzgui, and Maria Wirries revealed why they feel Joel Schumacher’s 1987 classic translates so well to the stage, and what audiences can look forward to. 

“There’s something that I see with both horror movies, musicals, and superhero movies—there’s an element of melodrama that’s really rewarding,” says Wilson, who began his career in musical theater and worked with Schumacher on the director’s 2004 film adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera. “Some people view it as camp, but there’s a reality of it being heightened that felt like this story cemented itself so much to being a musical.”

“They’re a biker gang, after all, and there’s a level of theatricality to that in and of itself,” says Arden. “Our biker gang also happens to play instruments.” 

That’s right: the vampires will be playing instruments live on stage, which made casting twice as hard. Ali Louis Bourzgui, who plays David, the character portrayed by Kiefer Sutherland in the film, reveals that he plays guitar. And that wasn’t the only unusual request in the casting call: auditions included a flying test. (Presumably wires were involved, unless Arden has found himself a real cabal of vampires in his cast.)

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Other highlights that fans can look forward to include killer music from one of Arden’s favorite bands, The Rescues. You can listen to the song “Have to Have You” right now, featuring instrumentals from Slash. The director also teases that many fan-favorite moments from the film will feature in some way in the musical, including the bridge scene and, yes, even the sexy saxophone guy. 

Greg Nicotero’s Guts & Glory Marks a New Challenge for a Legend of the Business

If you like looking at gnarly practical effects in horror movies, chances are you’re familiar with Greg Nicotero’s work, whether you realize it or not. The legendary SFX artist has worked on everything from George Romero’s Day of the Dead and Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead II to Kill Bill and, more recently, The Walking Dead. The impressive extent of his resume was made clear at the panel “Shudder is Here to Scare the S*** Out of You,” in which almost any film mentioned by the other panelists was met by a small smile and a humble murmur of “worked on that” into the mic, often followed by a wild anecdote. Nicotero seems like the most interesting man in the world to grab a drink with, and his new horror competition show for Shudder—Guts & Glory—will let us see more of the man behind the makeup brush.

Guts & Glory is one of the most fun times I’ve had on a show,” Nicotero says, teasing that the series is “part Sam Raimi, part Halloween Horror Nights, and part Survivor.” 

In the six-episode first season, contestants are dropped into an Alabama swamp, where there’s an urban legend about an evil spirit. “One of the contestants gets possessed by the evil spirit, people start dying off, but in the meantime, they’re still competing and there’s a prize,” Nicotero explains.

Guts & Glory is effects-heavy, which was challenging to do in an unscripted series relying on real people’s real-time reactions. “You do a movie, you can cut and try it again,” Nicotero explains. “[This] was completely out of my wheelhouse and out of my comfort zone, but I’m really, really proud of it.”

Nicotero’s Creepshow was one of the first original shows to debut on Shudder, so he’s truly part of the DNA of the horror streamer, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year. Guts & Glory premieres on October 14 as part of Shudder’s Season of Screams programming.

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Horror Short The Littles Deserves the Big-Screen Feature Treatment

Some short films are perfectly suited to their bite-sized format, while others contain the seeds of something much bigger. At the New York Premiere of The Littles, a new short written and directed by American Horror Story producer Andrew Duplessie, I could immediately see the potential for the feature film that Duplessie hopes to make. 

Equal parts charming and unsettling, The Littles stars M3GAN’s Violet McGraw as a little girl with a loose floorboard in her bedroom. One night, a scuffling sound and a crack of light between the boards lead the little girl to discover that her family isn’t alone in the house… 

Duplessie says The Littles was inspired by his own experiences growing up in a creaky old house with a no-doubt overactive imagination. The short features creepy-cute stop-motion animation from Anthony Scott (The Nightmare Before Christmas), puppets by Katy Strutz (Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio), and some truly adorable miniature sets by Aiden Creates, all blended perfectly with the live-action scenes. Check it out if it’s playing at a festival near you, and watch this space for a (fingers-crossed) future feature! 

Photo taken by Samantha McLaren.

Disney Publishing’s New The Nightmare Before Christmas Tie-in Novel Welcomes Younger Fans into the Scary Fun

NYCC’s horror happenings weren’t all geared toward an adult audience. Disney Publishing took over Daily Provisions Manhattan West for a pop-up experience inspired by The Nightmare Before Christmas, featuring themed food and drinks like a delectable Pumpkin Potion coffee that I could honestly drink all season long. 

At a media and creator event in the space, I took a look at the newly released Hour of the Pumpkin Queen from New York Times best-selling author Megan Shepherd, who also wrote the official novelization of The Nightmare Before Christmas for the film’s 30th anniversary in 2023. In this new tie-in novel, Sally and her rag doll apprentice, Luna, embark on a time-bending adventure to save Jack Skellington and Halloween Town after falling through a mysterious portal.

I was gifted a copy of the book by Disney, but all opinions are my own here. I’m looking forward to giving it a read during the inevitable Halloween hangover that takes place in November, before likely passing it on to my young nieces when they’re old enough. It’s a full novel, not a picture book, so definitely geared more toward a YA audience, but between the beautiful artwork on the cover and the seasonal theme, it might just be the perfect gift for the budding horror lover in your life. 

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That’s a wrap on New York Comic Con 2025! Be sure to bookmark Horror Press if you haven’t already so you never miss our coverage of conventions, festivals, and more. 

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