The Film:
Whilst researching Hotel before I received it, I read some online reviews, all of which were hit and miss, with a slight majority choosing miss. However, another thing I learnt, was that all the people that said it was rubbish, all admitted that they didn't quite follow the story. God only knows why, as it is a very simple story to follow. It stars Franziska Weiss (Tatort - Der Wächter der Quelle, Zum Beispiel Praterstern) as Irene who has just started working at a hotel, deep in the woods of the Austrian Alps. When there, the rest of the staff distance themselves from her and she is curious as to why. As curiosity gets the best of her, she asks fellow receptionist Petra (Birgit Minichmayr - Taking Sides, The Downfall), what happened to the lady whose job that she replaced. Again she is met with murmers and utter silence. Eventually Irene finds out that the previous receptionist went missing and it is her room that she is staying in. As the film moves on, Irene also finds out about an alleged witch who lives in the woods and has something to do with the disappearence. Now, although this scene is exceptionally short, it does play an integral part in the films ending. During the film, Irene also loses her glasses and finds the last woman's pair in her room, which she wears. Obviously, with the seemingly obnoxiousnous of other staff members who are giving her the cold shoulder, as well as finding out minor bits of information about the missing lady, you can guarantee all is not going to end well.
Originally running for 83 minutes at all the international film festivals, including Cannes, I do have to wonder why director Jessica Hausner, chose to cut the film down to a staggeringly low runtime of 74 minutes for the theatrical and home entertainment releases. Especially as i can't see what could be taken from the film. As a whole it is a film that relies on the playing of the viewers mind as we don't see any blood, deaths, monsters or anything else you would usually associate with a horror film. Instead, this is purely psychological (the director has a degree in psychology after all) and the atmospheres play a massive part in the film. The one thing that you can't help but think about during the film, is that although the whole movie is very 'dark', Irene's dress and glasses are bright red, obviously to draw you into the character.
All in all, I think this is a very interesting horror film that leaves a lot to the imagination (which isn't a bad thing) and can make you wonder what direction the film is going in at any time. Not a perfect film, but certainly worth picking up.
The DVD:
Video:
I've never seen a disc from Golden Culture Entertainment before so I was unsure what the picture quality would be like. It is presented with an anamorphic 1.78:1 transfer, and it is a reasonable transfer at that. Although the picture is free of grain, it does suffer from some rather bad edge enhancement at points during the feature. Subtitles are available in simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese and English. With the film being in German I opted for the optional English subtitles were were good, but seemed to miss out lines of dialogue in two scenes (choir boys and the witch).
Audio:
We are given a German Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround track on Hotel, which is rather disappointing. Although the track itself is above reasonable, the film would of seriously been made a lot better had it contained a 5.1 track, considering it relies heavily on the atmospheric scenes inside the Hotel.
Extras:
Only a theatrical trailer unfortunately.
