Hotel (1981)
Cast: Navin Nischal, Rakesh Roshan, Bindiya, Ranjeet, Prema Narayan, Sudhir, Pinchoo, Mahmood
Director: Shyam & Tulsi Ramsay
Nutshell:  An unscrupulous bunch of swindlers build a hotel on a burial ground with mortifying consequences.

 

Hotel followed on from the enjoyable Guest House and featured a familiar cast of Ramsay regulars. The plot is somewhat similar to Guest House in that a bunch of greedy swindlers cheat an old Padri with a rotten deal, at which point the elderly man promptly keels over with heart failure. Ranjeet is the main culprit but has a whole bunch of accomplices who are part of his nefarious plan.

Navin Nischal and his partner, Rakesh Roshan, awarded the hotel contract to Ranjeet but had no idea that his deal was crooked. They only arrive at the hotel after it has been built and opened. Initially, Roshan's younger brother (Prem Krishan) is responsible for setting up the place, but when he discovers Ranjeet and his cronies' evil deeds, they resort to murder. Not long afterwards, disgruntled spirits begin to manifest themselves around the hotel and start picking off the evildoers one by one.

Unfortunately, unlike Guest House, this film has way too much fatal flab to build any momentum. It lumbers along without focus and, whenever it tries to kick into horror mode, falters horribly and fails to deliver even a half-decent sequence.

Painful comic interludes badly hamper the narrative, slowing proceedings to a snail's pace. There is also the obligatory romance thrown into the mix, with Rakesh Roshan serenading Bindiya. It's all extremely dull and uninspired. The horror sequences are shoddy and rely mostly on sounds seemingly lifted from BBC Horror Sound Effects Vol. 13 and lots of billowing smoke, neither of which manages to conjure up much atmosphere.

Hotel finds the Ramsay brothers at their least inspired. Shyam and Tulsi attempt to replicate snatches from The Car, The Omen, The Exorcist and The Plague of the Zombies, but none of these sequences comes remotely close to hitting the target. Even the sequence seemingly inspired by The Plague of the Zombies is a miserable failure.

In fact, the comedy sequences and Rakesh Roshan's weave are probably the most frightening aspects of a film that stumbles towards its inevitable conclusion in the dullest possible manner. Mahmood and Narendranath's attempts at humour are about as amusing as a funeral.

And stumble it does. By this stage, all you really want is for the end to come as quickly as possible, but even that small mercy is denied as the film stretches itself out to an insufferable two hours and twenty minutes of torture.

Hotel is a dreadful misfire from the Ramsays — boring, predictable and executed without any of their trademark atmosphere, flair or ghoulish creations. When they're good, the Ramsays can be wonderful, but when they're bad, they can be excruciatingly awful.

Unfortunately, Hotel stinks from start to finish. With virtually no redeeming features, it ranks among the very worst of all the Ramsay Brothers productions.

Unfortunately, Hotel stinks from start to finish. With virtually no redeeming features, it ranks among the very worst of all the Ramsay Brothers productions.