VOD of the Dead - COUNTRY OF HOTELS (2019)
For over a decade I spent a lot of time in hotels. While writing for Macabre Daily is a great way to express my love for horror, it doesn’t pay my bills…maybe one day. Before the pandemic, I spent on average about 1-2 weeks away from home staying mostly in hotels and the occasional Airbnb. What I can tell you from this experience, aside from the fact that I don’t miss it, is that hotels can be strange places. Usually the less densely populated the area the stranger the hotel. Some people call this “character”, and in a way, these hotels can become characters respective to the time, place, and people that surround them. To that point, the most interesting hotels were the ones that seemed to be frozen in time. Relics of a different era that shirk modern design for nostalgia, while coincidentally mirroring the localities they inhabit in almost every way. So when JULIO MARIA MARTINO’s new film, COUNTRY OF HOTELS, from TERROR FILMS came across my desk for review, my interest was already piqued. Does it capture the nuance and creepiness of hotels, or is it the kind of place best left vacant?
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
A room in an anonymous hotel has a profoundly dark effect on all who stay there.
HOW IS IT?
What do you get when you combine FOUR ROOMS, with THE SHINING and TWIN PEAKS? Probably something similar to Country of Hotels. While the above comparison sounds like a real winner of an idea, as they say in the death business, “it’s all about the execution”. In this case, Country of Hotels offers up some engaging mystique, it struggles to turn any of that intrigue into something memorable or cohesive. It’s unfortunate because there is a lot to praise about this film, such as the acting and the strangeness of the stories, but it’s hard to outright recommend given how little materializes by the end.
Country of Hotels centers around Room 508 in a non-descript hotel in an unidentified location. Across three different stories, we see how the occupants of Room 508 deal with some odd events that range from creepy to lightly comedic. The first story focuses on a pair of adulterous lovers who find themselves conflicted by their arrangement, while the second story focuses on the slow mental unraveling of a traveling IT consultant, and the third story is about a couple of guys lusting after the same woman. All in all, the only connective tissue across each story is Room 508 and the small cast of characters who act as caretakers of the hotel. Of these three, the most interesting are the second and third while the first one feels far too pedestrian in comparison. All of these stories traffick in ambiguity, so don’t be surprised if you find yourself wondering what is going on and why, and while that discombobulation helps to create an ominous tone it doesn’t do much in the way of helping the viewer follow along or care for what is happening. That’s probably the biggest issue with Country of Hotels, it doesn’t have a clear sense of identity. The characters are forgettable and the inspirations are obvious. From the Overlook-style carpet and wallpaper to the cast of quirky characters, Country of Hotels feels more like an homage than a final product.
This isn’t to say that Country of Hotels is unsuccessful, rather, it doesn’t know what it is trying to accomplish. The disjointed nature of the stories leaves no room for your imagination to ponder why or how any of this is happening, largely because there is no explanation or world-building at all. Everything about the movie is random, from the stories to the people and the things that they experience, it’s hard to get a grasp on what the filmmakers are trying to relay to the audience. For most of the 105-minute runtime, we simply observe weird things happening to strange people and then move on to the next one. It’s a shame too, because there is some great acting on display here that carries a lot of the weight of the film. In particular, the last two stories where the characters are far more idiosyncratic. The IT consultant in the second story seems to be suffering from an elevated metabolism, restlessness, and perhaps even some supernatural interference during his stay. All interesting ideas that never really get fully developed, ultimately leaving the viewer wondering what is the point of all of this. No story gets a proper resolution, and the whole thing amounts to an exercise in style over substance, or an excuse to ape the style of auteurs like Kubrick and Lynch as a term of endearment. Nevertheless, Country of Hotels is technically proficient and narratively absent, so enjoyment will largely depend on how much tolerance you have for one over the other.
LAST RITES
Country of Hotels is an interesting premise that never seems to figure out what to do with itself. While the acting and technicality of filmmaking are quite strong, the lack of cohesion in narrative and delivery makes it a hard film to recommend even to those who consider themselves connoisseurs of more Lynch-ian-styled films.
THE GORY DETAILS
Directed By
Written By
Starring
Where can you watch it?
Country of Hotels is available NOW on streaming platforms from Terror Films
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