You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave! *guitar solo*

Okay true story, it wasn’t until I had settled on that quote that I was suddenly struck with the thought “wait, is this movie actually inspired by Hotel California?”

We start with fraternal twins Spencer and Sarah. Sarah is having a nightmare about a man running through a corridor in a hotel, trying each door only to have them all slam shut in his face. She wakes to Spencer trying to read a physical map, because their phones aren’t getting service, and he opts to head into a local convenience store for help and snacks. Nobody’s there.

We quickly learn they’re on their way to the place where their mother died and their father disappeared, both on the night they were born. They’re doing some kind of project, with handheld voice recorders but no camera. Mom and dad were having one last trip together before the birth of their child (thinking they were only having one), a snowstorm hit, mom goes into labor, gives birth to surprise twins, dies of sepsis, and by the time the paramedics arrived the dad was just nowhere to be found.

When they arrive at the Eagle Inn, it’s creepy. There are no other cars in the parking lot. Literally none, it’s ONLY their car. They head in and initially it seems like this is a repeat of the convenience store or the movie “Don’t Blink”, but it turns out there actually is someone working at the Inn. An overly friendly guy who gives Spencer the creeps, and who insists they sign his guest book. The Inn is all booked for the night except for one room, which the twins agree to take, although they’re further creeped out when it turns out there’s only one bed in the room. The inn owner called them on the room’s phone later, inviting them to the hotel’s cocktail hour where they can socialize with the other guests. Sarah stays behind, but Spencer goes, only for there to be literally nobody there except the inn’s handyman. The handyman takes him to another area to make him some kind of alcoholic beverage. A cocktail, perhaps.

Meanwhile, the tv in their room starts playing static like it did earlier I just didn’t mention it. That’s something that’s odd partly because since the switch to all-digital airwaves a few years ago, tvs DON’T play static anymore. The broadcasts are digital so if there’s no signal it should be a blue screen, or a black screen. But it’s an old tv, so, I don’t know. Anyway the other odd thing is that it’s playing static even though it’s not plugged into an outlet.

Sarah figures out there’s actually nobody else in any of the rooms, but sees on the tvs different people, probably previous guests, killing themselves in weird ways. One woman calmly pulls a noose out of her fresh laundry, one gender ambiguous person crying about being the prettiest debutante slits their wrists.

So, obviously something is up.

The innkeeper is also seen a few times madly talking to somebody about how he’s almost done.

The reveal is definitely supernatural and not what I was expecting!

All in all I found this a decent effort. I did think the climax and denouement was a bit of a letdown, partly because the acting got really hammy. The acting before that, especially from the two leads – Amelia Dudley as Sarah and Taylor Turner as Spencer – was great! Dudley and Turner were super convincing as siblings. Their banter seemed very genuine and natural. I thought they also looked similar enough that it was very believable they were related. Also if they ever need someone to play a younger Elisabeth Moss, I think Amelia Dudley would be a great match!

There’s maybe a dozen actors in this movie but we mainly focus on the twins, the night manager, and Dean the handyman. The manager and Dean also had pretty good acting, until the hamminess of the reveal.

I’m always pleased in these indie movies to hear great music, and here we had a great score! Nothing overpowering, just enough that you hear it and it adds to the mood. I liked the cinematography as well. I’ve said it before, it’s easy to get a good-looking film with an expensive camera and a pretty location, but they clearly had a good eye for shot composition here as well.

The ending was a bit of a bummer, but all in all I think it was a solid indie film and I’m very hopeful for everyone’s careers to go where they want.

Just one note: The horror is more of just a “something mysterious is happening that’s bad” element. There’s not really any scares. The most I jumped was when my dog stood up and hit me in the leg at one point because I thought she was asleep somewhere else. That’s not to say it’s bad, it’s just that I know sometimes I just want a spooky jumpscare movie and sometimes people don’t want that, so I thought I’d mention it!

Now circling to what I said at the beginning: Is this inspired by “Hotel California”? If you cut it down lyric by lyric it’s obviously not a direct one-to-one thing. But, the song is by The Eagles, and here is the Eagle Inn. The idea of never being able to leave a hotel applies. Running for the door, voices down the corridor, voices calling from far away, the singer calling for wine and the “captain” being thrilled. This one is a stretch but the song mentions a mission bell and the inn’s front desk has a *missing* bell.

Like I said it’s obviously not like a full-on lyric-for-scene adaption of the song, but I wonder if the idea for the movie was inspired by the song in some way? There doesn’t seem to be much info about the movie online, so I guess we’ll never know!

Anyway, the movie is free (legally!) on Tubi and whatnot. I think it’s an okay watch if you want something that’s not gonna scare you but is different enough from everything else.

Would you believe once in high school I wrote an essay about Animal Farm that went on a tangent about the significance of talking pigs in literature?