October 2, 2008

Hotels: Gateway to Hell

Why are hotels so scary?

It's a relatively common theme in movies, books and television. 1408, last year, was a hotel. The Shining is probably the gold standard of scary hotels. Motels don't get a reprieve (Psycho, Identity, that one with a Wilson brother that came out last year) but at least with motels, the location is more of a seedy backdrop.

With hotels, they're often the root cause of the evil when they're onscreen. Or they meet a specific need of the evil denizens that would be unmet by other structures.

Is it because they are musty, lived-in places? The older ones, especially, have seen thousands of guests over many decades; is that creepy in and of itself?

I've never been scared when staying in a hotel or motel. No premonitions or lurking evils. Am I unusual? Do other people get routinely creeped out when staying in such a place?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

You are macabre! Watch 'The Suite Life of Zach and Cody' a few times to feel better.
Ma

Emily said...

I do not get freaked out in hotels, but that could also be because we grew up going to and staying in a lot of hotels due to the constant traveling. Just a tid bit!