Animation has given us some of our most cherished horror stories. Every October, viewers dust off classics like “Monster House,” “Coraline,” “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown,” “The Corpse Bride,” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” But full-length features aren’t the only way animators have scared us silly. Television series like “The Fright Krewe,” “Scooby Doo,” “Beetlejuice,” and “Gravity Falls” have all delivered frights in smaller doses. The newest addition to this spooky lineup is “The Haunted Hotel,” which I couldn’t resist investigating.
Haunted Hotel
“Haunted Hotel” earns its name from the restless spirits still tethered to its halls. The place teems with ghosts of every sort—from a candle-obsessed phantom to a young starlet named Abigail, whose life and dreams were cut tragically short. Yet, among these lingering souls, none are more prominent than Nathan—the late brother of the hotel’s caretaker, Katherine. Though Nathan left the hotel to her in his will, he has never truly left the property.
Quite the Clan
Now the hotel’s reluctant owner and a mother of two—an awkward son named Ben, a precocious daughter named Esther—and guardian to a young charge who appears to be possessed, Katherine must find a way to make the struggling establishment work. Her first instinct is to purge the hotel of its ghostly tenants, but things quickly spiral beyond her control. Nathan, ever the persuasive spirit, urges her to reconsider, insisting there’s a peculiar charm in the company of the unruly and often petulant dead.”
Ghostly Chaos and Heart: “Haunted Hotel”
As the series progresses, Katherine struggles to balance her unexpected role as hotel proprietor with the demands of motherhood, creating twenty-five minutes of delightful supernatural chaos in each episode. The show delivers exactly the right blend of family-friendly frights—never terrifying, but consistently sprinkled with ghostly encounters and eerie moments. Released on Netflix on September 19th with a full ten-episode season, ” Haunted Hotel” has already secured both critical acclaim (7.7/10 on IMDB) and a second season renewal, making it an essential addition to your October watchlist.
Uncut Diamonds 