Hotel Inferno 2: The Cathedral of Pain

 



Director(s) - Giulio De Santi (Adam Chaplin, Taeter City) and Tiziana Machella (Snow White Meth, Gorebreaker)
Starring - Rayner Bourton (Outland, Hotel Inferno), Roland Stone (Suite 313, Killer Doctors on Death Row), and Jade Matthew (Judy, Kiss of Death)
Release Date - 2017
Genre - Horror
Tagline - "The first splatter colossal is born"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

 

      Several years ago I came across a forum post on Upcoming Horror Movies for two Necrostorm films.  I had never heard of Necrostorm before but the artwork for their two releases looked fantastic.  I went to their website and discovered that they were an Italian production company with a keen eye for splatter.  I checked out their films and reviewed them for my blog.  Fast forward a few years and a new film was released by them.  Hotel Inferno was being billed as the first horror film filmed in first person.  This was far from being correct but I still wanted to check it out.  I reviewed it and a few months later I received several emails from Necrostorm requesting my review be pulled.  I wrote a positive review for the film and was confused as to why it had to be pulled.  Regardless, I kept the review up and the emails stopped.  Sometime passed and my friends over at Wild Eye had acquired the U.S. distribution rights for the film and sent over a press release for it.  I shared it and the coming months was a night.  Necrostorm would send multiple emails a day ordering us to remove the post or face legal action.  We never backed down and eventually the emails stopped.  I love their films but I refuse to support them so now I turn to ebay to purchase their work.  Petty huh?  Last year I bought Hotel Inferno 2: The Cathedral of Pain on ebay and completely forgot about it until I was packing my movies up after the fire.  I found the copy and decided it was time to finally check it out and review it. 

     The film once again follows hire hitman Frank who has died at the end of the first film.  He finds himself in a sort of hell centered around an ancient church.  He is able to break his restraints and befriends a witch who has knowledge of this special level of hell.  She helps him through the cathedral of pain so he can slay demons and cultists to retrieve the five elements that will give Frank back his body and free him from this hell.

     I had high expectation for Hotel Inferno 2.  I loved the first film and I couldn't imagine that they would outdo themselves with the follow up but they did in every single way.  The acting in this one is a little unconventional due to the way the film is shot.  The voice acting is damn entertaining.  Rayner Bourton and Roland Stone is fantastic.  Their characters are very entertaining and the voice acting works for the style of the film.  Sadly, that is the only real acting you see.  The bodies on camera are just there to die and due to the way these scenes are shot you never see any acting.  The story for this one is more of what was established in the first film but centered more around the occult and hell.  It flows like a video game with mini-bosses, the dialogue, the missions, and levels.  I liked where the story went and how the pacing was.  There is very few scenes with down time which is a great thing.  I also enjoyed the sets and the story set around each one.  Finally, if you want blood and guts then you are in the right place.  The film is full of on screen deaths that use visual and practical effects.  The visual effects are hot and miss.  Some of the blood looks like trash but the demonic runes looked great.  The film also uses real guts, possibly from a cow or big, which works for the film.  Overall, Hotel Inferno 2: The Cathedral of Pain is a fun film.  It is a one trick pony but it does that trick very well resulting in a lot of carnage and entertainment.  Check it out.