Rating: 3.5/5
Oh My Horror 2025 | 9/52 | Horror Hotel
Real witches dress in ordinary clothes and look very much like ordinary women. They live in ordinary houses, and they work ordinary jobs. […] Witches spend their time plotting to kill children, stalking the wretched child like a hunter stalks a bird in the forest. […] What makes her dangerous is that she doesn't look dangerous. You can never be sure if it's a witch you're looking at or a kind lady.
So explains Helga to her eight-year-old grandson Luke, who is visiting from America on vacation, as she makes candles. When Luke asks if the witches hunted Helga, she shows him the missing pinky on her left hand. Helga has tried to find The Grand High Witch, who rules over all other witches, but believes no one has seen her. Helga describes what happened to her childhood friend—how a witch stalked her and trapped her in a painting until she died. That’s how witches kill—not by conventional means like weapons, but through curses that hide them in plain sight.
One day, the police come to Helga’s door to inform her that Luke’s parents were killed in a car accident, making Helga Luke’s legal guardian. They move to England, where Luke starts school. There, he uses the knowledge of witches Helga gave him to avoid a witch who attempts to seduce him with snakes and chocolate, two things little boys love.
For Luke’s ninth birthday, Helga gives him some mice, which Luke names William and Mary. But Helga falls ill, and her doctor suggests rest and a summer by the sea. So they pack up and head to Hotel Excelsior in Bournemouth. Little do they know that the hotel is also hosting the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, a covert convention for witches. And who else is attending but The Grand High Witch herself?
What do these witches have in store? Will Luke and Helga be able to stop them?
Based on the Roald Dahl book of the same name, this was the last film based on Dahl’s material before his death. Dahl was vocally incensed about the movie, specifically how it changed the original ending—I’ll avoid more details and spoilers.
This film was the last that Jim Henson worked on before his death. Jim Henson’s Creature Shop provided prosthetics for the witches and animatronics. The prosthetics will look familiar to Henson and/or Dark Crystal fans because they are total nightmare fuel.
Anjelica Huston has so much fun with this role. I don’t know what accent she’s going for, but she never sticks to it anyway.
Rowan Atkinson is perfect as the uptight hotel manager. I imagine his performance inspired Tim Curry’s in Home Alone 2.
I can see how this movie influenced Danny DeVito’s adaptation of Matilda. The cinematography reminds me of Czapsky’s more playful stuff.
What a riot, but what a disappointing ending! I would’ve loved this as a kid. Or it would’ve given me endless nightmares.