Haunted Hotel Review
Director: Erica Hayes and Christopher Nance
Date Created: 2025-09-19 23:20
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Haunted Hotel Review: The animated series is directed by Erica Hayes and Christopher Nance and stars Skyler Gisondo, Will Forte, Jimmi Simpson, Eliza Coupe, and Natalie Palamides. The first season wraps up ten episodes with roughly 25 minutes and is set around a lone mother who is trying to manage an unusual hotel that is haunted and less homelike. She has her ghost brother and a range of other specter inhabitants to assist her. Upon first glance, it looks like it can go completely wrong or become a huge success. For myself personally, it fell somewhere in between.
Haunted Hotel Review
The setup of a bizarre hotel filled with odd spirits and humans, and demons all sharing one roof, is already comedy gold. It creates a situation whereby anything is possible, more and more hilarity and comedy, and some actual heart as well. That is why I proceeded and started to stream Netflix’s Haunted Hotel. This is unlike most cartoons based upon horror genres as it is neither concerned with jump fright nor with blood and gore. It is based upon comedy and interfamily interactions and those day-to-day absurdities of everyday life with spirits who are reluctant to move on to whatever is next.
But while the notion is genius, execution is at times sporadic. Some episodes are snappy and surprising, while others are filler. I loved that writers never attempted to make the comedy gross or offensive, nor tried to go there at all, yet all too many jokes fell flat all the same. At best, I chuckled; at worst, I felt like it was struggling to entertain.
Common adult animated films rely chiefly on raucous, at times silly comedy to remain popular. Animated series Haunted Hotel tries to do similarly with snarky one-liners, spooky antics, and all other kinds of bizarre situations. Unfortunately, all jokes resonate equally with me. Some were greatly amusing ones, some slipped by, while some utterly fell flat.
The inconsistency made me believe less of it as a laugh-a-minute one-liner sitcom and more towards being some offbeat family show in disguise. And honestly? That was acceptable to me. Because when all those punch lines fell flat, its offbeat characters and its otherworldly setting tickled me enough to persevere through it.
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The thing about this show that prevented it from flagging for me despite its inconsistently humorous style was its characters. The single mom at its centre is relatable; worn out, flustered, but fierce. The relationship between her and her ghost brother gives its narrative centre, even when they are trying to kill each other as much as when they’re collaborating.
The actual ghosts are a hit-or-miss proposition. Some have distinct personalities and shine with individuality, while others are two-dimensional and are boiled down to a characteristic and/or gag. However, the dysfunctional familial situation and collision between the living and the dead generated enough plot to sustain me through all ten episodes.
On the animation front, the Haunted Hotel series is vibrant, flashy, and intentionally sloppy. The character designs are tackily grotesque at points. What else can you expect when working with ghosts and demons?, But suit the show’s manic tone. Backgrounds are frequently cluttered with tiny details, so you can see the hotel is populated by things and is alive (or at least undead).
The visuals seemed like any other mature show combining surrealist comedy and horror-style elements. It’s not new and original by any stretch, but it’s enough to accomplish the task with the kind of storytelling this show is trying to achieve.
Every episode has a fairly independent plot with short narrative hooks to connect them to one another. I felt this to be a blessing and a curse. On one hand, you never really feel like you can’t jump into any episode and somehow follow it to some extent. On another, it never really gave any individual season to ever really gel as a cohesive unit.
Some episodes shine with fresh ideas, such as meddling with supernatural protocol or adding an odd spin with interactions with people and ghosts. Others feel rushed-cut or too skeletal and leave me eager to see writers develop deeper mythology with the hotel. That said, there never was a moment when I felt outright bored with it, and that is a win for a show like this.
Netflix Haunted Hotel Review: Summing Up
In the end, Netflix’s Animated series Haunted Hotel is a decent watch. I wouldn’t really say it’s a show you have to see, but equally, I wouldn’t say I wasted my time with it either. The show is at its best when you’re less concerned with hit-or-miss comedy and you simply soak up those oddball family interactions amidst its haunting atmosphere.
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