Looking for an adult cartoon that with both have you playing the “spot the horror movie reference” game and leave you with a good chuckle? Netflix’s new show Haunted Hotel is not only fun the first time you watch the ten animated episodes, but also every time you leave them running in the background praying Netflix won’t cancel yet another show you’ve just started enjoying (on this note, Netflix has renewed Haunted Hotel for a season 2).
Will Forte basically plays Wolf Tobin from The Great North if he was a former hotelier that died alone in a haunted hotel that serves as a thin place in the veil; the hotel is even called the Under Vale, as we are not going for subtle here. This is not a complaint. Forte brings this loving and uncomfortable positivity to the character of Nathan that quite a few high-masking depressives will spot in a heartbeat. The premise of the show is that after Nathan’s untimely demise, his sister Katherine (Eliza Coupe) and her two kids- Ben (Skylar Gisondo) and Esther (Natalie Palamides)- take over his flailing hotel as their own lives have fallen apart off screen. Over ten episodes we get to see Katherine and Nathan’s awkward sibling dynamic as Katherine clearly keeps certain details away from Nathan in the essence of some semblance of peace. Ben is an uncomfortable thirteen-year-old boy who pretty quickly falls in love with a ghost in the hotel. Esther is a pre-teen who has already seemingly mastered “black magic” and has roped the ghosts into the hotel to do her homework for her. This girl is going places (probably prison).
And then we have everyone’s new favorite little demon boy, Abaddon (Jimmi Simpson). Think of the Berries and Cream lad from the 2007 Starburst ad that still haunts our nightmares, and trap within him a prince of Hell. Even better, give that combination a camera and have him create social media videos for his fans. There’s a video floating around of him singing “Your Idol” from Netflix’s surprise hit KPOP Demon Hunters.
The title of Haunted Hotel may be basic, but it tells you exactly what you’re going to get. You have your slew of awkwardly mangled ghosts, demons, creatures that emerge as tentacles from bedrooms (JESSICA!) and Abaddon trying desperately to be taken seriously though trapped in the body of a small child who seems to enjoy the Beach Boys. The voice acting cast on this show is amazing, meaning you will be rushing to find out if that was Keith David playing yet another demon (it was) or Maria Bamford trying to convince a group of ghosts to let her ghost do a “traditional Shinto dance” to get out of a bet. The show has that fun discovery feeling of Gravity Falls mixed with the awkward but loving nature of the Tobins from The Great North. Don’t forget to keep an eye out for a ton of verbal gags referencing famous horror movies.
Haunted Hotel is now streaming on Netflix.
Content Warning: Before watching, please know there are references to suicide and so many ghosts who were clearly murdered. Consider yourself warned.
