Nightmare on the 13th Floor (1990)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

To me, this movie is perfection.

the audience applauded

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

~Spoiler~ Nightmare on the 13th Floor is a film that can be summed up in one word: tame. When I picked this up at the video store I had no idea it was made for television in the early nineties. Judging by the cover art, I thought it was an 80's slasher. Not so my friends. When the cheesy title screen reared its ugly head, I knew this was no obscure gem. Now, it's not a horrible movie. It's more like a murder mystery than straight-up horror. Michele Greene plays a writer who reviews hotels and travel locations. She's currently checking out the Hotel Wessex when an elevator accident leaves her stranded between floors 12 and 14. Where's the 13th floor you ask? It doesn't exist...or is that what we're supposed to believe? Our heroine witnesses a murder on this floor and can't explain it to the hotel staff or the cops. So, naturally, she becomes Nancy Drew-esquire and decides to investigate. Her findings lead her deeper and deeper into the history of the hotel and the 16 bloody murders that happened on the 13th floor. Are the new murders related? I'll spoil it for ya: Yes, they're related. The hotel staff is in on it and the killer is pretty dang obvious. James Brolin and Louise Fletcher co-star.

Which had a photo of the killer wielding the axe, despite the viewer not actually finding this out until the end of the film. While I admit it didn't take Einstien to figure it out, try an avoid the cover if you want a little suspense.For the first 60 of the 80 minutes I thought I was watching a different film to most others on here. I thought it was pretty good, moved at a great pace & kept the viewers (who avoided looking at the case) in suspense for several reasons. The film was let down by some farsical end scenes but I still think an average rating of 4 is terribly harsh.Granted the whole scene with the Policeman on floor 13 was terrible & most of the chase afterwards, with the entire hotel staff seemingly unable to have mastered the art of putting one foot in front of the other quickly, ie running. Only Elaine ever thought to run.Yes where were the other hotel guests? Why didn't the Police bring any back up? What were the benefits for the other hotel staff to be involved in it? Why was the tramp killed? And other loose ends weren't tied up.As I said, somewhere in amongst the mess is a making for a cracking little chilling film. With a good director, slightly better acting, a touching up of the first 60 minutes of the plot & an overhaul of the last 20, a removal of the many now cliches, one or two hotel staff not being in on the act & possibly a different reason for the killings this really could work well. Given the amount of crap that is remade / rewritten nowadays, someone could do a lot worse than take this potential big hit & re do it properly.A low 7/10.

Another made for USA television horror movie made in the early 90's. This one is about a reporter who tires to find out why all the guests of a luxury hotel keep disappearing after she thinks she witnessed a murder taking place. Solid supporting cast is given almost nothing to do, but stand around and be bored. Totally devoid of entertainment value and sorely missing any thrills or chills. Rated PG-13 for Violence.

That's the charm of this movie- it's older and it's perhaps not the best of it's genre, but it is /classic/. The sets and settings are just right to get those little chills going. We all know it can't happen that way (and there are enough plot holes to prove it), but we're still afraid of just that sort of thing happening... it's a big, giant, CREEPY 'what if'... Sometimes people are scarier than the supernatural!