'Haunted Hotel' review: 'The Shining' meets 'Bob's Burgers' in Netflix's charming animated comedy
We're officially in the glorious time of year that is pre-Halloween fall. The air has a slight crispness to it, the leaves are on the verge of turning, and the promise of horror movie marathons is just around the corner.
But if you're not ready to jump into full-fledged scares just yet, don't worry. Netflix's new animated series Haunted Hotel is the perfect watch to get you in the Halloween spirit. More kooky than spooky, it's a sweet twist on the family sitcom format that'll have you champing at the bit for October to arrive sooner.
What's Haunted Hotel about?
The series centers on Katherine (voiced by Eliza Coupe), a single mother who's inherited the haunted Undervale Hotel from her late brother Nathan (voiced by Will Forte). Nathan may be dead, but he's not really gone. Like anyone who dies on the grounds of the Undervale, he's come back as a ghost. But unlike some of the Undervale's more violent guests — like the knife-wielding Stabby Pete — Nathan doesn't want to terrify the living. Instead, he wants to help Katherine and her two kids, Ben (voiced by Skyler Gisondo) and Esther (voiced by Natalie Palamides), run the struggling family business.
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If you think that premise sounds like Bob's Burgers meets The Shining, you wouldn't be too far off — especially when it comes to the Bob's Burgers element. With her mind almost constantly on the Undervale's business woes, Katherine calls to mind Bob Belcher. Meanwhile, the mischievous Esther is basically a carbon copy of Louise... if Louise were super into dark magic.
Haunted Hotel's concept may garner other comparisons too, such as CBS' Ghosts (about a bed-and-breakfast overrun by spirits), or Prime Video's Hazbin Hotel (about a hellish hotel meant to redeem demons). But the similarities stop with the hotel setting. Really, Haunted Hotel shares more of its DNA with Rick and Morty, as it was created by Rick and Morty writer Matt Roller. (Rick and Morty's Dan Harmon and Steve Levy also co-executive produce.) The Rick and Morty connection means Haunted Hotel boasts a similar style of pop culture-tinged absurdity and dark humor — the latter especially, since most of the show's characters died in gruesome ways. However, the edginess often associated with Rick and Morty gets sanded down here, making way for a more nurturing family dynamic overall.
Haunted Hotel's real superpower is its central family.
The Undervale's horror elements are a surefire hook for Haunted Hotel. Its many ghosts are instantly memorable, even if they only get a few moments of screen time per episode. (Shout-out to my personal favorite, the candle-obsessed Mr. Candles!) The series also loves a good horror movie pastiche, from a sex-negative slasher straight out of Friday the 13th to a possession scene that pays homage to The Exorcist.
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But it's the show's central family that truly breathes life into the Undervale, giving us a reason to care deeply for the hotel instead of just passively take in the many ghosts who haunt it. Katherine's ghost fatigue serves as the perfect foil for Nathan's optimism about working alongside the ghosts, but there's more to their relationship besides "pro-ghost" and "anti-ghost." For Nathan, death hasn't changed too many things — beyond the fact that he can walk through walls and can't actually pick up or touch anything, that is. But for Katherine, she's grieved her brother's death and is still processing his loss, even if she can still speak with his ghost. It's the show's most moving storyline, especially as Haunted Hotel delves into the tragic circumstances behind Nathan's death. The show handles these circumstances with a fairly light hand, but that doesn't make the sting of Katherine's grief any less painful.
Katherine's kids lighten things: Ben struggles with his ghost girlfriend and his awkward experiences at school, while Esther's supernatural scheming — including a surprisingly prescient twist on collectibles like Labubus — reliably causes chaos. But it's the honorary fifth member of the family who's the real star here. His name is Abaddon (voiced by Jimmi Simpson), and he's an ancient demon trapped in the body of a small Victorian boy.
Simpson brings a near-manic intensity to the role of Abaddon, one that contrasts ridiculously with the character's childish appearance. Roller takes full advantage of that contrast, placing Abaddon in all manner of normal situations that immediately become silly due to his demonic desire to conquer all. He worships blenders as the perfect killing machine; he fiendishly devotes himself to winning Connect Four; he despairs that he's doomed for all eternity when he gets trapped behind a door. Yet despite all his demonic propensities, he still finds himself drawn to Katherine, Nathan, Ben, and Esther, perhaps finding in them the family he never truly had in Hell.
None of what Haunted Hotel is doing is reinventing the wheel of the family sitcom, but the series is a spooky delight nonetheless, and much of that comes down to the loving family at its cursed heart. The Undervale may not have a lot of guests, but Haunted Hotel more than deserves a check-in.
Haunted Hotel is now streaming on Netflix.
Belen Edwards is an Entertainment Reporter at Mashable. She covers movies and TV with a focus on fantasy and science fiction, adaptations, animation, and more nerdy goodness. She is a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Television Critics Association, as well as a Tomatometer-approved critic.
