Looking for a night of thrills, eight friends roam the abandoned Royal Crescent Hotel, where five students were murdered more than 20 years ago. When they discover a severed hand, they conjure up a evil spirit and unleash its bloody wrath. To survive the night, the friends must solve a century-old mystery that threatens to annihilate them one by one.
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The most cliché group of teenagers decide to ditch their graduation party to spend a night in an abandoned and haunted hotel as a way of marking end of their youth, friendships etc. When I started watching this, I was ready for the usual sloppy horror movie, with terrible acting, terrible plot choices and, well, basically the usual stuff that all horror fans are already used to by this point. Although I have to say, that "Pray for Morning" did contain all of the previously mentioned things, it was also surprisingly entertaining.
Pretentious is the word I'd use to describe this movie. The director went "to pains" for many of his special effects and prop pieces which were mediocre at best. The actors were terrible, and their characters severely underdeveloped. The pacing of the movie was also sluggish, as the majority of the kills were children twitching with blue light shining over them. They didn't reveal the ghost until too late in the movie, where you stopped caring.I was most disappointed by the fact that these teenagers appeared to be stupid from their dialogue, but were still able to solve plot points. They were intelligent enough to figure out the curse and puzzle; to figure out from a twenty-year-old bloodstain that the victim was trying to hide something; they could speak Latin, translate "hobo symbols" on the walls, and use old photographs as maps. Yet they died because they separated unnecessarily from the group and then just stood in the same place for extended periods of time. No I'm not talking about the ghosts telekinesis when he held them in place, I'm speaking namely about the character Topher, who stayed behind to cry while his friends didn't notice his absence until the ghost descended upon him. It was extremely artificial, and not in the least bit suspenseful.There are good points to the movie, as the characters seemed to genuinely enjoy each other's presence (save the obligatory fighting couple), which is a dynamic most movies miss on. There were a few good actors in the mix, even though they weren't playing with their best cards. And the story, if re-edited by a different company, could be genuinely interesting.It also had a beautiful and creepy soundtrack, and sometimes (note, sometimes) had the perfect atmosphere for a higher quality horror movie.
I was actually pleasantly surprised by this movie. That may be because I'm a major fan of B horror movies, mostly because I like to laugh at them...but this one I actually found I was enjoying it. I have to admit the acting was a little sub-par for many of the characters and a lot of the plot was cliché and directly from some A list horror, but really nothing is new anymore so I didn't mind that too much. The plot was pretty good...the characters...could have been developed better, and some just seemed pathetic. But it is horror and they still were a bit entertaining. What bothered me the most was the special effects, of course it was low budget, but come on...the lighting seemed like sunlight shining on a pool. Other than that I thought it was highly entertaining. Just ignore the actors' looks of "horror" which look more like surprise and trying not to laugh. Oh and ignore the horrible title. Other than that, if you enjoy and I mean enjoy B list movies I think you'll be surprised.
What we call in Spanish NACA! AKA stupid vulgar and cheap. NACA! the acting is stupid. the plot is pointless. the cinematography was almost vomit inducing. the title is cheesy and unoriginal. the editing was disastrous, the lighting was completely reprehensible. the pace was slow. the set looked like the tower of terror at Walt Disney world. (disny's tower of terror was more frightening than this). The opening credits were that of a cheap porn film after-party. Bottomline is that for someone who is studying film (and even those who are not) This movie is a complete waste of time and money. one out of ten stars. I would truly give zero if I could.