Boring Austrian hotel requires boring receptionist to replace previous receptionist (probably also boring) who has disappeared, or been disappeared, into surrounding dark spooky forest; possibly gobbled up in the cave. By our Lady of the Woods. As boredom material.Actually, I might have assumed too much there – imagined too much drama, or too much haunty horror. Which is no doubt what the director would like me to do: see all the strange goings on she's – deliberately – not been showing. And also reading into the narrative all the story she's not been developing, or even really providing. The new receptionist Irene never says very much; and the other characters don't say much to her either. Is something "funny" going to happen to her? Hopefully yes – otherwise watching this film will have felt like a waste of time.Come the end something funny does happen to her. But it still felt like a waste of time. There's been too much concealed as opposed to revealed or released dramatic tension. The direction far too mutedly mannered. Far too withheld.

The stuffy provincial atmosphere reminds me of "Requiem" or "Dogville", but the lighting is more like "2046" or "The Matrix". Irene (Franziska Weisz) is the new girl at the movie's eponymous hotel. She isn't the paranoid type, but soon feels slightly claustrophobic nevertheless. In fact, neither Irene nor the camera get to leave the hotel until 20 minutes into the movie. Although her colleagues' disposition ranges from grumpy to openly hostile, she can't be sure she'd be better off outside. We are led to believe the girl Irene is replacing went out and never came back. For there's a witch lurking in the forest. Or something. No matter where Irene goes, there are curtains everywhere to conceal the truth. The fact that there is no music other than from the creaky speaker in the elevator (and Irene's noisy next-door neighbors) adds to the eerie mood. There are obvious overtones of "Lost Highway", especially when Irene discovers she looks almost exactly like the missing girl. Of course, there is no living up to this promise. "Hotel" is probably a little too stylish for its own good, but it's a real pleasure to look at and leaves you feeling agreeably spooked.

I saw this "movie" on a movie festival yesterday. The story sounded moderately interesting, so I entered the cinema hall with the feeling the movie will be somewhere around the average level.Now I'm re-reading the previous review and still can't believe the author founded this movie great... Different people, different points of view, I would say.I'll tell you what happened at the cinema.10 or 15 minutes after the beginning, maybe 3 or 4 people already had left the hall, grumbling for what crap they gave their money! Most of the rest (including me) were gazing at the screen, refusing to believe a movie released at 2005 could be so incomparably stupid! When the agony finally finished, this movie, out of a sudden, made most of the people roar with laugher! I would really suggest it for all the people suffering from some sort of depression or inferiority complex;) You feel really dumb? Believe me, yours is nothing... :) I personally found this movie unbelievably boring, with boring storyline (well, I would say no storyline at all), boring characters that are just moving around and do nothing, and totally boring dialogue. After 30 minutes of watching you will just want to get out and stop that pain... However, the average score of the movie shows that it has its audience, and this audience loves it (I can't believe that, but it's a fact). Look, I'm European too, and hearing (and saying) every day how stupid are Hollywood movies these days, expect from an European movie (awarded!) to not be one of the top 3 worst movies ever in my personal list!

I Didn't get it. Okey if there had been a creepy feeling then this movie had been much better, but I felt nothing. This movie was just weird and not good. Felt like It was a home made movie that students have done for the school or something. And I didn't think the acting was any good. Everyone had the same face expression all the time. The best with this movie was the picture of her on the movie. Everyone who wants to see this movie, Don't because you will be so disappointed and you waste money. I really felt I did so. Some people maybe think this type of movies is interesting, but I don't know what it could be thats so terrific? I give it:3/10