Netflix's 'Haunted Hotel' Just Broke a Major Streaming Curse
Jeffrey is a freelance features writer at Collider. He is an MPA-accredited entertainment journalist and a Tomatometer-approved critic based in the LA area. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science in Radio, TV, & Film and a Bachelor of Arts in Theater.
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Editor's note: The below contains minor spoilers for Haunted Hotel Season 2.Netflix's breakout animated hit, Haunted Hotel, has just wrapped up its second season. While the series first premiered to little fanfare last year, it's now building momentum and a sizable organic fanbase. With the news that the show has officially been renewed for Season 3 — right before Halloween, no less — Haunted Hotel just broke a streaming curse that's killed many promising shows in the past.
'Haunted Hotel's Season 3 Renewal Breaks the Netflix Cancellation Curse
Over the past several years, some of Netflix's buzziest shows have debuted, garnered a sizable following, and were then suddenly and unceremoniously cancelled, leaving viewers on a huge cliffhanger. One of the streamer's biggest casualties was the animated series Inside Job, which was renewed for a second season in June 2022. Six months later, creator Shion Takeuchi revealed that Netflix had cancelled the series, rescinding the initial renewal.
Thankfully, Haunted Hotel hasn't suffered the same fate as Inside Job, Sense8, The Boroughs, and so many other great Netflix shows that were cancelled before their respective stories could reach a proper conclusion. This Season 3 renewal likely comes as a big relief to the show's dedicated fanbase, who have been creating their own art and video edits. More than that, the announcement that Haunted Hotel will return for another season emphasizes the power of the show, world, and characters Matt Roller has created.
'Haunted Hotel' Grounds Its Horror With Heart
Haunted Hotel follows the Freeling family, who run the Undervale Hotel that single mom Katherine (Eliza Coupe) has inherited from her late brother, Nathan (Will Forte). Joined by her kids, the devious Esther (Natalie Palamides) and the studious Ben (Skyler Gisondo), Katherine tries to make the best of the family's situation and save their failing hotel. However, the Undervale is actually haunted by hundreds of ghosts — including Nathan, whom everyone can see. Dealing with the hotel's spectral residents is no walk in the park, and hijinks ensue.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes What Is Your Biggest Horror Nightmare? Elm Street · Chucky · Scream · The Conjuring
Four horror franchises. Four completely different ways of scaring you. One waits until you fall asleep. One makes sure nobody believes you. One is already in your group of friends. And one is in the house with your family. Answer eight quick questions about how you actually watch horror, and find out which nightmare was built for you.
😴Elm Street(Freddy Krueger)
🧸Chucky(Child's Play)
📞Scream(Ghostface)
🕯️The Conjuring(The Warren Files)
01
Which horror scene makes you cover your eyes? Four classic images. One of them is worse than the others for you.
02
You are home alone and you hear a noise. First thought? Everybody has one. It arrives before you have decided anything.
03
Which horror movie rule would you break first? Everybody thinks they would survive. Almost nobody actually does.
04
Something genuinely frightening happens. What do you do? Not in a film. In your actual living room, tonight.
05
How do you actually watch a horror film? Be honest about this one. Nobody is checking.
06
Somebody offers you serious money. Which do you still refuse? The amount does not matter. There is one on this list you are not doing.
07
Which feeling stays with you a week after the film? Good horror does not stop when the credits do.
08
Something wakes you at 3am. What is the worst possibility? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides your nightmare.
The Lights Just Went Out Your Nightmare Is…
Four franchises, four completely different ways of getting underneath your skin. This is the one built out of your particular fear, why it works so well on you, and what it would leave behind.
Elm Street
Your nightmare does not wait outside the door. It waits for you to close your eyes, which you are going to have to do eventually, because nobody has ever won that particular argument.
- Freddy is horror's cruellest idea: a threat that lives in the one place you cannot guard, cannot lock, and cannot avoid forever.
- You are the one who is fine during the film and wide awake at two in the morning. Your own head is where this does its damage.
- These films understood exhaustion as a horror engine. The kids on Elm Street do not lose because they are weak. They lose because they are tired.
- You can lock every door in the house. You still have to sleep.
Chucky
Your nightmare is not really the doll. It is the face of the person you tell, and the way they decide, very kindly, that you have imagined all of it.
- Chucky works precisely because he is absurd. That is the trap: the more accurately you describe him, the less anybody is going to believe you.
- You are the one shouting at the screen because the characters are not listening. You know that feeling from real life too.
- The franchise is at its best when the adults in the room are the real obstacle, and you have met those adults.
- By the time somebody finally believes you, you will have handled most of it on your own.
Scream
Your nightmare has your number, knows your name, and has almost certainly been inside your house before. The worst part is that you already know them.
- Scream is the only one of these where the killer takes the mask off and turns out to be somebody who was at the party.
- You are the person who calls the twist out loud before it lands. You watch people the same way you watch films.
- The franchise made the rules of horror part of the plot, which means the survivors are the ones paying attention. You would be paying attention.
- Everybody is a suspect, including the person who just offered to walk you home.
The Conjuring
Your nightmare is not really about you. It is about the people asleep down the hall, and the feeling that whatever is here is not interested in leaving.
- The Conjuring films are domestic horror. The house, the family, the perfectly ordinary room that quietly stops feeling ordinary.
- Your instinct is to get everybody into one room. Your fear is protective rather than personal, which is rarer than it sounds.
- This is the one franchise where belief is the weapon. The people who come through it are the ones who are not alone and refuse to be.
- Whatever is here did not come for you. It came for the household, and you are the one standing in the hallway.
Haunted Hotel lovingly parodies the horror genre and its many subgenres while also telling a surprisingly poignant story about a struggling family picking up the pieces and trying to move forward in their lives. While Season 1 builds to a shocking yet organic reveal about Nathan's death that belies his optimistic personality, the series also highlights the wonderfully weird and endearing friendship between Esther and Abaddon (Jimmi Simpson), an immortal and mischievous demon now cursed to wander the Earth in powerless human form. Abaddon essentially becomes the Freelings' unofficially adopted child, and his storyline pays off with one fantastic Season 2 episode.
"Ghost Day Out" Cements 'Haunted Hotel' as an Animated Masterpiece
While Haunted Hotel's animation is much more vibrant, elaborate, and exciting in Season 2, one episode in particular cements the Netflix series as an animated masterpiece. "Ghost Day Out" involves the Undervale's ghosts breaking out of the confines of the hotel due to the strength of a once-in-a-generation full moon. Finally able to wander the town of Midwich, Nathan meets and forms a connection with another ghost, Bridget (Zooey Deschanel), who haunts the neighboring lighthouse. Haunted Hotel is already hilarious, but this episode is surprisingly emotional and romantic.
After meeting Bridget, Nathan finally confronts his fears about his death and the afterlife, throwing caution to the wind and experiencing a pure, joyous moment set to an incredible cover of Simple Minds' "Don’t You (Forget About Me)." Despite the show's horror-centric premise and macabre themes, the story possesses genuine heart and sweetness. If there's one episode that single-handedly earns the show's third-season renewal, it's Ghost Day Out," but anyone new to Haunted Hotel will quickly discover it to be a surprising yet rewarding binge.
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