HOTELS FROM HELL

For most people, the chance to get away from home and spend a few nights in a hotel is something to look forward to, something to enjoy. Crisp fresh bedding, a mini bar and one of those chairs in the corner of the room that no one really uses! However here are ten places that you might probably want to avoid next time you're planning a little break somewhere...

The Overlook Hotel

The Shining (1980)

It may be have gorgeous views of the Rocky Mountains but there are other places you might wanna check into if you are after an escape from city life. Inspired by the Stanley Hotel in Colorado (where King himself stayed prior to writing the novel), the Overlook has a rather ominous and complicated history. Built on an Indian burial ground at the turn of the 20th century, the hotel has seen it's fair share of murder and mystery over the years, none worse than when one of the previous caretakers decided to take an axe to his wife and twin daughters. You see, it may seem that an axe-wielding Jack Torrance is the main antagonist in The Shining, it is in fact the house itself that is the big evil. Sure there are tormented spirits that have never left the building but there's something bigger going on, a sort of collective paranormal force that not only lives within the hotel, but that possesses those that stay too long...

If you stay be prepared for: ghostly bartenders , decomposed women in the bath and mental carpet in the hallways.

Pinewood Motel

Vacancy (2007)

When your car breaks down in the middle of nowhere when you and your other half when you are in the midst of a break-up, it's bad enough. But when the nearest place to stay is an empty, run-down motel managed by a creep, it's fair to say that lady luck isn't smiling on you. Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson think it's just a shit-hole but it's all a bit more sinister than that. You see, despite being told they are the only people there, they are soon disturbed by noises from the next room and anonymous phone-calls. Then they find a VHS tape in the room and decide to give it a watch for shits and giggs. At first it appears to be a low-budget porno but it soon becomes apparent that they are watching a snuff film – and to make matters worse, it seems as if it has been shot inside the room they are currently staying in. Not only is the Pinewood Motel a trap where unsuspecting lodgers are terrorised and killed (whilst being filmed), the interior décor is dated and shabby to boot. One star accomomdation if ever I saw it.

If you stay be prepared for: dusty bed sheets, prank calls and masked intruders who can let themselves into your room whenever they want.