‘The hunt is on. And you’re the prey.’
Dinosaur Hotel is a 2021 British monster movie about a survival game that pits prehistoric monsters against its contestants.
Sequels Dinosaur Hotel 2 (2023) and Dinosaur Hotel 3 (2024) followed.
Directed and photographed by Jack Peter Mundy (War of the Monsters; Amityville Cornfield aka Amityville Scarecrow) from a screenplay written by Shannon Holiday. Produced by Scott Chambers [as Scott Jeffrey] (director of Rats Reborn; Bad Nun: Deadly Vows; Don’t Speak; Cupid; ClownDoll) and visual effects designer Rhys Waterfield (Dragon Fury).
The Jagged Edge production stars Chrissie Wunna (Exorcist Vengeance; Dragon Fury; War of the Monsters), Nicole Nabi (Cannibal Troll; Hatched; Medusa: Queen of the Serpents), Sofia Lacey, Chelsea Greenwood (Amityville Cornfield; Return of the Tooth Fairy; Bad Nun: Deadly Vows), Kate Sandison (Devil Djinn; Rise of the Mummy; Medusa: Queen of the Serpents) and Aimee Marie Higham (I Scream Man; War of the Monsters).
Dinosaur Hotel 2 was released in 2023.
Plot:
Sienna is desperate to win a large cash prize in a secret underground game show. However, dinosaurs begin to hunt her down for the entertainment of the wealthy. Can she be the last to survive the horrific night to win the prize?
Our review:
Prolific British producer, Scott Jeffrey’s cut-price world of monsters has now expanded to include CGI dinosaurs. There is no explanation as to how they are at the titular hotel – although bearing in mind obvious budgetary constraints they aren’t too bad except in a few interior shots. The beasties are involved in a mysterious streamed survival game that’s presented by a floating “robot”. If this sounds “fun”, well it’s certainly preferable to most of Jeffrey’s previous efforts due to the dino novelty value and an agreeably short running time.
Unfortunately, there’s still a distinct lack of suspense and urgency to the entire proceedings while the addition of two kids to the mix (bless ’em, they tried) only highlights the weakness of thespian skills overall. Of course, there’s no attempt to explain how dinosaurs came to be roaming around the hotel and no one nearby has noticed.
Adrian J Smith, MOVIES & MANIA
Other reviews:
“The acting is atrocious, the plot makes no sense whatsoever, and the dinosaur attack scenes are so few and far between that, I was bored during most of the movie. The CGI models themselves for the dinosaurs looked genuinely great though, however, that’s countered by the fact that they interact so poorly with the environments, looking like they were just poorly cut and pasted in…” The B-Movie Shelf
“Sadly because of the budget the CGI beasts are distinctly subpar; of necessity most of the creatures roaming around the hotel are quite small and slightly more effective than their poorly animated full-size brethren […] This of course is fairly pedestrian stuff…” Dark Eyes of London
“If you’ve seen Jurassic Games then you’ve seen the same plot done better. Here we get no real explanation for the dinosaurs and just how they bloody-well exist(!), for why the women are invited to play (and die) and what pleasure the Games Master takes from all this beyond making money (a poor excuse IMHO) […] But hey, at least this take on “reality TV’ horror is a lot better than some, bigger-budgeted efforts!” Nerdly
“It’s just clumsy. It’s packed with details. Watching actors take such a silly plot seriously is fascinating. It was a leap of faith for them, and there’s no way they could’ve predicted this. What’s more, no part of this hotel looks like one.” Tales of Terror
“Unlike in Dragon Fury, we do see quite a bit of the creatures in Dinosaur Hotel. However, while that film the effects ranged from passable to bad, here they’re uniformly awful […] Plotwise, Dinosaur Hotel isn’t anything special either. Characters play hide and seek with the dinosaurs before mostly meeting a bad end. The film finds various ways to split them off and get them alone, one of which involves one of the kids and a cave. That actually had potential but unfortunately, it’s mostly wasted.” Voices from the Balcony
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