14 Terrifying Hotels From Horror Movies and TV

Never After Dark opens this week, and its setting—a former bed-and-breakfast turned private home—got us thinking about the most horrifying hotels we’ve seen on screen before. The kinds of places where ghosts and other creatures await, serial killers lurk, and guests find themselves wishing they’d booked a room literally anywhere else.

If you visit in the summer months, it’s actually rather pleasant, though you should probably still avoid room 237. But when the Overlook is snowed in for the winter season, its malevolent spirits come out to play, tormenting the caretaker (always Jack Torrance) and his family with creepy visions and murderous urges.

Experiencing a change of heart after stealing a bunch of cash from your employer? Your road trip of regret may have you feeling emotionally and physically exhausted, but if you see a run-down motel with an abundance of vacancies and a creepy Victorian house perched just behind it, you should probably keep driving. If you absolutely must stop, avoid taking a shower at all costs.

The local folklore about the witch trapped within its walls is, regrettably, absolutely true. But the true frights sneaking through this quaint Irish country inn are actually human in origin, as an American author finds when he’s trying to resolve some of his own unfinished business there.

Two decades after Stephen King dreamed up the Overlook, he wrote about another exceptionally haunted hotel, this one proving you’re not safe even in the middle of New York City. One particular room in the Dolphin has claimed dozens of victims, a warning somehow not strong enough to dissuade a skeptical visitor from pushing his luck.

After Psycho , most folks would have second thoughts about checking into a random roadside motel. But sometimes, your car breaks down. You don’t have a choice. And it’s not your fault that the motel in question exists to attract victims for the snuff aficionados who’ve made it their favorite filming location.

There’s a plot twist at the end of Identity that sort of makes its setting—yep, another random roadside motel—a moot point. But for most of it, we’re watching a hodgepodge of stranded travelers hunker down during a dangerous storm, only to start getting picked off by a mysterious, number-obsessed killer.

A historic hotel long rumored to be haunted is about to go out of business, so the two remaining employees seize upon their last chance to document any paranormal activity. The Innkeepers is somehow not a found-footage film, despite that premise, and it delivers some atmospheric scares as well as some unexpectedly oddball humor.

This one is a found-footage film, and it’s one of the genre’s better examples, following the ill-fated creation of a Halloween haunt attraction within the walls of an abandoned hotel. Should you find yourself in a similar situation, give any and all clown statues the widest berth possible.

The second episode of Apple TV’s Emmy-winning juggernaut gave a splendid showcase to a place no tourist should ever stay, though that won’t stop the mayor from trying to show it’s totally fine. The time distortion in the captain’s suite? Just a mold-related hallucination.