Hotel Inferno 2 – The Cathedral of Pain – 2017
The Cathedral of Pain follows pretty much where the first film left off. Frank Zimosa is now dead, as he is the main character, and through whose eyes we see the events unfold—that means we, the audience, are also dead. We are now in hell, and it doesn’t take a long time to place us in utter chaos. The Cathedral of Pain doesn’t shy away from blood, guts, and intestines. On the contrary, it embraces the concept fully. What we have before us is a gore film, the likes of which I haven’t seen in years – if ever!
I can’t say that this is actually how I envision hell. But on the other hand, it’s a quite possible interpretation, at least from a demonic perspective. There is a labyrinthine maze of rooms and passages. And in every place there is blood, guts, and gore. It looks pretty goddamn good too!
The story continues in first person, and we see everything from the eyes of Frank. But this time we go all in. There is absolutely no scene without fantastic special effects. So, if The Cathedral of Pain doesn’t have anything else, there are amazing practical special effects.
The story itself revolves around the fact that Frank cannot accept that he actually died and went to hell. He just cannot allow that it happened. So, in the depths of hell, he soon finds this witch from medieval times, who instructs him how to find the five ingredients needed to restore his soul so he can go back to the living. I’m not too concerned with the story or the ingredients, to be frank (no pun intended). I’m just mind-blown by the bloody and gory special effects that look absolutely top-notch.
The Cathedral of Pain does, however, get a bit tedious after a while, and I have problems keeping interested. It’s way more entertaining than the first movie was, though, so I guess this is one of the rare occasions where a sequel actually outdoes the original!
