Hotel Room Is A Forgotten David Lynch HBO Anthology

Hotel Room is a forgotten HBO anthology series from co-creator David Lynch. Following his unforgettable debut with Eraserhead, Lynch made his name with a series of unique, disturbing projects like The Elephant Man and Blue Velvet. In the early 1990s, he co-created Twin Peaks with Mark Frost, which became one of the most groundbreaking TV shows of all time. It followed an FBI agent who traveled to the titular town to investigate the murder of a teenage girl, only to slowly unearth all of Twin Peaks’ dark secrets.

Despite the acclaim that greeted the first season, Lynch and Frost were forced by the network to reveal Laura’s killer early in Twin Peaks season 2. The second series took a noticeable dip in quality after this storyline was resolved and the show was canceled before season 3. This experience left Lynch somewhat soured on working in TV, though in 1993 he did briefly return to the format for anthology Hotel Room.

This three-episode miniseries is centered on room 603 in the New York’s Railroad Hotel. Each episode is set in a different time period too; episode 1 “Tricks” takes place in 1969, the second episode “Getting Rid Of Robert” occurs in 1992 while “Blackout” is set in 1936. Despite being decades apart, the hotel’s staff themselves never seem to age. Lynch created Hotel Room with Monty Montgomery – who later played The Cowboy in Lynch’s own Mulholland Dr. – and the director helmed “Tricks” and “Blackout” while James Signorelli directed the middle chapter.

Each episode of Hotel Room is basically a small play, with each having its own tone. “Blackout,” for example, casts Crispin Glover and Alicia Witt as a married couple reconnecting following a tragic loss, and is set against the backdrop of a blackout in New York. Lynch managed to attract a great ensemble for his episodes, with “Trick” featuring Glenne Headly and the irreplaceable Harry Dean Stanton. These episodes may not be the director’s best work, but they’re the strongest outings of Hotel Room, while the misfiring comic tone of “Getting Rid Of Robert” is often cited as the weakest of the trio.

David Lynch’s vision for Hotel Room didn’t connect with viewers back in 1993, so only three episodes were produced. The series has largely fallen into obscurity in the years since, and while it’s easy to find the show online, it’s rarely brought up in conversations about Lynch’s filmography. While Twin Peaks is the superior show in many ways, Hotel Room is still worth seeking out for completionists. It carries many of David Lynch’s recurring themes and obsessions, and the cast does great work.

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Padraig Cotter
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It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

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