RECENT WATCHES: Hotel Room (1993)

Though “Twin Peaks” was a substantial ratings success, however briefly, its co-creators had trouble replicating its popularity. Mark Frost's follow-up, documentary series “American Chronicles,” only lasted one season. David Lynch's next TV show, retro sitcom “On the Air,” was axed after all of two episodes aired. (The rest resurfaced in Japan, where “Peaks”-mania was more long-lasting.) Next, Lynch would be lured to premium cable. HBO, who already had “Tales from the Crypt” on the table, hoped to create another hit anthology show, this one even hipper and sexier. Lynch and his “Wild at Heart” co-writer Barry Gifford delivered “Hotel Room.” Three episodes were produced, aired together on one night, and viewership was such that HBO declined to make more. “Hotel Room's” three half-hour installments were later released on a single VHS tape, making it easy to mistake the show for a movie. I'm going to review it as if it was one anyway.

The premise of “Hotel Room” is that each episode would depict a different event that took place in Room 603, across the long life-span of Manhattan's Railroad Hotel. In “Tricks,” set in 1969, square Moe brings hippy prostitute Darlene up to the room. His mysterious friend Lou soon arrives, further complicating the situation. In “Getting Rid of Robert,” set in 1992, Sasha books the room to dump her boyfriend, a smarmy Hollywood talent agent. Things don't go the way she planned. “Blackout,” set in 1936, depicts married couple Danny and Diane arriving at the hotel during a city wide blackout. Diane is recovering from a debilitating mental trauma, which is only worsened by the long dark night.

After “Hotel Room's” swift cancellation, Barry Gifford would rewrite his unused scripts as stage plays. This points to a pretty serious issue with the show. By confining the premise to a single hotel room, the scope of the stories you can tell are seriously limited. Worst still, the series does not resist its stage-like restrictions. Each of the episodes are largely devoted to people standing around and talking. In “Tricks,” characters monologue right into the camera. “Blackout” is almost entirely devoted to its leads sitting on a bed, having a quiet conversation in close-up. Though almost anything can happen in a hotel room, the show seems fixated on the delivery of bad news. “Hotel Room” seems to take the most boring route with every opportunity it is given.

You can see David Lynch struggling to make his stories more cinematic. The show begins with silhouetted images of people stepping into a white light, a cool visual, while Lynch delivers some typically vague narration. Each episode starts with a shadowy image of the room number, a nice touch. “Tricks” concludes with the very neat image of red lights outside the windows, the only time the artificiality of the set is used for much. There's a nice shot of a candle flickering in the dark room in “Blackout.” yet even Lynch's peerless imagination seems somewhat defeated here. The second episode's director – James Signorelli, previously of “Elvira, Mistress of the Dark,” “Police Academy 2,” and a ton of episodes of “Saturday Night Live” – seems even more disinterested in stretching the limits of the show's singular setting. His episode is flatly-lit and features only the most minor of visual touches.

Of the three episodes, "Tricks" is probably the best. This is largely thanks to the cast. Harry Dean Stanton plays Moe and he's always compelling. His talents are well-utilized in the role of an uptight sad sack who is definitely hiding something. His monologue about a teenage pizza delivery that went steamy, and is clearly emblematic of his lifelong sexual frustration, is the highlight of the entire series. The arrival of Mac, play the fittingly spacey Freddie Jones, takes the episode in a surprisingly kinky direction. The generational difference between the hooker and her john is of minor interest. Yet the episode is still filled with overly vague dialogue, pointing towards a directionless story. Only the last minute twist points thing in any sort of satisfying direction.

“Getting Rid of Robert” doesn't even rise to the minor levels of the first episode. This segment is largely devoted to catty dialogue between its three female characters. Despite all the talking, we don't get an idea of who any of these characters are. When Robert himself appears, more than halfway through, the script meanders a bit more before arriving at some sort of point. There's a decent switch-a-roo and that's where the episode's few laughs especially a moment involving a maid – arrives. The conclusion is mildly surprising and made me chuckle a little. You'll notice none of this is high praise. “Getting Rid of Robert” is, at least, well cast. Debra Unger is appropriately bitchy while Griffin Dunne gets off a few zingers as the titular boyfriend.

The episode of “Hotel Room” I was most looking forward to was “Blackout,” due to its star. David Lynch and Crispin Glover have complimenting eccentricities. After their incredibly bizarre collaboration in “Wild at Heart,” I was excited to see what weird shit they'd come up with together this time. Disappointingly, “Blackout” is easily the worst episode of “Hotel Room.” Gifford's script really lets us down. Most of Diane's dialogue is semi-coherent babbling, the disturbed woman being difficult to follow. That the people they are discussing have such odd names names the conversation even more indecipherable. After listening to the whole exchange, you still only have a vague idea of what happened. Casting Glover as the sane spouse really underutilized the actor's manic talent. He spends the whole episode reacting calmly to Alicia Witt – otherwise known as Donna's piano-playing sister on “Twin Peaks” – as she rambles in a wide-eyed, unhinged way. “Blackout” is “Hotel Room's” longest episode, at forty some minutes. With the circular dialogue and still camera movement, you feel every minute of it. 

I've been curious about “Hotel Room” for years. The show has never been released on DVD but bootlegs, sourced from a Japanese LaserDisc with scratchy audio, are common enough. (And, of course, it's on Youtube.) It's the only Lynch related project nobody seems to talk about much. Having seen it now, I understand why. It's a forgettable trilogy of stories, a word that can be applied to nothing else Lynch has had a hand in. “Hotel Room” is so lame, I wonder if Dave did it as a favor to Gifford or something. Normally, I would bemoan a big network like HBO canceling a Lynch-created project after a single evening but, in this case, I think they might've made the right decision. [5/10]