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Kitty Green’s follow up to The Assistant is another masterful slow burn thriller that keeps audiences on the edge of their seat. The Royal Hotel perfectly examines how danger is around the most common corner at all times for women. 

Writer-director Kitty Green knows how to create a sense of dread like no one else. In both of her most recent feature films, Green builds tension all throughout to keep audiences on the edge of their seat. The Royal Hotel is one of the most uncomfortable thrillers in years truly shining a light on how dangers truly lurk in the most common environments for specifically women. Despite the remote location, all women can easily relate to the overwhelming uneasiness of being alone in any setting.

The Royal Hotel follows Hanna (Julia Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick) after Liv seemingly runs out of money on their vacation in Australia. The friends find work through an agency in a remote area working as bartenders; the agent warns them the job isn’t so much demanding, but they’ll have to deal with some male attention, which ends up feeling like quite an understatement. The reaction from both girls is incredibly different; Liv seems to pay it no mind, but Hanna is not only on alert already due to the remoteness of the location, but the warning of male attention is truly heard by Hanna. As soon as a bus drops them off, the remoteness truly sets in. There’s nothing around them that the eye can see, they’re truly hours away from anything or anyone else. 

The film is loosely adapted from the 2016 documentary Hotel Coolgardie, which offered a glimpse into a small mining town where backpackers are brought in and out as bartenders essentially to be fresh meat for the men of the town to at best verbally harass, but at worse…assault. As soon as Hanna and Liv arrive at their new venue of work, their employers have no interest in their travel documents, which is the first of many red flags. Billy (Hugo Weaving) and Carol (Ursula Yovich) run the establishment that is anything but a royal hotel… Billy is an alcoholic with a bit of anger issues and his partner, Carol, is firing on all cylinders not only to run the bar and keep an eye on Billy but also to navigate the harassment thrown her way by customers. 

When the girls head up to their living quarters, they meet the British girls they’re replacing in the work program. The two girls are passed out and seem to be quite the party girls. The first night Hanna and Liv work at the bar, the British girls enjoy their final night by partying and of our leads brush it off as they’re just party girls. The British girls rush off the next morning and one exchanges quite a look at Hanna, which feels like a warning. As the girls continue to work at the bar, their customers subject them to bar humor and what can feel like harmless, but unsolicited flirting, but some of it feels much more sinister. Hanna and Liv feel like prey offered up to the mining workers of the town. As their time at the bar goes on, it feels most of the men are truly monsters and despite their smiles, their words are menacing. 

Hanna and Liv are portrayed as close friends and you can feel not only their deep understanding of one another, but their real connection that is beyond just vacation companions. These are girls that truly care for one another, but deeply understand each other. The way they handle and react to the patrons of the bar is entirely different and anyone who has been a responsible friend in their friend group can relate. Liv seems to not mind the wild energy of the Royal Hotel and puts up with the flirting, brushing it off most of the time as harmless bar talk. Hanna, however, is far less trusting and refuses to ever let her guard down. The patrons of the bar, and Billy, are constantly grilling Hanna to lighten up and ‘just smile.’ The Royal Hotelreally shines a light on how women can get caught up in defending what can seem like harmless flirting without even realizing how monstrous the real intent is. 

The Royal Hotel becomes a true horror film in its last fifteen minutes. It’s impossible to not feel your heart racing as the tension becomes full on violence. The camerawork keeping you close to Hanna and Liv, but also aware of the remoteness surrounding them intensifies the severity of their situation. Green’s latest film is so different from The Assistant as this film isn’t about men having a position of power to hold over women, The Royal Hotel focuses on how men can tweak a situation to take advantage of women, regardless if they hold power over them or not. The film is never unnecessary with the violence and harassment thrown towards its female characters, yet it doesn’t shy away from showing the real horrors women face.

Grade: A-

Oscars Prospects:
Likely: None
Should be Considered: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing

Release Date: October 6, 2023
Where to Watch: In Select Theaters