"Would like to make my own comedy vehicle": Haunted Hotel creator on how he got the idea for his new Netflix animated series

Matt Roller's Haunted Hotel has opened its squeaky doors for you and the eight-part animated horror series is now available on Netflix.

Roller, who has worked as a writer on Rick and Morty, was always fascinated with the horror genre and wanted to create a comedy series with spooky undertones. The series follows a single mother who inherits a Gothic mansion named Undervale, which comes fully furnished with unhappy spirits. Along with the help from her dead brother and two children, the woman must work together with her ghostly roommates and run a successful hotel for her guests.

The voice cast for Haunted House includes Will Forte, Skyler Gisondo, Natalie Palamides, Eliza Coupe and Jimmy Simpson.

Matt Roller conceived Haunted Hotel while writing for Rick and Morty

In a recent interview with Animation magazine, Rick and Morty writer revealed that he had always loved the horror genre and dreamt about having his own horror-comedy series one day.

While working on Adult Swim's sci-fi comedy series, Roller wanted to explore the horror genre, which formed the basis for Haunted Hotel. While you can expect anything and everything to pop up in a Rick and Morty episode now, that was not the case some eight years ago. The absurdist comedy was strictly sci-fi in Season 2, and Roller did not want to bring horror undertones to the sitcom's story.

This itch to fuse comedy with horror paved the way for Haunted Hotel, as Roller revealed:

''It got me thinking that I would like to make my own comedy vehicle that allows me to mine horror for comedy instead of sci-fi.''

Now that Matt Roller had a specific genre in mind, he pulled references and inspiration for his horror-comedy from his own life. He was always fascinated with the creepy old hotels in upstate New York, which look magnificent from the outside but contain an altogether different world inside. The setting of those hotels became the premise for his latest Netflix animated series.

The Haunted Hotel location is important in his new series. While there are no intergalactic trips and adventures in parallel realities in Roller's new comedy, the characters are bound at one spooky location, where every room and hall harbours a new demon.

Haunted Home is a homage to the horror genre

Netflix's Haunted Home might feel like an animated version of another beloved (and spooky) sitcom, Ghosts, but Roller was inspired by director Ti West’s The Innkeepers. He borrowed visual references from West's 2011 film and conjured up a background of a spooky hotel, which becomes the 'home base' for a new adventure. As Roller further revealed to Animation Magazine:

“We were trying to evoke the tactile nature of an old hotel — the creaky floors, the worn floorboards and slightly peeling wallpaper. [We] wanted to capture all that in this place.''

The singular location of the hotel might be limiting, but Roller made sure that it is detailed and expansive. Every room of his Haunted hotel is tempting, and viewers would want to explore every room, even if they are scary.

Haunted Hotel is a heartwarming love letter to the horror genre, which contains 80+ Easter eggs for the audience (as revealed by Roller). The animated series features subtle and cheeky nods to classic shows and movies like Ghostbusters, Friday the 13th and Beetlejuice.

Check into the Haunted Hotel on Netflix now.

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