A couple on the verge of a possible success finds something sinister within the walls of a haunted hotel in this horror tale that turns out to be better than expected.

Eric is a television director who has done numerous jobs and has a series in the works. He heads to Cyprus with his wife Sofia, a native Cyprian, to the Gula Grand Hotel. It is believed that the place is haunted and upon meeting the owners, Frank and Rosemary, the story comes out. Over thirty years ago, a dinner party at the hotel was the site of a massacre when all of the guests were poisoned. In addition, the owners, knowing their reputation has been destroyed, killed themselves out of shame.

When Bruce, the host of the show and Sofia’s father, proposes an idea to Eric about using tricks to show there are spirits in the hotel, he is disgusted. However, he ultimately decides to go along with it after being pressured by investors. Soon enough, Sofia begins to have haunting visions about what happened that fateful night. Soon enough, Eric, Sofia, and the TV crew begins to fall prey one-by-one by something very sinister. Is it all a trick? Are there actual ghosts? Or something far worse?

This horror tale from Francesco Cinquemani makes good use of its 76-minute running time. From the moment you are introduced to our protagonists Eric and Sofia to the finale, it becomes one insane and tension-filled ride that leads into a shocking end that even I wouldn’t expect.

Mark Huberman brings in a good angry performance as Eric. You can clearly see from his intro that he has some trepidation when it comes to the new job of launching a haunted house series. He even seems to be more concerned about Sofia, played by Marianna Rosset. She looks very uncomfortable from the beginning and her character just gets more and more so with the exception of a brief scene where Eric tells Sofia how much he misses her as a traumatic event caused the duo to temporarily separate.

The legendary Julian Sands plays show host Bruce, who is concerned with not just how to bring the show to life but Eric and Sofia’s relationship. As Bruce’s idea sounds farfetched in Eric’s mind at first, the pressure from show investors especially the character of Dom, played by Loris Curci, causes Eric to change his mind. His crew is a skeleton crew consisting of assistant Anna, played by Kristina Godunova; Christine, played by Elva Trill; and Jennifer, played by Flavia Watson.

The death scenes are quite interesting because they are a combination of supernatural terror and slasher movie. Inspired by many great genre filmmakers such as Stanley Kubrick and Dario Argento, Cinquemani does a fantastic job paying homage to the genre while unleashing his own style. The final act is where things really go insane and leads to some major twists and turns that lead to a jaw-dropping finale.

The Ghosts of Monday is tense from the film’s opening moments to the jaw-dropping finale, all driven by some pretty good performances from the cast. Horror fans may definitely want to check this one.

WFG RATING: A-

Cleopatra Entertainment presents an Altadium Group production. Director: Francesco Cinquemani. Producers: Marianna Rosset, Vitaly Rosset, and Loris Curci. Writers: Francesco Cinquemani, Loris Curci, and Andy Edwards. Cinematography: Pau Mirabet. Editing: Graziano Falzone.

Cast: Mark Huberman, Marianna Rosset, Julian Sands, Elva Trill, Flavia Watson, Kristina Godunova, Loris Curci, Maria Ioannou, Anthony Skordi, Joanna Fyllidou.