Nicolas Cage will investigate a mass disappearance in Hotel 33

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Nicolas Cage is set to bring his special brand of glowering and hysteria to HOTEL 33, a surreal thriller evidently based on a true story about a mass disappearance on the opening night of a Pennsylvanian hotel.

I had never had any knowledge about this mystery before, but now that I’m wise to it, I’m quite intrigued indeed.

Here’s the plot:

The film is based on the presumed event surrounding the disappearance of 32 people on the opening night of the Grand Hotel in Williamsport, PA in 1953. While Detective Kaminsky (Nicolas Cage) is investigating the event, four teenagers break into the now-abandoned hotel for a night of festivities. Things soon go awry, and Detective Kaminsky now has to turn his attentions to discovering the mysterious happenings surrounding the strange disappearance of two of the four teenagers.

This site, Hotel33Disappearance.com, has some more info about the real case. In addition, there’s a Facebook page devoted to the hotel, which in fact provides a slightly more interesting and expanded version of the tale at hand (however, you can consider some of this info SPOILER territory):

Williamsport, PA: On May 10, 1953, police discovered that all 32 people that were in the Grand Hotel on opening night— including guests and staff – disappeared. They vanished without a trace; their possessions left behind. The city boarded up the hotel and swept the story under the carpet. It became an urban legend, a myth, and residents started referring to the property as “Hotel 32.”

In early 1993, the hotel was reopened and turned into a haunted tourist attraction. On April 10, 1993, three boys — Troy Belger, Rob Laden and Jacob Carr — spent the night in Hotel 32, Jacob Carr was never to be found again. On April 12, 1993, Detective Richard Kaminsky died while interrogating the two boys regarding their missing friend. Shortly after, the hotel mysteriously burned down and “Hotel 33″ would become the center of a controversial haunted house tale for years to come.

Newcomer Kellie Madison wrote the script and will direct HOTEL 33 which will start production in September 2013.