If curiosity kills felines, what does it do to people? Ask Sam Kornheiser (Wally Dunn), the unfortunate salesman in “Burning House of Love” (Chris Lopata). This short, black and white film opens in a diner where Sam is chatting with Andre Anderson (Jesse L. Martin), another salesman. They engage in some small talk and their conversation eventually leads to the topic of motels and hotels they stay in while traveling the country on the job. Sam becomes very intrigued by Andre’s account of a hotel in Buffalo, NY. Simply called “The Hotel,” this place requires a password to get in and offers one hell of a turn-down service. When Andre’s travel plans demand that he leave immediately, he gives his Hotel room to a very obliged Sam. After witnessing the odd events that take place after he’s checked in, you can safely conclude that if curiosity doesn’t kill a man, it’ll cause equally unwelcome damage. A lesson might be learned if you had a good idea of what kinds of nasty things Sam would have to endure at the hands of the people running The Hotel. Unfortunately, the most that “Burning House of Love” can offer is the expectation of an inhumane surgery and a reference to the cult-orgy-mansion storyline in “Eyes Wide Shut” (Stanley Kubrick, 1999).
