Motel Hell (1980)

Admirable film.

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

After an accident on the highway, a woman recuperating at a brother- and-sister owned roadside motel nearby finds that the strange number of nearby disappearances are travelers being killed and harvested for a popular meat forcing her to try to stop them.This is really one of the weirdest films from the time period. This comes from the apparent work of the majority of the film where the whole general concept is weird and it is full of this sort of style. There is really no way other to describe it as weird here due to the rather out-there elements featured here from the central storyline of a man and his portly sister putting a special ingredient into their meat and will stop at nothing to get it and keep others from finding out while using some pretty wild ways to keep others from doing so. The manners of going out hunting the pedestrians along the woods which ties into their harvesting methods showing them trapped in the gardening patch with their throats slit provide some laughs, and the way that they came about harvesting their ingredients is some dark black comedy. That is the main element present here as the black comedy more than horror dominates this one as well since there were some scenes that normally shouldn't be funny were twisted in such a way that the results are just out there enough to be funny, from trying to distract someone while a pair of fingers boils up to the top of a soup can and finding the horny couple in the hotel room. The only time it is even near horror is the end, which is some pretty intense stuff from the revolt and attempted training that ends with a great dueling chainsaw fight that is great to behold, mostly for the mask worn throughout that creates one of the defining images from the film. These here manage to work quite nicely here for this one although it does have a big problem here. The main issue for this one is that the film has so much black comedy and no real horror until the end that for those that don't like that style, this will be a really hard film to sit through. A couple of innovative scenes spread liberally through the film are nice, but beyond that, it really isn't that much of a horror film during many of it's supposed scares scenes. The fact that this one is that way for the majority of the film is the problem, tending to come off as camp rather than scary as its weirdness doesn't bother that much, but it is something for those not interested in that style to have to sit through. Even still, this one focuses on the killer more than the victims, another obstacle to overcome which becomes a style that some don't like this approach as there's little about him or his plans that are really interesting. These here are what really hold this one back.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Language, Full Nudity and some mild S&M scenes.

Motel Hell is a film I have been dying to see. In some circles it's a cult 80's horror movie. I had only seen bits and pieces of the film on TV. It seemed very interesting with the chainsaw and Saw-like pig masks. When this Halloween Extravaganza came up I jumped at the chance to finally checked it out. I seems to get caught in the hype, which I need to stop. It ruins the film experience for me. But this film ended up being nothing I expected it to be. In the end, I think this film definitely doesn't fit in the horror genre. But I don't know where else to categorize it. Rory Calhoun stars as farmer Vincent. He's famous for his meat in the area. You can't get it anywhere other then 100 mile stretch from his farm. What makes his meat so good? He kidnaps humans and cultivates them. So yes, he's selling human meat. This is no spoiler. The film opens with Vincent building one of his traps in order to get his next victims. But after the trap works, he is overcome with emotion for one of his victims. Terry (the beautiful Nina Axelrod) wakes up in his and his sister Ida's care. Vincent tells her that she had an accident but she was spared. The man she was riding with has died. But the viewers know better of his demise. Terry is grateful for being saved. She takes a liking to both Ida and Vincent but even more so Vincent. Vincent is kept in check by his brother Paul who has grown up eating the meat but knowing nothing of what the meat actually is. Paul takes a liking to Terry but Terry has eyes for his brother. What follows is Vincent coming to terms with what he is doing and Terry coming to realization that not everything is what it seems. First and foremost this is not a horror movie. There is killing but it mostly bloodless. I get the idea and the concept is in the horror family. The film plays out like a late 70's very early 80's dark comedy. At moments it's goofy like 80's comedies then it will switch gears to become trippy and odd. The performances are okay. Calhoun give Vincent more depth that he should have in a film like this. You can see there more at work then what he is showing. It's interesting to watch his slow downfall. Nancy Parsons plays his sister Ida and she is best known as the crazy gym teacher from Porky's. She plays just about the same part here but with a more fun and sinister nature. Nina Axelrod may not be the best final girl in horror movies but she's definitely one of the most attractive final girls in 'horror' film history. Being in an 80's movie she is put in all the horror situations including the final battle and the obligatory topless nudity. Speaking of, way to go for the filmmakers to be forward thinking even back then with a goofy Drive-In make out scene that sports some full frontal male nudity. I didn't see that coming at all. The rest of the performance are basic for a film of this nature.The film is full of tons of oddball characters but Vincent is the only that standout. There is an interesting scene with an S&M couple that would fit better in Police Academy then this film. Motel Hell is one of those odd films that just doesn't fit anywhere conventional. It's not a horror film that's for sure. The only moment of horror would be the final chainsaw battle. It was kind of cool to see a film end like that. But this is a film for one of those late night Netflix viewings, nothing more and nothing less.

Farmer Vincent (Rory Calhoun) runs Motel Hello. But the decrepit red neon sign out front sputters the "O" in "Hello", so as to read "Motel Hell", an apt description for strangers passing through this rural area. Farmer Vincent also has a sideline business; he tends a pig farm and garden. He also sets traps for creatures that enter his domain. But the good farmer and his sister Ida (Nancy Parsons), who lives with him at the motel, are righteous people. We know this because their TV is constantly tuned to a preacher who tells listeners to send money. What would overnighters possibly have to fear from such noble souls as Vincent and Ida?As a comedy-horror film "Motel Hell" is better than most I have seen. It's got humor. In one segment, the driver of a van carrying a bunch of hippie musicians announces to his passengers: "Oh man, this rent's too heavy; we better find a place to crash". Within seconds the van wheels into a bear trap that sends the van tumbling into a ravine where it crashes.But the film has some problems. A twenty-something character named Terry, who stays with Vincent and Ida is so annoyingly helpless and gullible as to be not the least bit credible. And although Nancy Parsons makes an ideal Ida, Rory Calhoun looks too much like an actor to be a credible farmer. And his false teeth are visually annoying.A low-budget film, "Motel Hell" projects grainy visuals, though that doesn't necessarily hurt the overall tone. Many scenes occur at night and there is a distinct fog present, something of a cliché for horror films.One of the great visual images of this film comes near the end, when, in dim lighting, someone wearing a large pig head attacks another character. The pig- head person laughs maniacally, creating a creepy atmosphere. Had this sequence come earlier in the plot and in a non-comedic whodunit horror film, the creep factor would have been exponentially higher.The film doesn't take itself seriously, and neither should the viewer. If you're in the right mood for a tongue-in-cheek fluff film, "Motel Hell" has quite a bit to offer.

Well, this is a very nice film. It is a love-story! And then some blood and then some gore. Not as much as I had hoped for. But that is OK. Between the headlettice ( you'll see ), the waaaaay to jealous little sister, the cheap, blind police-officer and the porno-reading priest I really did not care. The film actually have adults as actors, no teenagers... Amazing! Vincent is a good-looking guy, although I usually do not like older men. I also think if someone got their voice-box cut off, they can not make any noise at all, but maybe they did not do a very good job. It is not easy to perform a operation on someone outside in the dark. All and all, a good film.