Motel Hell (1980) Movie Review, Trailer, Film Still and Poster

USA 1980
Director: Kevin Connor
Cast: Rory Calhoun, Nancy Parsons, Nina Axelrod, Paul Linke, Everett Creach, Wolfman Jack
Rating: R
Release Date: October 18, 1980
Running Time: 1 hour 41 mins 12 secs

The Movie Review

Motel Hell film still 1


MOTEL HELL
Storyline:
Cast:
Ending:
Overall:

"What is this, Dog style? No ma'am, Hog!"

That line really cracks me up. I just eL Ou Vee Ee this movie! 80s was really something alright! Choked-full of freakin' fun slasher movies. And at the dawn of the decade, I would present you a review of a movie which was also released at the dawn of the 80s. It's Motel Hell! Besides, I figure that you might want to check this original version first before it's being remade in 2010.

Farmer Vincent, jolly old fella who runs a small business, Motel Hello (with the letter O often unreadable), with so so income, but... he's very famous for producing the best smoked meats in the hundred miles area. Vincent (Rory Calhoun) runs it with his lovely little sister, Ida (Nancy Parsons). They're really friendly people but Vincent and Ida have got a little dirty secret, Vincent often catches passersby near his motel by laying booby traps in the surrounding area. Until one night he catches a couple named Bo (Everett Creach) and Terry (Nina Axelrod) which he suddenly feels sorry for Terry and taking care of her instead. The next morning Vincent's kid brother Bruce (Paul Linke), a sheriff comes by and immediately falls for Terry. Unlike Vincent, the naive Bruce doesn't know squat about the Motel's secret. In the meantime a rock band the Ivan and the Terribles as well as two young women are also becoming the victim of Vincent and Ida. What is their secret really? Will Bruce ever find out what's really going on? Is Terry really safe to live in that Motel Hell?

Motel Hell is a combination of comedy and horror. It's not mean-spirited, even though what farmer Vincent does is mean but the overall tone of Motel Hell is light. It's clearly shown that Motel Hell was made to entertain and not to scare. The comedy is good and the horror is good. Depending on your sense of humor, laughing out loud may not be happening, but I'm positive that smile will often formed on your face. The horror is not that nasty, it would be like touring on Disneyland compared to what you see on cinema these days, but it's just effective to remind us that this is still a horror film. All the cast are just hilarious, of course the late Rory Calhoun (d. 1999) and Nancy Parsons (d. 2001) are just fabulous, with the weakest link is Nina Axelrod, but she makes it up with her nude scenes.

The gore is kept minimum and they're not overly graphical. But it's the calm sick vibe of Rory (from Trips to Frogtown (1988)) and the happy-go-butchy spirit of Nancy (from Porky's trilogy) is what amp the overall quality of the film a lot. The mix of the happy country song and the classic horror score are great. We got to see Ida and Terry go swimming with tubes in the sunny day and then we also got to see the hard-to-forget scene of Farmer Vincent's secret garden. Meat's meat and man's gotta eat! that's their motto. I suggest that you don't see the trailer if you want to fully enjoy this great movie. But I've given the spoiler section below, just in case.

-- Start of Spoiler Possibility Alert --
Farmer Vincent and his sister Ida are actually friendly cannibals. They ambush unsuspecting people around their motel, and then plant them in their secret garden with only their heads above the ground. They nurture them lovingly (such lovely cannibals eh?), and hypnotize them with the help of spiral lamp before killing them. Of course, all of their work is for a purpose. Human flesh is their secret ingredient for their ever-famous meat products.

-- End of Spoiler Possibility Alert --

There is no internet in the early 80s, so we often knew a good movie from mouth to mouth info (or as I used to call it, getok tular). And so now with the internet, even though I didn't say it to you in person, I really suggest you to see this movie. Motel Hell is one of the horror gems of the early 80s.

"I'm the biggest hypocrite of them all... My Meat... I... I... used preservatives..."