Review of Motel Hell (1980) by Andrew B — 20 Dec 2008

Movie Review: [B]Motel Hell (1980)[/B].

Directed by Kevin Connor.

Starring: Rory Calhoun, Nancy Parsons, Paul Linke.

Genre: Horror.

Rating: R.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Right off the bat I get an unsettled thought of the meat business and the hosts for it. I like the idea and concept though, a brother-sister duo killing off every person in sight to keep their business successful, and maintaining to keep everyone fooled. The male lead Vincent, played by Rory Calhoun, succeeds to give the audience chills with his nonchalant manner. His porky sister Ida, played by Nancy Parsons, also gives off a scary vibe with her taunting and carefree manner. The damsel, Nina Axelrod, does fail to deliver a strong and believable performance though and can easily loose an audiences attention.

The effects in the movie were poor and failed to receive a serious reaction from me. There were definitely some comedic parts or at least scenes that had a little humor, and it really took away from the horror aspect of the film. Also the idea of humans being ?animals? is a great idea, but in Motel Hell it is more of a joke and a mockery of human behavior.

The relationships between some of the characters seemed very rehearsed almost, and cheesy to say. As the film progresses Axelrod?s performance gets better and more concrete. The film continually introduces new characters, or should I say victims, that never seem to last or always get caught in an unpredictable situation. The movie lost all seriousness at times and I asked myself, Is this really a horror film? Usually the audience should hang off their seats quivering in fear, but in this film you expect something strangely, odd to happen and you don?t seem to be surprised by it.

You can easily detect some of the characters emotions and that?s why they are so believable, yet very predictable. It began to trail off and loose my attention. It failed to draw you in and capture a good sense of horror. Maybe the movie wasn?t meant to fully horrify you? Maybe it was meant to scare you and make you smirk at the same time? Whatever the case it surely was not a horror movie alone, but had components of comedy as well.

Overview: Motel Hell is a clever cult film that focuses on dark humor and bloody violence. The characters all deliver decent performances while trying to create a humorous atmosphere. Although the movie is not strong in the horror field and lacks any serious suspense, it does achieve comedic success. The film emphasizes the idea of humans acting as animals, therefore being treated as such. It?s a chance to see what life would be like if we were the meal! Motel Hell dissects the minds of two cannibalistic farmers who want to carry out a successful business, without exposing their gruesome secret. This film definitely has potential to be remade, but since it?s a classic it needs to be respected as a classic and stay true to the original. But there are many things that can be modified so that the movie can be more thrilling and really get the audience going. Overall Motel Hell is will always be a famous cult classic no matter how well it did in the box office.