Motel Hell
Added 11/20/2009
This movie is typical of its genre. In this case a whacked out farmer and his sister are in the sausage business and they add a little extra to their pork-based meat. They capture motorists passing by or guests to their hotel and plant them in the ground. Once they've "cured" they pull thm up with a tractor and bring them to the smokehouse. The farmer is smart enough to cut their vocal cords and place gunny sacks over their heads so no one can hear their cries.
Yes it is a dumb plot. Yes the script is lame, but this movie has a charm (if such a word is applicable). It has its hero, a bungling sheriff, and its heroine, an attractive blonde. Eventually Farmer Vincent is figured out and a classic battle of chainsaws ensues. Why Vincent finds the need to put on a big pig head is not explained, but it adds to the absurdity of the battle. Naturally the cute blonde finds herself tied to a conveyor moving ever closer to a meat slicing band saw. But hero sheriff rescues her and alls well that ends well.
Normally I would blast this movie, but something about it makes me want to be kinder and gentler than say, Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This will never win an Oscar, but it never intended to anyway.
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'Motel Hell' (United Artists) 3 1/2 stars - Running Time: 100 minutes
Added 7/1/2009
I saw this grade B horror flick at a theater when it first came out in 1980. Not a bad movie to own on DVD. A somewhat scary film to watch (on a stormy night is best) as farmer Vincent Smith (Rory Calhoun) and his gross sister - Ida (Nancy Parsons - Porky's Miss Blabricker) and their cop brother Bruce (Paul Link - Chip's officer Grossman) practically rule their hick town as Vincent and Ida trap passing motorists only to have them end up as smoke beef to customers for the last thirty years. Classic scene: when farmer Vincent come into the meat cutting room - wearing a pig's head and holding a shotgun. Fun to pull out every now and again to watch.
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This is a campy, B-horror film but is definitely creepy. The sounds coming from the victims in Vincents garden...SCARY!!!
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Motel crapola
Added 1/13/2009
Given the choice between spending 90 minutes in hell or having to sit through Motel Hell again, I think I'd go with the former. Although it's supposedly some lost horror cult classic (Aren't they all?), this painfully uneventful 80's slasher amounts to little more than a half baked Texas Chainsaw Massacre clone.
Truth be told, Motel Hell starts out on a semi-promising note before it dive bombs into the uninspired crap fest that it is. The story is basically about Farmer Vincent, a kindly old man who in addition to running his cozy little motel is a local legend for his delicious meats. Here's the shocking part: Farmer Vincent's meats are humans! I think a blind man could have seen that one coming. Old Vince and his fat hog of a sister Ida set deadly road traps for tourists, which they then bury up to their necks in a hidden garden until the time has come to smoke their flesh for jerky.
Eventually the story turns into a mish mash of over-elaborate death scenes, a weird relationship between a young blonde and the crusty old farmer, and eventually culminates into a weak chainsaw battle with Farmer Vincent donning a pig mask for no apparent reason. You may think that in the midst of this idiocy that there would be some good gory scenes to spruce things up a bit, but Motel Hell fails even in that regard. Why waste any more time even talking about this? Leave Motel Hell for the collectors and completists who salivate over the thought of forgotten z-grade garbage like this. It's a safe pass for everyone else.
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What An Unbelievably Funny Movie!
Added 5/11/2007
The premise of the story contained in this DVD really pushes the envelope, in terms of believability. But, that makes watching it both startling and, at times, hilarious. The things that happen at the small "mom-and-pop" motel are such unlikely events. However, there are many moments of suspense, as well...
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It takes all kinds of critters... to make farmer Vincent fritters!.
Added 10/30/2009
This 2 disk set is a MUST have for horror/slasher flick fans!. I came across these two films when they were refrenced it in Fangoria's 101 Best Horror Movies You've Never Seen: A Celebration of the World's Most Unheralded Fright Flicks and I just had to check them out. Both films were terrific, Motel Hell being my favorite of the two. Motel Hell was quite a good black comedy/horror film that I enjoyed alot cause of how it was unique and original. The first film Deranged is about the story of Ed Gein but with a great darkly comic edge and it had loads of Gore. This includes some great set pieces involving Bear Traps, the killing of an obese Spiritualist and a twisted dinner date. Alan Orsmby's shock expose of the killer Ed Gein is a mixture of Black comedy & uncomfortable horror. Robert Blossoms gives an intense performance as Ezra Cobb a man haunted by the words of his dead & deeply religous Mother("the wages of sin are siphilis, gonerea & death!"). The story of mother loving EdGein shows it's influence in Psycho, Texas Chainsaw & many other movies, but this has to be the most affectionate. There are some real gruesome scenes involving: Brain Scooping, tummy drums & bear traps (special effects by a young Tom Savini); and like TCM it has a terrific and bizarre dinnner table scene. Like any Ormsby film there is a combination of great comic writing & gruesome horror accompanied by a top notch soundtrack (in this case echoes of Church organs). And watch out for that cinematography! the shot of Ezra bearing down on his victim is a real classic Horror moment.
Motel Hell is one of the many 'Texas Chain Saw' clones which hit the screens during the late '70's and early eighties, but unlike the many TCM rippoffs this one was probably the best. Central premise has farmer Colhquon planting his motel guests up to their necks, cutting out their vocal chords, slaughtering them and smoking their flesh which is then sold as barbecued meat. What we have is a delicious little parody of the horror genre, outrageous in places, ironic in others. Rory Calhoun plays the owner of a financially failing motel, but rather than being ruled by his mother, he is ruled by his mother's recipe for smoked meats. He and his sister run a hugely popular business selling jerky and sausage. It's famously delicious, and people come from miles around to sample Farmer Vincent's produce. While the household is locked in to an evangelical television programme, cannibalism and the morality of murdering and eating others is never an issue for them. The final chainsaw duel is worthy of note with the demented farmer (wearing a pigs head) and the local sheriff going at it. It's a brutally observed spoof horror ("Texas Chainsaw" played as farce), well shot, highly entertaining and very funny. There's satire, there's farce, there's irony, there's some visceral humour and there's a chainsaw duel! What more could you ask for? Funny, enjoyable production which contrasts nicely with the run-of-the-mill bloodletting of 80's cult horror. I highly recommend this great double feature from MGM, it's pretty good for Halloween.
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A very nice double feature of cannibal terror!
Added 10/13/2009
"Deranged" is the story of a souther mama's boy named Ezra (Roberts Blossom) as his mom just died recently, but some how she just haunts him as he has no choice but to dig up her body and use it for conversations as he is going to the brink of insanity. He starts to murder off innocent women and keep their bodies, sometimes have sex with the bodies becoming a necrophiliac and even cook their flesh for dinner. "Motel Hell" is the story of Farmer Vincient Smith (Rory Calhoun) and his sister Ida (Nancy Parsons) run a meat farm and motel called Motel Hello where some of the guests usually disappear and Vincient makes the finest smoked meats in town, his stuff sells like hotcakes and his motel is quite successful around travelers. It really does kind of takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincient's Fritters as Vincient's police officer brother (Paul Linke) is skeptical about what makes the meat taste sooo good, there's a catch to it as there's a secret garden with live humans caught for butchering to become what people will eat.
These are two well made and enjoyable cannibal based movies, first off "Deranged" is influenced by the horrific murders of Ed Gein and came out the same year that the masterpiece "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Not as memorable as that movie, "Deranaged" is still a very documentary-esque look at the mind of a serial killer long before there was "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer", it's a nail-biting suspense shocker that will hit you in the stomach. "Motel Hell" is a very entertaining horror comedy that plays like a comical version of "Psycho", "The Hills Have Eyes" and even "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" as it's a lighthearted satire about cannibalism and motel based horror movies, the film does co-star Playmate Monique St. Pierre and an early appearence by John Ratzenberger. The film does have a cult following to this day and is one of the most satisfying cannibal/slasher/horror comedies around.
This double feature DVD offers both movies a decent transfer with good sound quality with only extras being the trailers to both movies.
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Deranged/Motel Hell DVD
Added 8/29/2009
I recently purchased the Deranged/Motel Hell DVD from Amazon.com. I hadn't seen Motel Hell since I was a kid (I know what you're saying, what kind of parents did I have? It was a different age in the late '70s, early 80's and I was sneakey to boot). I did a double-take when I saw the title. I only purchased the combo-pack because it was cheaper than buying "Motel Hell" alone. Needless to say, it wasn't the thought-provoking, nightmare-making machine it was to a nine-year-old but the nostalgia alone was worth the purchase. I am amazed with the selection that Amazon provides; anything I can summon from the mental files of my misguided youth will materialize in living color on my computer screen. I've already ordered several more deviant and bloody movies from Amazon and some more traditonal choices as well. The product I received was just what they said it was in the condition they implied. I can't reccomend Amazon enough; they are the real deal! And if you're in the mood for good old-fashioned horror, try Motel Hell (Deranged isn't too bad, either).Deranged/Motel Hell (Midnite Movies Double Feature)
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