Purely Joyful Movie!

Better Late Then Never

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

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.

A combination between a hillbilly and a slasher horror that normally should had been directed by Tobe Hooper but Universal found the script really bad so out goes Tobe who went on to direct The Funhouse (1981). To be honest there's really not that much to see about gory shots if we see what came out the same year, Friday The 13th (1980) but for so many it's the chainsaw and the pig head that makes this movie. It clocks in over 90 minutes and in fact there's a lot of talking going on. Sure, we do see the victims in the garden but nothing looks creepy or whatsoever. Maybe it's disturbing in some way but it's really low on the red stuff. The acting of course of Rory Calhoun as Vincent and and Nancy Parsons as Ida do deliver towards this horror.Maybe you can't take it all to seriously because there's also some black comedy to spot here and there and of course one full frontal and some tits here and there. Still up to today it's a much spoken flick due the pig head who also gave Fangoria some problems when they added that particular picture on their cover and is still one of the most searched issues of Fangoria.Just have a look now that it finally has it's Blu Ray release to see where the cult status came from, the chainsaw and the hog's head.Gore 0/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 1/5 Story 2,5/5 Comedy 1/5

Here's a nice bit of early slasher fun with all the usual trimmings: psychotic hillbillies, bizarre murders, a clueless cop, a hot blonde, and…uhm…jerky? Farmer Vincent and his sister Ida run a motel on the outskirts of town famous for it's homemade meat fritters. What the unsuspecting townspeople don't know is that Vincent and Ida lure travelers and passersby into traps and they disappear as part of the "garden", where the victims are left to wait until good and ready to become Vincent's next batch of meat treats. One night, Vincent takes out a motorcycle carrying a man and his girlfriend; the man is relegated to the garden but Vincent takes a shine to the girl and, with the help of his sister, nurses her back to health. The girl, Terry, is frightened at first but begins to open up to the oddball backwoods duo. Problems arise when Vincent falls in love with Terry and hopes to introduce her to his secret meat recipes, while Ida stews in jealousy of Vincent's shifting affections. The only person who can save Terry from these maniacs is Sheriff Bruce Smith, Vincent's brother and an ignorant putz who probably shouldn't be left in charge of policing others. So yeah, I guess she's pretty much doomed to become one of Farmer Vincent's fritters.MOTEL HELL is a cheap little throwaway horror film from the early '80s. The story is simple yet strange, the characters are exaggerated, and the story is just what you'd expect. The whole plot of planting his victims in his garden and turning them into fritters is pretty cool, and the guttural noises screeched from the garden's inhabitants is probably the most stomach-churning aspect of the movie. Well, that's not entirely true. Ida (Nancy Parsons) freaks me out. I guess it's a combination of her deep-set eyes, childish pigtails, overalls, and that nasal squealing voice. Add to that the fact that her character is a simple-minded fool with no qualms against murder, and she just weirds me out from the first time we meet her. Farm Vincent on the other hand has the complete opposite effect. He reminds me way too much of Bob Barker. Seriously…he looks like him and sounds like him. Instead of promoting pet population control through spaying and neutering, he eats them. Rory Calhoun is way too charming to be an effective villain. Farmer Vincent shouldn't be murdering people and serving them in jerky form, he should be hosting his own children's show. It's all good until the final confrontation in which Vincent completely loses his mind (but his final lines in the film are probably the absolute best). Nina Axelrod is hot as victim Terry (but not much else…her character's not the sharpest knife in the shed), and Paul Linke is the embarrassment that is Sheriff Smith. You know everything you need to know about the Sheriff when we first meet him. He speeds up Vincent's motel with sirens blaring and lights flashing, lurches to a stop, and puts on his police-game face to…pop in and say hello. He's not smart and he's not tough; it's a miracle he's not dead in the first fifteen minutes.The movie's pretty predictable and follows a few of the usual horror movie conventions. If someone shows up and exhibits "negative behavior" (e.g. sexual deviance, drug use, etc.), chances are they're going to end up as part of Vincent's garden. What annoyed me was that the whole "Farmer Vincent's fritters" plot was put on the back-burner for the majority of the movie so it could focus on Terry's involvement. I wasn't interested in a love triangle, I wanted more cannibalism and horror! It's a fun movie regardless, even if it does wander off track. I'm sure any horror fan will find something they like about this movie, but I don't expect to find it on anyone's top-ten lists.