Let's be realistic.

Captivating movie !

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

This 1980 horror comedy stars Rory Calhoun, Paul Linke, Nina Axelrod and Nancy Parsons. The late, Calhoun (Pure Country) plays Farmer, Vincent who run a motel with his sister, Ida (Parsons) where they secretly trap and slaughter travelers to make pork products out of them. Axelrod (Critters 3) plays Terry, a young woman who gets into a motorcycle accident and is nursed by Vincent and Ida. Soon, Terry meets their younger brother, Bruce (CHiPs) who is the sheriff and they eventually learn of Vincent and Ida's twisted secret. This is an amusing and a bit disturbing film that pokes fun/pays tribute to "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Psycho." Calhoun was great in it and if you like horror/slasher flicks, check it out at least once.

As far as horror comedies go, "Motel Hell" is good, not great. It goes on a little long, and could have used more energy and better pacing, but when it does hit, it scores a bulls' eye. It does manage to often be genuinely funny in a dark way as well as creating some memorable bits of creepiness. It also gives its viewers a gem of a big finish: a chainsaw duel. It's a flavourful, atmospheric down-home flick that does populate its story with characters with whom one won't mind spending their time.Much of the credit should go to Western veteran Rory Calhoun, who's wonderful as demented good ol' boy farmer Vincent Smith, who both operates a backwoods motel (it's actually the Motel Hello, but the O in the neon sign burned out) and manufactures the best smoked meat within a 100 mile radius. It ain't exactly hard to figure out Vincent's secret ingredient, but it takes his lawman brother Bruce (Paul Linke of 'CHiPS') a while to catch on. Meanwhile, Vincent takes a shine to Terry (lovely Nina Axelrod), a sweet young thing who falls prey to one of his traps.Capably supporting old Rory is amiable Nancy Parsons, the character actress known best to most people as Balbricker in the "Porky's" series. There's also the curiosity value of seeing the legendary raspy voiced DJ Wolfman Jack in an acting role, as he plays Reverend Billy (and can also be heard on the radio, naturally). Keep an eye for Monique St. Pierre, Playboy Playmate of the year in 1979, and future 'Cheers' cast member John Ratzenberger, as two of the victims.Certainly the audience won't forget the sight & sound of Vincents' prey buried up to their necks in the ground and making horrible gurgling noises after getting their vocal cords slit. That's the creepy part. Overall, the movie is likable and not without style, thanks to director Kevin Connor ("The Land That Time Forgot"). It's got some memorably quotable dialogue and a priceless final line from Vincent.Mixing comedy and horror can be a hard thing to get right but at least "Motel Hell" strikes a reasonable balance throughout.Seven out of 10.

This is an unabashed B-movie black comedy. Nobody should have any illusions. The acting is over the top amateurism. The writing is unwavering parody. The characters are unflinching stereotypes. The style is low grade Corman-esk. But whatever problems and limitations it has, the movie enjoys itself and it shows on the screen. This is a black comedy that is having fun with the horror genre.Farmer Vincent (Rory Calhoun) kidnaps unsuspecting travelers and buries them in his garden. Unfortunately for his victims, they are buried alive, and grown like cabbage. Then he harvest them. You will enjoy the gore.

I can't understand the high praise this movie has got. On the one hand, it's a comedy, on the other it's a horror, but scary, it isn't. It actually plays better as a comedy with some smart and catchy dialogue, and a couple of outlandish scenes, one of which is kinky. It involves a sexed up couple who like to play role reversal gender, while smashing motel room lamps, and turning the room into disarray. This is one couple who get their just desserts, or may'be they just happened to be in the wrong room in the wrong motel. The insane owners, brother (Calhoun) and sister (Parsons) run this remote, and kind of bland country motel where it's occupants are knocked out. The poor schmucks are then taken to a vege garden, secluded by hedges, of course, where they are buried alive, head above soil, and get to live the rest of their days as a source of special ingredient for Farmer Vincent's (Calhoun's) smoked meats. Their vocal chords are ripped out of their throats, so they struggle to speak, their identities hidden, as small hession sacks are stuck around their heads, so when they wriggle about, it's looks like some sort of critter, struggling to get out. Lamps are put up against their faces, as to smoke em', I guess. It's hard to make sense of their whole operation, and this is what has been the fascination with me, every time I watched this flick. It's probably part of the reason I keep watching it. Acting wise, Calhoun and Parsons are great, especially Calhoun, who's affable smile can transform into one of deep harvested anger in the flick of an eye. We really lost a star here folks. Nina Axelrod plays innocent well, as the surviving bride of a less fortunate victim, 30 years her senior, who was murdered at Calhoun's hand. The psychotic duo take her under their wing. The local cop, Paul Linke, who's fun to watch and incidentally, is Vincent's younger brother, falls for her but she chooses to marry Vincent. So, obviously she has a thing for much older blokes. When he confronts her, she retorts with a line that cracks me up. I'm not gonna tell ya. You gotta hear it for yourself. It's the way she says it. But what I love about this movie, is the unforgettable presence of Wolfman Jack as a zealous preacher. He steals a lewd magazine from Linke, his eyes poring over the pages. He said he confiscated it off a kid. As if? I love the scene on the tube, when the kinky couple are being held down, and we keep cutting to the TV, where our Wolfman is doing an ad, phone number displayed across the bottom of the screen. There was no reason to keep cutting back to the tube, but I'm glad the director did. MH is low on gore too. There's only about two bits that stick out, one being at the end with a chainsaw wielding climax, Calhoun's face guised with a pig head, where you just want this mess to end. I love MH's song. I sing it to myself, now and then, out of the blue, accent and all. It's lyrics aptly fill the story's theme, and although this film is well made, one can't help but look at the underlying stupidity of it all. Although a lot of horror fans favor this film, for me it was just another waste of viewing time. And movie buff that I am, to say, "I wouldn't be watching this again", I'd just be an all out liar.