MOTEL HELL
By Raymond Knowby
Such a blender-made concoction of the sick and funny that it deserves to be experienced by any lover of black comedy.
Farmer Vincent (Rory Calhoun) and his questionably female sibling Ida (Nancy Parsons) run the out of the way Motel Hell-O, where just about anyone stops by for a vacation. Very few ever check out again, either, as the good farmer and his family cut their selected customers into county famed lunchmeat. When he snares a vulnerable young girl from a roadside accident, Vincent nurses her back to health and then brainwashes her on the true events of her stranding. She soon accepts his hand in marriage, but it won’t be long before she learns the real fate of her previous traveling companion or her new husband’s secret lifestyle.
Take PSYCHO and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and hit frappe’ and you might get an idea of what you’re up for here, but there’s plenty of original warp thrown in for extra kicks. Wait until you see the “harvest” and the dueling chainsaw finale. WARNING: some of the imagery may haunt you for the rest of your days. Funny, it takes some cues from the original TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE but it looks like Tobe Hooper then steals a few back for his 1986 sequel. Loving nods, perhaps, to one another?
Recently released on a dual sided dvd with the obscure 1974 DERANGED, this cult classic is readily available for hunting down.
"Just what in MOTEL HELL is going on here!" Apparently, it takes all kinds of critters to make farmer Vincent's fritters.