Motel Hell (1980)

A seemingly friendly farmer and his sister kidnap unsuspecting travelers and bury them alive, using them to create the "special meat" they are famous for.

Director:

Kevin Connor

Writers:

Robert Jaffe, Steven-Charles Jaffe

Stars:

Rory Calhoun, Paul Linke, Nancy Parsons

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rory Calhoun	...	Vincent Smith
Paul Linke	...	Bruce Smith
Nancy Parsons	...	Ida Smith
Nina Axelrod	...	Terry
Wolfman Jack	...	Reverend Billy
Elaine Joyce	...	Edith Olson
Dick Curtis	...	Guy Robaire / 1st T.V. Preacher
Monique St. Pierre	...	Debbie
Rosanne Katon	...	Suzi
E. Hampton Beagle	...	Bob Anderson
Everett Creach	...	Bo Tulinski
Michael Melvin	...	Ivan
John Ratzenberger	...	Drummer
Marc Silver	...	Guitarist
Victoria Hartman	...	Female Terrible

Storyline

Farmer Vincent kidnaps unsuspecting travellers and is burying them in his garden. Unfortunately for his victims, they are not dead. He feeds his victims to prepare them for his roadside stand. His motto is: It takes all kinds of critters...to make Farmer Vincents fritters. The movie is gory, but is also a parody of slasher movies like Last House on the Left.

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Plot Keywords:

pig mask | buried to the neck | motel manager | trap | rural setting | 

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Taglines:

It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent fritters.

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

Rory Calhoun and Paul Linke play brothers in the movie. In real life, Calhoun was 26 years older than Linke.

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Goofs

Toward the end, when the saw is turned on during the fight, the object on the "conveyor" would not index toward the saw. That is a "skatewheel" conveyor, it just has a series of rollers that only allow a person to easily push something down the line. There are no motors, belts, etc. to automatically drive or feed anything down the line to the saw.

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Quotes

Vincent Smith: Plant 'em!

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Crazy Credits

The films opening title image is the neon "Motel Hello" sign with the "O" burned out. During the closing credits the entire sign is shown burning out and finally exploding after the credits end.

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Alternate Versions

Although the cinema version was intact the 1986 UK Warner video suffered a brief 2 sec cut to remove a closeup shot of a chainsaw wound during the climax. The 2002 ILC DVD was fully uncut.

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Connections

Referenced in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)

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Soundtracks

You're Eating Out My Heart and Soul
Sung by Kregg Nance

User Reviews

Cannibalistic sausages sold in a motel hell

Another 80s B classic that had a run at the drive-ins before drive-ins went out of style. Rory Calhoun and Nancy Parsons run a roadside motel that likes to slaughter it's guests and turn them into sausage.

They have a neat little slaughterhouse and smoke room out the back where they take their victims after planting them in a garden (with only their heads exposed) and fattening them up for the slaughter. And when the guest attendance at the motel falls off, Calhoun sets traps out on the highway for passing motorists so that he can add them to his garden.

It also has Nina Axelrod as the girl that Calhoun and Parson take pity on and 'adopt' as one of their own, and Paul Linke as the dumb sheriff who bumbles his way into finally ending Calhoun's operation, once and for all.

There's a clumsy little fight sequence in the smokehouse at the end involving knives and cleavers, with all the action taking place surrounding a vat filled with body parts.

Worth a one-time look. Brainless fun.

6 out of 10

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 October 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

Nuits de cauchemar

Filming Locations:

High Street, Moorpark, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,924,776, 26 October 1980

Gross USA:

$6,342,668

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$6,342,668

Company Credits

Production Co:

Camp Hill

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1