O2D This is definitely the best horror movie about a motel/hotel. It's not boring and actually a bit scary. Watch it.

NileFortnerBoogieBuddha954 "It Takes All Kinds of Critters to Make Farmer Vincent's Fritters!"Quick Movie Review of Motel Hell (1980)I have always loved low budget, grindhouse, and low budget horror films. I find them to be fun, funny, and willing to take a risk. I have had the opportunity to see a lot of 80's horror and 80's horror sleaze. On the other hand, I have never viewed the cult classic Motel Hell, until last night. The story is very interesting; the story follows a family that sells "jerky" and sausages to travelers that come through their small town. What those travelers do not realize is that the yummy treats that they are eating contain human flesh! The way they "harvest" their meat is very cool too .They cause motorists to have accidents on the road, and then capture their prey and bury them in their garden with only their heads sticking out of the ground. This is why I don't eat sausages and jerky. The successful horror comedy is a rare and elusive find. Not only does it need to be both scary and funny, but also it has to blend the two together in almost perfect symmetry. Some of the best films that strike an ideal balance between terror and laughs include Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, Evil Dead II, An American Werewolf In London, The Return Of The Living Dead, Re-Animator, The Cabin in the Woods, and Fright Night. Now that I have seen Motel Hell, I can say this movie is now included on this list.For me this films plot is enough to get my attention. The plot seems strange and bizarre! At times the film is scary, at times cheesy, other times funny, and comes off like a parody of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Psycho. Now this is by no means a perfect movie. For one thing, the setup is slow. Also, the acting is bad, it is very low budget and it takes a while for some things to get going. This movie is certainly a movie most horror fans have heard of. If you are a serious horror head, 80's film fan, or you like cheesy movies, this movie should be somewhere on your radar. Other people, I'm not sure you will enjoy it. I'm kind of stuck on what rating I should give this. I know it is a bad film with cheesy elements. However, it did keep my attention and I found it entertaining. Hmmm…I believe Motel Hell earns a…6 out of 10Horror fans, 80's fans, and fans of old school sleaze I'm sure will enjoy this. However, if you are not one of these individuals, I do not think you will enjoy it as much.

zetes I caught maybe the last half hour of this movie one time on TNT when I was a teenager, and I remember it vividly. Finally, some 20 years later, I watch the whole thing. Meh. Honestly, it has some fantastic moments. That whole first sequence where the victims who are buried up to their necks in the garden is horrifying. And Rory Calhoun is a hoot throughout. A lot of the rest of it is pretty stupid, though. The leading lady, Nina Axelrod, is a complete blank. She just dumbly goes along with whatever's happening with little objection. The character who turns out to be the hero, played by Paul Linke, the one who has to save Axelrod at the end, is so unheroic he attempts to rape her earlier in the movie. The finale is particularly memorable, but it's moronic. Seriously, Linke has a shotgun and Calhoun has a chainsaw (not to mention he's infamously wearing a pig's head over his own - how the Hell's he seeing out of that thing?), and Linke rushes him. I think it's supposed to be kind of funny, but it's not.

brando647 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.