X
- 1980
- R
- United Artists
- 1 h 41 m
- 1980
- R
- United Artists
- 1 h 41 m
Summary 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.
Directed By: Kevin Connor
Written By: Robert Jaffe, Steven-Charles Jaffe
- 1980
- R
- United Artists
- 1 h 41 m
- 1980
- R
- United Artists
- 1 h 41 m
Motel Hell
64
6.6
Where to Watch
Summary 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.
Directed By: Kevin Connor
Written By: Robert Jaffe, Steven-Charles Jaffe
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
64
71% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
29% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
64
71% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
29% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
“Meat’s meat and a man’s gotta eat” is the kind of line that makes this an offbeat horror treat. Some moments are satirical of other horror films, yet they carry a horrific impact, so you may not have much time to laugh before fright sets in.
Motel Hell is a welcome change-of-pace; it's to "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" as "Airplane!" is to "Airport." It has some great moments.
The tone of this 1980 feature is too muddled for it to be really memorable, but it's impressively slick, with intimations of the adult decadence themes that informed Roger Corman's Poe films of the 60s.
MOTEL HELL could have been a great black comedy, but the uneasy direction of Kevin Connor fails to get most of the picture off the ground.
This film’s pleasures are extremely mild, but they’re discernable for the curious fan of retro redneck horror, or, far more likely, for the genre critic looking to finish their dissertation pertaining to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s vast influence on the 1970s and 1980s grindhouse movie’s vision of gleeful small-town Americana hypocrisy.
Director Kevin Connor, coming off a string of British horror films and Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptations, never turns Motel Hell into an all-out comedy, but humor is always part of the mix.
The most perfunctory and least imaginative of the recent cycle of horror melodramas, Motel Hell may be credited with a fleeting wry touch, but it wears out its welcome by running a minimum of ghoulish stunts into the ground. [25 Oct 1980, p.F4]
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 8 User Ratings
6.6
50% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
50% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 8 User Ratings
6.6
50% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
50% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
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