Motel Hell
Encyclopedia
Motel Hell is a 1980 horror comedy film directed by Kevin Connor
and starring Rory Calhoun
as farmer, butcher, and meat entrepreneur Vincent Smith. It is often seen as a satire
of modern horror films such as Psycho
and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
.
Because of its low budget nature, the original intent was to make a serious horror film, with moments of disturbing wit and irony. The film's score was composed by Lance Rubin.
) and his younger sister Ida (Nancy Parsons
) live on a farm with a motel
attached. It's called Motel Hello, but the O on the sign constantly flicks on and off. Vincent makes smoked meats said to be the most delicious in the surrounding area. Vincent's secret is human flesh, and Vincent has the areas around his isolated motel strewn with various booby traps to catch victims. The victims are placed in a 'secret garden' where they are buried up to their necks and have their vocal cords cut so they cannot scream; Vincent keeps them in the ground, feeding them special food, until they are ready and then kills them. Ida helps, and seems to enjoy it, whereas Vincent seems rather calm and certain in his belief he's not doing anything wrong. Vincent even refers to the people he's captured as "animals."
The movie opens with Vincent shooting out the tires of a motorcycle a couple is riding on: The male (Bo) is placed in the garden, but Vincent takes a shine to the young female (Terry) and brings her to the motel. The next morning, Vincent's naïve and mild-mannered younger brother sheriff Bruce (Paul Linke
) (unlike Ida, Bruce is not aware of his brother's secret) arrives, and Vincent tells Terry that her boyfriend died in the accident and that he buried him: a trip to the graveyard shows a crude grave marker placed there by Vincent. Terry, having nowhere else to go, decides to stay at the motel.
Most of the film consists of Vincent (with Ida's help) capturing more victims for his garden (first a health inspector for Vincent's pigs who spies the hidden garden by chance, goes to investigate, and then becomes part of it; then a van full of drugged-up band members) while using his folksy charm to woo Terry, much to Bruce's dislike, who tries to woo her himself without much success.
Vincent captures more victims by placing a pack of cardboard cows on the road (when one of the victims goes to move the cows, Vincent gases her, and then follows the other in a long car chase wherein the woman in the car apparently faints from the stress of her terror, allowing Vincent to capture her) and then lures in a pair of swingers who show up with a false ad that the motel is a swinger's paradise. The next day he suggests he may teach Terry to smoke meat. Ida finds out about this and, jealous of Terry, attempts to drown her in the pond (by luring her out there to play on inner tubes), but Vincent comes in time and saves her. This proves to be a catalyst for Terry, who tries to seduce Vincent (he stops her, claiming it would not be proper until they are married) and then agrees to marry her.
Bruce, unhappy that he's 'lost' Terry, drives down to the motel and bursts into the bathroom to protest Terry's choice. During his rant to slander his brother he claims Vincent has 'syphilis of the brain', which might explain his calmness towards murder and cannibalism), but Vincent appears and chases his brother off with a shotgun. Having decided to have the wedding tomorrow, Vincent, Terry, and Ida share a glass of champagne, but Ida drugs the champagne to knock Terry out so she and Vincent can prepare some of the garden victims (presumably for the wedding feast tomorrow). Meanwhile, Bruce, still angry over losing, starts doing some detective work on a few strange things he's noticed and starts to feel that something is not quite right at his brother's farm.
Vincent and Ida kill three of the band members (by hypnotising them, then tying nooses around their necks, attaching the rope to
a tractor, and driving the tractor to break their necks) and pull them out of the ground to take to Vincent's meat processing plant. However, doing so loosens the dirt around Bo, as he begins to try to escape. Bruce sneaks back to the motel to try to rescue Terry, but Ida returns for a snack and overhears Bruce trying to get Terry to leave. Ida ambushes Bruce when he leaves the room and knocks him out, and then takes Terry at gunpoint to the meat processing plant. Meanwhile, Bo escapes and frees the other victims.
Vincent, upset that Terry found out his secret the way she did, sends Ida back to the motel to fetch his brother, but the victims, having escaped (and in a nod to zombie films, have staggered around groaning and hissing due to their cut vocal cords), ambush her and knock her out. Terry tries to escape, but the door is locked and Vincent sadly knocks Terry out with gas, and then ties her to a conveyor belt, apparently planning to kill her too. He is interrupted by Bo, who crashes into the meat plant via an overhead window and fights with Vincent, but he is weak from being trapped in the garden for so long and Vincent strangles him.
Bruce awakens, finds one of his brother's shotguns, and goes to the meat packing room himself, but finds that his brother has armed himself with a giant chainsaw (and placed a pig's head over his own as a gruesome mask). Vincent manages to disarm his brother, but Bruce grabs his own chainsaw and proceeds to have a violent duel with Vincent (later parodied in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), in the process turning on the conveyor belt Terry is tied to, sending her slowly towards a meat cutting blade. Despite suffering several wounds, Bruce drives the chainsaw into his Vincent's side for a mortal wound. Bruce frees Terry and then returns with her to his wounded brother, who gasps his final words, leaving the farm and 'secret garden' to Bruce, and then lamenting that his whole life was a lie and he was the biggest hypocrite of all ("My... meat... I... I... used... preservatives!") before he dies.
Bruce and Terry go to the secret garden and find Ida buried in it as revenge... head first! (Of the victims there is no sign. They seem to have wandered off , presumably to get help.) They then head past the motel, while Bruce comments on how he had no idea what was going on and was glad he'd run away when he was eleven. Terry suggests they just burn the motel, claiming it's evil. The sign saying MOTEL HELLO finally fully shorts out, permanently darkening the O and leaving the title: MOTEL HELL.
with the white brick stable building as the backdrop to the motel and farm. The building and Sable Ranch locations were used in the filming of hundreds of both Hollywood and independent movies and TV shows for over 60 years. Interiors of the motel, farm, and smokehouse were filmed at the Laird International Studios in Culver City, California
.
" collection of double feature DVDs. It was released along with the 1974 feature film Deranged
.
of Automaton Transfusion
fame. As of June 2010, there has been no update on the remake and it is labelled on "pre production". It is unknown if plans for a remake are still alive or if the whole idea is dead.
Kevin Connor (director)
Kevin Connor is an English film and television director currently based in Hollywood.Connor was born in London on the 24 of September 1937 and grew up during the 2nd World War...
and starring Rory Calhoun
Rory Calhoun
Rory Calhoun was an American television and film actor, screenwriter and producer, best known for his roles in Westerns.-Early life:...
as farmer, butcher, and meat entrepreneur Vincent Smith. It is often seen as a satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
of modern horror films such as Psycho
Psycho (1960 film)
Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch...
and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a 1974 American independent horror film directed and produced by Tobe Hooper, who cowrote it with Kim Henkel. It stars Marilyn Burns, Paul A. Partain, Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, and Gunnar Hansen, who respectively portray Sally Hardesty, Franklin Hardesty, the...
.
Because of its low budget nature, the original intent was to make a serious horror film, with moments of disturbing wit and irony. The film's score was composed by Lance Rubin.
Plot
Farmer Vincent Smith (Rory CalhounRory Calhoun
Rory Calhoun was an American television and film actor, screenwriter and producer, best known for his roles in Westerns.-Early life:...
) and his younger sister Ida (Nancy Parsons
Nancy Parsons
Nancy Anne Parsons was an American actress. She was best-known for her role as Beulah Balbricker in the 1982 cult film Porky's and its sequels...
) live on a farm with a motel
Motel
A motor hotel, or motel for short, is a hotel designed for motorists, and usually has a parking area for motor vehicles...
attached. It's called Motel Hello, but the O on the sign constantly flicks on and off. Vincent makes smoked meats said to be the most delicious in the surrounding area. Vincent's secret is human flesh, and Vincent has the areas around his isolated motel strewn with various booby traps to catch victims. The victims are placed in a 'secret garden' where they are buried up to their necks and have their vocal cords cut so they cannot scream; Vincent keeps them in the ground, feeding them special food, until they are ready and then kills them. Ida helps, and seems to enjoy it, whereas Vincent seems rather calm and certain in his belief he's not doing anything wrong. Vincent even refers to the people he's captured as "animals."
The movie opens with Vincent shooting out the tires of a motorcycle a couple is riding on: The male (Bo) is placed in the garden, but Vincent takes a shine to the young female (Terry) and brings her to the motel. The next morning, Vincent's naïve and mild-mannered younger brother sheriff Bruce (Paul Linke
Paul Linke
Paul Linke is an American actor, known for his role as Officer Artie Grossman in CHiPs, a television series about the motorcycle officers of the California Highway Patrol. Linke has worked in film and extensively in television, mostly portraying mild-mannered everyman roles.Linke was born in New...
) (unlike Ida, Bruce is not aware of his brother's secret) arrives, and Vincent tells Terry that her boyfriend died in the accident and that he buried him: a trip to the graveyard shows a crude grave marker placed there by Vincent. Terry, having nowhere else to go, decides to stay at the motel.
Most of the film consists of Vincent (with Ida's help) capturing more victims for his garden (first a health inspector for Vincent's pigs who spies the hidden garden by chance, goes to investigate, and then becomes part of it; then a van full of drugged-up band members) while using his folksy charm to woo Terry, much to Bruce's dislike, who tries to woo her himself without much success.
Vincent captures more victims by placing a pack of cardboard cows on the road (when one of the victims goes to move the cows, Vincent gases her, and then follows the other in a long car chase wherein the woman in the car apparently faints from the stress of her terror, allowing Vincent to capture her) and then lures in a pair of swingers who show up with a false ad that the motel is a swinger's paradise. The next day he suggests he may teach Terry to smoke meat. Ida finds out about this and, jealous of Terry, attempts to drown her in the pond (by luring her out there to play on inner tubes), but Vincent comes in time and saves her. This proves to be a catalyst for Terry, who tries to seduce Vincent (he stops her, claiming it would not be proper until they are married) and then agrees to marry her.
Bruce, unhappy that he's 'lost' Terry, drives down to the motel and bursts into the bathroom to protest Terry's choice. During his rant to slander his brother he claims Vincent has 'syphilis of the brain', which might explain his calmness towards murder and cannibalism), but Vincent appears and chases his brother off with a shotgun. Having decided to have the wedding tomorrow, Vincent, Terry, and Ida share a glass of champagne, but Ida drugs the champagne to knock Terry out so she and Vincent can prepare some of the garden victims (presumably for the wedding feast tomorrow). Meanwhile, Bruce, still angry over losing, starts doing some detective work on a few strange things he's noticed and starts to feel that something is not quite right at his brother's farm.
Vincent and Ida kill three of the band members (by hypnotising them, then tying nooses around their necks, attaching the rope to
a tractor, and driving the tractor to break their necks) and pull them out of the ground to take to Vincent's meat processing plant. However, doing so loosens the dirt around Bo, as he begins to try to escape. Bruce sneaks back to the motel to try to rescue Terry, but Ida returns for a snack and overhears Bruce trying to get Terry to leave. Ida ambushes Bruce when he leaves the room and knocks him out, and then takes Terry at gunpoint to the meat processing plant. Meanwhile, Bo escapes and frees the other victims.
Vincent, upset that Terry found out his secret the way she did, sends Ida back to the motel to fetch his brother, but the victims, having escaped (and in a nod to zombie films, have staggered around groaning and hissing due to their cut vocal cords), ambush her and knock her out. Terry tries to escape, but the door is locked and Vincent sadly knocks Terry out with gas, and then ties her to a conveyor belt, apparently planning to kill her too. He is interrupted by Bo, who crashes into the meat plant via an overhead window and fights with Vincent, but he is weak from being trapped in the garden for so long and Vincent strangles him.
Bruce awakens, finds one of his brother's shotguns, and goes to the meat packing room himself, but finds that his brother has armed himself with a giant chainsaw (and placed a pig's head over his own as a gruesome mask). Vincent manages to disarm his brother, but Bruce grabs his own chainsaw and proceeds to have a violent duel with Vincent (later parodied in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), in the process turning on the conveyor belt Terry is tied to, sending her slowly towards a meat cutting blade. Despite suffering several wounds, Bruce drives the chainsaw into his Vincent's side for a mortal wound. Bruce frees Terry and then returns with her to his wounded brother, who gasps his final words, leaving the farm and 'secret garden' to Bruce, and then lamenting that his whole life was a lie and he was the biggest hypocrite of all ("My... meat... I... I... used... preservatives!") before he dies.
Bruce and Terry go to the secret garden and find Ida buried in it as revenge... head first! (Of the victims there is no sign. They seem to have wandered off , presumably to get help.) They then head past the motel, while Bruce comments on how he had no idea what was going on and was glad he'd run away when he was eleven. Terry suggests they just burn the motel, claiming it's evil. The sign saying MOTEL HELLO finally fully shorts out, permanently darkening the O and leaving the title: MOTEL HELL.
Cast
- Rory CalhounRory CalhounRory Calhoun was an American television and film actor, screenwriter and producer, best known for his roles in Westerns.-Early life:...
as Vincent Smith - Paul LinkePaul LinkePaul Linke is an American actor, known for his role as Officer Artie Grossman in CHiPs, a television series about the motorcycle officers of the California Highway Patrol. Linke has worked in film and extensively in television, mostly portraying mild-mannered everyman roles.Linke was born in New...
as Sheriff Bruce Smith - Nancy ParsonsNancy ParsonsNancy Anne Parsons was an American actress. She was best-known for her role as Beulah Balbricker in the 1982 cult film Porky's and its sequels...
as Ida Smith - Nina AxelrodNina AxelrodNina Kether Axelrod is an American actress who appeared in television and films mainly during the late 1970s through the early 1980s. Since the early 1990s, she has worked as a casting director on films....
as Terry - Wolfman JackWolfman JackRobert Weston Smith, known commonly as Wolfman Jack was a gravelly voiced US disc jockey who became famous in the 1960s and 1970s.-Early career:...
as Reverend Billy - Elaine JoyceElaine JoyceElaine Joyce is an American actress.Joyce was born in Kansas City, Missouri. She made her film debut in 1961 as an extra in West Side Story and made uncredited appearances in several musical films, including The Music Man, Bye Bye Birdie, and Funny Girl before being cast in Such Good Friends in 1971...
as Edith Olson - Dick Curtis as Guy Robaire / 1st TV Preacher
- Monique St. Pierre as Debbie
- Rosanne KatonRosanne KatonRosanne Katon is an American model, actress, comedian and activist. She was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for its September 1978 issue...
as Suzi - E. Hampton Beagle as Bob Anderson
- Everett Creach as Bo Tulinksi
- Michael Melvin as Ivan
- John RatzenbergerJohn RatzenbergerJohn Deszo Ratzenberger is an American actor, voice actor, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his role as Cliff Clavin in Cheers.-Early life:...
as Drummer - Marc Silver as Guitarist
- Victoria Hartman as Female Terrible
- Gwil Richards as Mr. Owen
- Toni Gillman as Mrs. Richards
Trivia
The movie was filmed at the famous Sable Ranch in Santa Clarita, CaliforniaSanta Clarita, California
Santa Clarita is the fourth largest city in Los Angeles County, California, United States and the twenty-fourth largest city in the state of California. The 2010 US Census reported the city's population grew 16.7% from the year 2000 to 176,320 residents. It is located about northwest of downtown...
with the white brick stable building as the backdrop to the motel and farm. The building and Sable Ranch locations were used in the filming of hundreds of both Hollywood and independent movies and TV shows for over 60 years. Interiors of the motel, farm, and smokehouse were filmed at the Laird International Studios in Culver City, California
Culver City, California
Culver City is a city in western Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 38,883, up from 38,816 at the 2000 census. It is mostly surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, but also shares a border with unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. Culver...
.
DVD release
In 2002, MGM released Motel Hell as part of its "Midnite MoviesMidnite Movies
Midnite Movies is a line of B movies released first on VHS then on DVD by MGM Home Entertainment then later Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The line was begun by MGM in March 2001 following its acquisition of Orion Pictures, which bought out Filmways, Inc., the owner of American International...
" collection of double feature DVDs. It was released along with the 1974 feature film Deranged
Deranged
Deranged is a Canadian/American horror film made in 1974 and directed by Alan Ormsby and Jeff Gillen. It is also known by the title Deranged: The Confessions of a Necrophile in the USA...
.
Remake
A remake of Motel Hell is in talks, potentially directed by Steven C. MillerSteven C. Miller
Steven C Miller is an American screenwriter, editor, and director. Miller is represented by United Talent Agency and Adam Goldworm at Aperture Entertainment. He attended Full Sail Real World Education where he majored in Film and Television Production....
of Automaton Transfusion
Automaton transfusion
Automaton Transfusion is an indie horror film written and directed by Steven C Miller.Automaton Transfusion was shot on location in Orlando, Florida on an estimated budget of $30,000. It is intended to be the first of a trilogy of horror movies, and emulates classic examples of the genre...
fame. As of June 2010, there has been no update on the remake and it is labelled on "pre production". It is unknown if plans for a remake are still alive or if the whole idea is dead.