Motel Hell [DVD] [1980]

Rory Calhoun plays the owner of a financially failing motel, but rather than being ruled by his mother, he is ruled by his mother's recipe for smoked meats. He and his sister run a hugely popular business selling jerky and sausage. It's famously delicious, and people come from miles around to sample Farmer Vincent's produce. While the household is locked in to an evangelical television programme, cannibalism and the morality of murdering and eating others is never an issue for them.

Farmer Vincent, you see, is a highwayman Sweeney Todd, harvesting unwary travellers at night. Well, you have to wonder what gives his cooked meats such a unique flavour. The whole operation is based on his techniques for tenderising the meat and the produce of his secret garden - don't confuse this with anything from Frances Hodgson Burnett! Director Kevin Connor hails from the UK (this was his first American film), so he references, and satirises, British cultural icons as well as American horror movies.

It's a brutally observed spoof horror ("Texas Chainsaw" played as farce), well shot, highly entertaining, and very funny. Watch out for John Ratzenberger (Cliff from 'Cheers', playing a silent role), and the legendary Wolfman Jack turning up as a hustling evangelist. There's satire, there's farce, there's irony, there's some visceral humour, and there's a chainsaw duel! What more could you ask for? Funny, enjoyable production which contrasts nicely with the run-of-the-mill bloodletting of 80's cult horror.

Compare this to the rest of the horror flicks put out that year ("Friday the 13th," "Humanoids from the Deep," "Maniac," and "Prom") and you can see why "Motel Hell" has a singular reputation. The only film that was close was "Mother's Day," and it is really not that close when it comes to getting you to laugh, groan, and shake your head in dumb wonder. Calhoun and Parsons milk their cannibalistic crazies for everything they are worth and this movie actually suffers when they are not on screen and we are left with the various walking slabs of meat on the menu, the beautiful less than brilliant blonde in danger (future casting director Nina Axelrod) and the loony and love-sick local cop (Paul Linke) who has not been able to connect the dots for the 30 years Farmer Vincent has been in business. However, Wolfman Jack is around for the fun as well, and that counts for something.

The ending of "Motel Hell" is a mixed bag, although applying standards of logic to any splatter flick, let alone this one, is always going to be problematic. But when the aforementioned young blonde actually falls for Vincent we are back to jaw dropping territory. Then we remember that this entire film is filled with scenes jumping off the deep end. Director Kevin Connor lucked out with the casting, because veteran character actor Calhoun makes this film work, both when he is being charming and when he goes crazy. He also gets off some choice one liners, including his last words, which prove once and for all that this film is a tongue in cheek splatter flick that mixes the camp and gory in equal measure. Like Farmer Vincent's smoked meats, "Motel Hell" is not going to be to everyone's tastes, but I happy to like a movie where they intend for you to laugh and groan your way through the festivities.