{"id":26076,"date":"2014-08-11T01:15:52","date_gmt":"2014-08-11T05:15:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=26076"},"modified":"2017-08-12T01:20:26","modified_gmt":"2017-08-12T05:20:26","slug":"motel-hell-1980-collectors-edition-blu-raydvd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2014\/08\/11\/motel-hell-1980-collectors-edition-blu-raydvd\/","title":{"rendered":"Motel Hell (1980): Collector\u2019s Edition [Blu-Ray\/DVD]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019ve seen \u201cMotel Hell\u201d almost five times in the last two years and goodness knows I\u2019ve tried so hard to love it. At risk of getting my horror fan boy card revoked, I sincerely do not like \u201cMotel Hell.\u201d Kevin Connors\u2019 horror comedy is a silly and often dull attempt to ape \u201cTexas Chainsaw Massacre.\u201d I\u2019m one who has often found much of what unfolds in \u201cMotel Hell\u201d absolutely dull and monotonous with the attempts at absurdity kind of forced and tedious. It\u2019s almost like \u201cEaten Alive\u201d where there\u2019s another effort to catch lightning in a bottle that just doesn\u2019t quite hit its mark. And I\u2019d still rather see Tobe Hooper\u2019s \u201cEaten Alive\u201d than ever really re-watch \u201cMotel Hell\u201d ever again.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I know what it\u2019s going for, and understand its cult legacy as a revered slasher and cannibal horror film, as well as a drive in title, but nothing about it has ever actually entertained me. Running the (sigh\u2026) Motel Hello Inn, we meet owners and brother and sister Vincent and Ida, both of whom also have a side business where they sell some of the tastiest and most delectable meats around. Little does anyone know that their successful meat business is comprised of various travelers on the road. They\u2019re snared, kidnapped, lobotomized, planted like human cabbage, murdered like cattle, and then turned in to smoked goods for tourists. Soon, though, Vincent\u2019s brother and police officer Bruce figures out that something sinister is afoot. Meanwhile Vincent kidnaps a survivor of one his and Ida\u2019s booby traps, and she begins to fall for Vincent, and lunacy ensues.<\/p>\n

All in all I\u2019ve always approached \u201cMotel Hell\u201d in a take it or leave it, kind of fashion, heavily leaning on an \u201cI\u2019d rather not watch it\u201d mind set. There\u2019s no inherent terror or disturbing element to the narrative. None, however, that really touched on certain chords like \u201cTexas Chainsaw Massacre\u201d or even \u201cHalloween\u201d did. There are hypnotized victims of both psychotic farmers that endure grueling deaths, and Vincent, the chainsaw wielding maniac with a pig head, but it all feels so painfully cobbled together. Especially when there\u2019s an almost obvious comic tone forced in to the deaths of Farmer Vincent\u2019s victims. \u201cMotel Hell\u201d just feels like a big spoof of a sub-genre that hadn\u2019t even been fully realized for another eight years. I think had \u201cMotel Hell\u201d arrived much later, maybe it would have served as a more fitting satire than anything else.<\/p>\n

There are just so many more horror movies out there worthy of a restoration than \u201cMotel Hell\u201d; in either case, Scream Factory packs this new edition to the brim with new artwork to boot. \u201cIt Takes All Kinds: The Making of Motel Hell\u201d is a twenty four minute compendium of interviews and is delightfully obscene. \u201cShooting Old School with Thomas Del Ruth\u201d is a fifteen minute discussion with the film\u2019s cinematographer, and \u201cIda, Be Thy Name: The Frightful Females of Fear\u201d which is an eighteen minute look at Ida Vincent, and what comprises a great female horror villain.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom Glamour to Gore: Rosann Katon Remembers Motel Hell\u201d is an interview with one of Farmer Vincent\u2019s victims in the movie, as well as \u201cAnother Head on the Chopping Block: An Interview with Paul Linke\u201d which talks to the cop from the film. There\u2019s the original \u201cMotel Hell\u201d trailer, and a Behind the Scenes Gallery clocking in at two and a half minutes. There\u2019s also a Production and Movie Poster Gallery. Finally, there\u2019s an audio commentary with Director Kevin Connor, as moderated by Dave Parker.<\/p>\n