Meat's meat and a man's gotta eat.

"It takes all kinds of critters to make farmer Vincent fritters." As unsuspecting passer-bys and visitors stop by at the seemingly quaint farmer Vincents hotel, most wind up as the main ingredient in Vincent's famous fritters in this very tongue-in-cheek horror film from 1980. This charming little film was directed by Kevin Connor who directed such films as From beyond the grave, The land that time forgot, The people time forgot and others, and was written by Robert Jaffe, Stephen-Charles Jaffe and Tim Tuchrello.

Farmer Vincent and his wife easily lure the victims in by coming off as charming, hard working salt of the earth kind of people gaining the trust of everyone unlucky enough to stumble upon this flesh farm. The film plays out almost like a parody of horror films that came before it making it a horrifyingly fun watch from beginning to end. One of the tag lines reads "You might just die...laughing." which sums up the experience of watching Motel Hell perfectly as it never takes itself seriously. At times it defiantly has a Texas Chainsaw Massacre feel to it and there is a great chainsaw battle towards the end with the sheriff and a man wearing a pig head...priceless.

Rot Calhoun ( Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Tales From The Crypt )who plays farmer Vincent is the star of the film and does an excellent job of playing both sides of the character, the unsuspecting trustworthy nice guy and the demented cannibal nut job. John Ratzenberger ( Cliff from Cheers ) plays the drummer of a band that is traveling in a van and ends up crashing near the hotel, you can guess what happens from there.

Motel Hell had a hard time getting off the ground. Tobe Hooper ( The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) was going to direct this film but after reading the script he declined due to the bizarre theme and the studio backing out. The script was written ten years before the film was actually released because no one wanted to back it, United Artists finally picked up the the film.

MGM released Motel Hell in a two pack with Deranged ( one of the greatest films on the life of Ed Gein ) under their Midnight Movies collection

This film almost exudes with campyness with not only the theme but with the outlandish acting and overall bizarre and sometimes silly scenes. The film makers definitely made this film with the intentions of creating a strange over the top humorous horror movie mixing just the right amount of each making it stick out compared to most of the other horror films coming out around the early eighties. Motel Hell is just a lot of fun and should be watched by anyone who considers themselves a seasoned veteran in the genre.

Rating: B-

Review by Jason