Motel Hell (1980) on Netflix
Vincent Smith runs a farm and motel with his sister Ida. The smoked meat he sells comes from travelers caught in the traps he sets on the roads.
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- Netflix3.1/5
- IMDb6.0/1015,389 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes65%
Trailer
Plot summary
Vincent Smith runs Motel Hello with his sister Ida, on the farm the two share. Travelers who pass that way are lured into traps Vincent sets on the roads, and the smoked meat he sells comes from their bodies; victims are planted in a garden up to their necks and fed until he decides they are ready. A couple on a motorcycle falls into one of the traps: the man, Bo, is put in the ground, while the woman, Terry, is taken to the motel. Vincent tells her Bo died in the crash. Sheriff Bruce Smith, Vincent's younger brother, arrives the next morning, and Terry, with nowhere to go, stays on and is drawn to Vincent's folksy charm while Bruce's attempts to court her go nowhere.
Cast
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Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Motel Hell (1980)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Motel Hell's climactic chainsaw duel was not in the original screenplay; director Kevin Connor says it was devised during the shoot and filmed in a single day, using rubber chainsaw blades and stuntmen inside the pig-head masks.
- Universal Pictures once planned to make Motel Hell with Tobe Hooper, director of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, but backed out after reading the script, which producer Robert Jaffe guessed was too far out for their tastes; United Artists also passed before executive changes revived it.
- Motel Hell is referenced in Thomas Ligotti's horror short story "Metaphysica Morum" and in his 2010 non-fiction book The Conspiracy Against the Human Race, and IDW Publishing released a comic book based on the film in 2010.
