Mountaintop Motel Massacre

You want schlock? THIS is schlock! This is technically a bad movie. It's not directed well and the acting quite bad. But I found it to be quite proficient in the mood and atmosphere department. The old lady who plays Evelyn is very creepy. There are some surprisingly bloody moments in this film that will probably even make you cringe. After you watch this you'll probably feel kind of weird like I did, what with that moody synth music playing over the credits and all. And for a film to make me feel all oogy like that, I have to recommend it to horror fans.

Again, it's bad film-making, but I have a special place in my heart for this one.

"Mountaintop Motel Massacre" will appeal to those horror fans like myself who often have to see a movie just because of the ridiculous title. Sometimes we get snowballed and the movie sucks but other times, we are treated to a semi-entertaining gem that stands out from the rest. "Mountaintop Motel Massacre" stands out.

The whole setting of the movie is creepy as hell, kind of a mix between Tobe Hooper's "Eaten Alive" and "Motel Hell." Mountaintop Motel is in the country, off a dirt road, itself a collection of small 'cabins' and they are all linked together by an underground passageway. The lady who runs the joint is a psycho, she offs her kid in the beginning of the flick and then proceeds to off some guests in her cabins.

My only complaint is that this movie takes way too long to get going. If it had the pace of the final twenty minutes during the entire movie, it would have been amazing. But hang in there, you won't be disappointed in this one. Some nice, genuinely creepy scenes and some decent gory killings.

5 out of 10, kids.

After borrowing it off a friend and not expecting much, "Mountaintop Motel" aka "Mountaintop Motel Massacre" turned out to be a nice little surprise from the 80s (which was originally shelved for a couple years before its "86" release). While being on the cheap with limited resources, its low-key approach doesn't hamper the fun of this dark rural psycho shocker. Well it didn't for me. After getting off to a glum, slow start, it gradually grows suspenseful in its taut layout (secluded backwoods setting) where its creepy, twisted underlining breaks out (although that eerily offbeat music score provides an unnerving tone throughout). Leading to some savage attacks (despite some tacky gore) and a collected, spaced out performance by Anna Chappell as the motel owner who uses the tunnels beneath the motel rooms to terrorise her guests.

The solemn, paper-thin story probably could have made much more of the situation (ending on a lacklustre cat and mouse climax) and especially its supernatural angle/ or maybe it was the emotional breakdown into insanity, but its conventional structure conceals many strange surprises. Nothing is really brought up about the central character's unstable mind; especially why she was had spent time in a mental hospital. We just watch her slowly lose it, after accidentally killing her daughter she begins to hear her whispering voice in her head. The methodical direction grinds away, but there are some effectively lit set-pieces. There's okay bunch of performances by the cast; led by actor Bill Thurman as a boozy Reverend.

Synopsis: What do you get when you put a boozing preacher, an out of work carpenter, a just hitched couple, a `record executive' and some cousins wanting to make their mark on Nashville and throw then into a secluded motel in the woods during a dark and stormy night that is run by an ex-mental patient. You get this film that's what. Evelyn has gone off the deep end one last time and we are going along for the ride.

Acting: The acting is not bad. But it isn't anything to write home about either. It pretty much runs straight down the line with as much pizzazz as the one dimensional characters could be. The cast is a bunch of amateurs so don't expect great things.

Direction / Writing: The direction is good. Not too much visual flare but has the occasional interesting light set up. The writing is a little bland but passable. The characters lack detail and definition and rely heavily on bugs and beasties for scares, so as a result no suspense is generated for their predicaments. Very by-the-numbers set them up for the kill characters.

Photography / Editing: The photography is of the dark and stormy type. I kept thinking of Identity (2003) because of similarities. It does get a little claustrophobic toward the end during the final battle but is straight-forward and even a bit stale. The editing is where the production could have picked up the slack of the other departments. But they didn't. They should have cut another ten minutes off this one so it doesn't drag as often as it does.

Cheesiness: The cheesiness factor could have helped this out quite a bit but the dialogue for this most part is cut and dried. Seeing that most of the cast had southern accents a little redneck humor could go a long way. The synth score does add a little atmosphere though.

Sex / Nudity: None to speak of. You see some bare backs and a little wet t-shirt action for the guys. And some jockey action and shirtless chest action for the ladies. No sex involved. That is unless you consider the snake bite scene sex.

Sleaze: No sleaze to report here. Which is pretty amazing for an early ‘80's slasher?

Overall / Parting Remarks: A by-the-numbers and rather uninteresting slasher with an interesting location but no suspense or scares. Corny dialogue would have help and some more interesting kills would have been nice. Overall the film is just plain bland.

Anna Chappell stars as the elderly Evelyn, who's let out of a mental hospital and starts running the Mountaintop Motel, a scuzzy string of run-down shacks out in the sticks that would have me sleeping in the nearest ditch. She snaps again and on a dark and stormy night kills people stranded at her hotel. Guests include a honeymooning couple, two reverends, a record executive and a pair of Barbara Mandrell clones who don't wear bras (a rainstorm and flimsy white shirts help to prove this).

Funny sounding cosmic music plays whenever Evelyn is up to something devious. She lurks around in underground catacombs spying on victims with her bulging eyes, hears her dead daughters voice, sneaks snakes, roaches and rats into rooms and hacks people up with a sickle. This is no PSYCHO, just a silly regional concoction from Louisiana with a few laughs and some blood. Larry Buchanan fans will recognize Bill Thurman as an alcoholic reverend.

Score: 4 out of 10