Motel Hell is a 1980 horror comedy film directed by Kevin Connor and starring Rory Calhoun as farmer, butcher, and meat entrepreneur Vincent Smith. Often seen as a satire of modern horror films such as Psycho and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre because of its low budget nature, the original intent was to make a serious horror film, with moments of disturbing wit and irony. The film’s score was composed by Lance Rubin.
Tagline: You might just die…laughing!
Trivia:
Future Cheers star John Ratzenberger appears briefly as a member of the punk rock group Ivan and the Terribles.
Co-star Monique St.Pierre was Playboy’s 1979 Playmate of the Year.
When Sheriff Smith asks Terri to the movies he says it is Monster _That Challenged the World, The (1957)_. Not only is this a real movie, but the scenes shown were actually from it.
Tobe Hooper was originally going to direct this movie for Universal Studios, but when the studio balked at the bizarre project, Hooper also departed.
The chainsaws images were inspired by The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974).
Actor ‘Paul Linke’ lost 25 pounds to play the lead. He was carrying the extra weight to play Grossman on “CHiPs” (1977).
The screenplay for this film was written years before it went into production. The film had a difficult time finding backing. In 1978 it was picked up by the Camp Hill Company and was shot and completed in 1980. In all it was nearly 10 years from the time the script was written to the final release of the film.
Universal Studios was originally approached with the film, but the studio disliked the film’s bizarre nature so it was rejected. United Artists ultimately picked it up for release.
Total Film’s Top 50 of villains
1 The Joker (Batman: The Movie)
2 Darth Vader (Star Wars)
3 Hannibal Lecter (Silence of the Lambs)
4 Leatherface (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre)
5 Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street)
6 Nurse Ratched (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest)
7 Anton Chigurh (No Country for Old Men)
8 Michael Myers (The Halloween series)
9 Frank Booth (Blue Velvet)
10 Norman Bates (Psycho)
11 Bridget Gregory/Wendy Kroy (The Last Seduction)
12 Jason Vorhees (Friday the 13th series)
13 Saruman the White (The Lord of the Rings)
14 John Doe (Se7en)
15 Baby Jane Hudson (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?)
16 Peyton Flanders (The Hand That Rocks the Cradle)
17 Gordon Gekko (Wall Street)
18 Alex Forrest (Fatal Attraction)
19 The White Witch (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the witch and the
wardrobe)
20 Captain Videl (Pan’s Labyrinth)
21 Annie Wilkes (Misery)
22 Tony Montana (Scarface)
23 Catherine Tramell (Basic Instinct)
24 Michael Corleone (The Godfather)
25 Dr Christian Sezell (Marathon Man)
26 Reverend Harry Powell (The Night of the Hunter)
27 Ray (Nil by Mouth)
28 The Wicked Witch of the West (The Wizard of Oz)
29 John Ryder (The Hitcher)
30 Suzanna Stone Maretto (To Die For)
31 Combo (This is England)
32 General Zod (Superman)
33 Hans Gruber (Die Hard)
34 Patrick Bateman (American Psycho)
35 Ivan Drago (Rocky IV)
36 Daniel Cleaver (Bridget Jones’ Diary)
37 Verbal Klint/Keyser Soze (The Usual Suspects)
38 Lex Luthor (Superman)
39 Don (Sexy Beast)
40 Begbie (Trainspotting)
41 Phyllis Dietrichsonn (Double Indemnity)
42 Mr Blonde (Reservoir Dogs)
43 Dr Elsa Schneider (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade)
44 Frank (Once Upon a Time in the West)
45 Max Cady (Cape Fear)
46 The Child Catcher (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang)
47 The Truck (Duel)
48 Hans Beckert (M)
49 Mrs John Iselin (The Manchurian Candidate)
50 Mr Potter (It’s a Wonderful Life)
