Mountaintop Motel Massacre (1986) New World/Horror RT: 95 minutes Rated R (violence, language, brief nudity, sexual references) Director: Jim McCullough Screenplay: Jim McCullough Jr. Music: Ron Di Iulio Cinematography: Joseph M. Wilcots Release date: March 14, 1986 (US) Cast: Bill Thurman, Anna Chappell, Will Mitchell, Virginia Loridans, Major Brock, James Bradford, Amy Hill, Marian Jones, Greg Brazzel, Jill King, Rhonda Atwood. Box Office: N/A
Rating: * ½
With a title like Mountaintop Motel Massacre, it has to be great, right? WRONG! DEAD WRONG! For one thing, it’s not much of a massacre. For another, it’s almost an hour until the first body drops. For most gorehounds, that’s a deal breaker right there. Me, I’m stubborn. I’ll stick around until the last end credit rolls no matter how lame the movie is. In the case of Mountaintop Motel Massacre, let me put it this way. The flashing neon VACANCY sign outside the motel could just as easily refer to the empty space between the ears of the makers.
I wasn’t aware that Mountaintop Motel Massacre had a history until I looked it up on Wikipedia. It was filmed in ’83 and given regional releases in Opelousas, LA and Jackson, MS under alternate titles, Mountaintop Motel and Horrors at Mountaintop Motel respectively. It didn’t receive a significant release until New World acquired and retitled it in’86. It never came to Philadelphia even though the cool-looking poster hung in the vestibule of the City Line Theater for a few months. When I asked my buddy JW about it, he just chuckled and said, “Only you, George. Only you.” I took it as a compliment and still do. I finally saw it when it premiered on cable the following year.
Basically, Mountaintop Motel Massacre is a backwoods take on Psycho II with its story of a rundown rural motel where guests check in, but never check out. Meet Evelyn (Chappell), the owner and proprietor of the Mountaintop Motel. She is definitely coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs, this one. She just spent three years in the state mental hospital and apparently, it didn’t do her any good. She kills her mentally challenged daughter (King) in a fit of psychotic rage after catching her communicating with her dead father. Then she tells the dull-witted local sheriff (Bradford) it was a gardening accident. At this point, a filmmaker with a sense of humor would have somebody exclaim, “This was no gardening accident!” Alas, it doesn’t get said.
Evelyn suffers a complete psychotic break after her daughter’s untimely demise and takes it out on her guests. They are an alcoholic preacher (Thurman), an old black handyman (Brock), a honeymooning couple (Brazzel and Jones), two female hitchhikers/aspiring singers (Loridans and Hill) and the guy that picks them up (Mitchell). They think he’s a record company executive interested in signing them. He’s really just trying to get them in the sack. ANYWAY, it’s too bad for them that Evelyn has access to their rooms through a series of secret underground tunnels leading to hidden trapdoors in the bathrooms. She starts off by releasing rats, roaches and poisonous snakes into their rooms and eventually graduates to murder.
Like I said it takes Mountaintop Motel Massacre almost an hour to get to the good stuff, i.e. the so-called massacre. When it finally comes, it’s less than impressive. Evelyn’s weapon of choice is a sickle. With it, she slits throats, cuts off extremities and impales torsos and faces. There’s not as much bloodshed as one would hope for. However, I’ll give director Jim McCullough (Aurora Encounter) for creating a creepy backwoods atmosphere before enveloping the action in darkness and rain. I’ll also say I liked the final shot of the movie. It adds a supernatural element to the otherwise unremarkable proceedings.
Is it even worth it to comment on the bad acting in Mountaintop Motel Massacre? It features a bunch of actors I’ve not seen before and since. They play characters with IQs that don’t exceed the mid-double digits. It’s fine, movies like this thrive on characters who behave like idiots at all times. Therefore, it makes perfect sense for the hitchhikers to believe the guy who picks them up is who he says he is. If they had any sense at all, they’d ask why he didn’t take a plane to his destination. After all, isn’t that the preferred mode of transportation for rich, powerful record execs? It also makes sense for the wife to NOT be more freaked out by her hubby being bitten by a poisonous snake. What, does she think the swelling will just go down by itself? Hey toots, it’s not a mosquito bite!
As bad as Mountaintop Motel Massacre is, I have to admire the moxie of the people who made it. They knew what they were going for and largely succeed. There’s no question about it being a bad movie. It most certainly is. It’s predictable, unimaginative, derivative and cheap-looking. It’s more silly than scary. In fact, it’s not scary at all. The makeup effects are shoddy at best. It’s one of those movies that will have you asking “why am I still watching this?” the whole time. That’s the fun of it.
You see, I don’t hate Mountaintop Motel Massacre. It’s one of those “so bad, it’s good” deals like Graduation Day and Final Exam. Besides, it carries the New World seal of approval. How can I possibly dismiss it? The worst New World movies are more entertaining than half (maybe more) of the titles released by major studios these days. It’s the purity of form I admire. I’m giving Mountaintop Motel Massacre a low rating based on quality, but it doesn’t mean it’s not enjoyable. If, like me, you’re into 80s slasher flicks, you won’t want to pass it up. It’s worth at least one viewing.
