MOUNTAINTOP MOTEL MASSACRE (1986)
Tagline: Please do not disturb Evelyn. She already is.
(Horror, Motels, Why Are You Lying Al?) [R]
Note: This movie is also known by the titles MOUNTAINTOP MOTEL and HORRORS AT MOUNTAINTOP MOTEL.
They oughta call this a roach motel!
In this one, a mentally unstable woman named Evelyn has just come out of a mental institution and has started working again at the Mountaintop Motel. She promptly kills her daughter and begins hearing her voice. As guests arrive for the night they are allowed to stay at a whopping $7.00 a pop. It doesn’t take long before Evelyn begins murdering her guests using dangerous animals and a sickle. Will anyone survive the MOUNTAINTOP MOTEL MASSACRE?
First off, there are a lot of things that stood out about this movie, but one thing caught my attention right away. It’s weird that Al who says he’s the owner of Columbia Records didn’t have to pay his $7.00 for the motel room. Sorry, that was probably an oversight for the director, but what is that dude's secret? How does he get free motel rooms? Which brings me to my next thought. If you can at all avoid it “don’t stay in a motel”. There I said it. I feel better now.
This thing is pretty creepy in spots but almost funny in others. Evelyn herself isn’t all that intimidating. This isn’t a movie like CURTAINS where she is wearing the mask of a creepy old lady. She is just basically a normal-looking old lady who has gone nuts. By far my favorite character is Crenshaw. Dude figures out what is going on way before anyone else. These two chicks named Prissy and Tanya end up needing a ride from Al. Prissy is smarter than Tanya, but that doesn’t always help you in horror flicks.
Acting-wise, Anna Chappell plays the crazy old lady Evelyn in this. I thought she did fine, but she was only in one other film in her entire career. The same can be said for Will Mitchell (THE AURORA ENCOUNTER) who plays Al. He was also only in 2 films but does okay in this. I liked Prissy in this as a character, she was far less lame than Tanya. Amy Hill does a decent job here in the role. This was her only movie appearance. Like Hill, Marian Jones has also only been in one movie. She’s dumb in this, but her acting, like everyone else was fine. I thought Major Brock was really good in this as Crenshaw. There is part of this film where cockroaches are crawling on him because Evelyn is doing all kinds of weird crap to her guests. I don’t know if I would have been down to shoot that scene, but this was Brock’s only film. So as it turns out, the large majority of this cast only has this film as their claim to fame.
We get a couple horror movie lessons:
1- If you can avoid it just don’t stay in a motel.
2 - Check for weird trap doors and crap like that in your room.
Overall after I watched this I wasn’t enthusiastic about writing the review one way or the other. The pacing is fine, but the score is shaky and in spite of the unique premise, there is nothing earth-shattering here.
I really can’t give it better than a 3 out of 7. This is in the bottom half of the 1980’s slashers. Out of the horror movies I have reviewed from the 1980’s it’s sitting at 93 out of 119.
GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF JIM MCCULLOUGH PRODUCTIONS AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.
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