Motel Hell
Acteurs Auteurs Associés (AAA) | Release Date: October 24, 1980 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
64
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 7 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleJohn Stanley
“Meat’s meat and a man’s gotta eat” is the kind of line that makes this an offbeat horror treat. Some moments are satirical of other horror films, yet they carry a horrific impact, so you may not have much time to laugh before fright sets in. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Motel Hell is a welcome change-of-pace; it's to "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" as "Airplane!" is to "Airport." It has some great moments. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderDave Kehr
The tone of this 1980 feature is too muddled for it to be really memorable, but it's impressively slick, with intimations of the adult decadence themes that informed Roger Corman's Poe films of the 60s. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineChuck Bowen
This film’s pleasures are extremely mild, but they’re discernable for the curious fan of retro redneck horror, or, far more likely, for the genre critic looking to finish their dissertation pertaining to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s vast influence on the 1970s and 1980s grindhouse movie’s vision of gleeful small-town Americana hypocrisy. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
MOTEL HELL could have been a great black comedy, but the uneasy direction of Kevin Connor fails to get most of the picture off the ground. Read full review
60
The DissolveKeith Phipps
Director Kevin Connor, coming off a string of British horror films and Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptations, never turns Motel Hell into an all-out comedy, but humor is always part of the mix. Read full review
40
Washington PostGary Arnold
The most perfunctory and least imaginative of the recent cycle of horror melodramas, Motel Hell may be credited with a fleeting wry touch, but it wears out its welcome by running a minimum of ghoulish stunts into the ground. [25 Oct 1980, p.F4]
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