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Motel Hell (1980)
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This week on the Everything Actioncast, Zach and Chris check into Motel Hell to discuss the 1980 cult horror comedy for its 45th anniversary.
Rory Calhoun stars as Vincent Smith, a genial-seeming farmer and hotel proprietor famous in his area for his various meat products. What no one knows is that Vincent and his sister Ida (Nancy Parsons) are kidnapping and butchering people as the secret ingredient in their meats. After attacking a couple on a motorcycle, Vincent decides to take in Terry (Nina Axelrod) and nurse her back to health, much to Ida's annoyance. Gradually, Terry falls for the laid-back country lifestyle and Vincent's seemingly honest, homespun personality. Zach and Chris discuss Vincent's love of traps and how the hotel should have incorporated them, the process of turning humans into smoked meats, chainsaw duels, Hickory Farms gift boxes, a young John Ratzenberger, and more.
You can watch Motel Hell on AMC+ and Mometu (?). Next week, we close out spooky season with the final chapter of the main Saw series, Saw 3D, which turns 15.
We want to hear your comments and feedback. Send them all to contact@everythingaction.com. Also, let us know your suggestions for movies for us to discuss.
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Overview
00:00:03
Speaker
Welcome to the Everything Action Cast, the official podcast of EverythingAction.com.
00:00:18
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Everything Action Cast, the podcast the week of October 20th,
Introduction to 'Motel Hell'
00:00:22
Speaker
2025. I'm your host, Zach. I'm your co-host, Chris. And this week we are checking into Motel Hell and talking about the 1980 cults horror comedy classic.
00:00:34
Speaker
um It's actually celebrating its 45th anniversary. um so conflicting to ah dates, some places are saying it's, the day you're hearing this and when it comes out on the 24th is the 45th anniversary, or some people are saying it was last Saturday, the 18th, but um it's sometimes since the last podcast, is this movie turned 45.
First Impressions of 'Motel Hell'
00:00:58
Speaker
yeah I don't think we need to nail the exact date, but just know that this year and this milestone... Yeah. and but and ah move Only because like this is such a cult movie that... I mean, I thought I was a big horror buff, but then like I just never heard of this.
00:01:14
Speaker
Yeah, i think we both watched this for the first time but this podcast.
00:01:19
Speaker
Yeah, it's definitely like a movie I've never seen recommended a lot. And then... Just like if you don't watch, you don't have Shudder, imagine like Shudder probably mentioned this or like other B-movie horror fans probably
Themes and Imagery
00:01:34
Speaker
mentioned this. But ah being as we're action fans, this is like a non-action-y movie until like the last act for no reason.
00:01:44
Speaker
I feel like I've i've seen, the the one thing I think I've seen from this movie before watching it was that the image of a guy in a giant pig head and a chainsaw and It's a cool image, but like it's totally not what sells you on the movie. It's kind of like being shocked. They're like, oh, that's not Texas Chainsaw?
00:02:02
Speaker
That's not one is when the weird Texas Chainsaw sequels? It's like this other movie? Yeah, they don't really lean into like what you think um hillbillies with chainsaws would be.
00:02:14
Speaker
If anything, it just beware about food.
Satirical Elements
00:02:19
Speaker
This is yeah more of a... like damnation about the FDA, like how like in the eighties you can just get away with a roadside food attractions.
00:02:28
Speaker
Yeah. Don't, don't, don't buy meat from ah like weird motels that are like in the middle of nowhere.
00:02:37
Speaker
And again, ah this movie is like in an era where they were just looking for like, shocks and it made sense at the time.
00:02:49
Speaker
It doesn't hold up by this these days because the whole gimmick of a killer hotel isn't like enough for to carry like a plot.
Plot Critique
00:02:59
Speaker
Right.
00:02:59
Speaker
Like yeah it would need it like. Five more things going on, like a like a theft, a sworn angry ex, maybe even like a nosy reporter.
00:03:15
Speaker
That's like another like thing going on. But because this movie just focuses ah focus in on basically like four main characters and then just like a good amount of victim characters coming in.
00:03:30
Speaker
And there's not even like a final girl in the victims. It's like the final girl is the first girl. So it's like a very interesting introduction. yeah Because it's like you watch a Stockholm Syndrome movie.
00:03:44
Speaker
A lot of gaslighting, lot of... Snackhop Syndrome, yeah. Yeah.
Title Significance
00:03:49
Speaker
um And also, it's an interesting name, because I thought Motel Hell would be more of a like, oh, like, someone calls this motel Hell, or like, there's something...
00:04:03
Speaker
Like, they they consider, like, you know, they're like no it's called Motel Sunshine, but at night, it's like the owners call it, like, Motel Hell, like as they do their dirty deeds. It's not even that. It's literally a movie where it's called Motel Hello, which is, like, the laziest title.
00:04:21
Speaker
And the ah the O kind of fli flickers and is, like, kind of going out. that' says that's like it so it looks like Motel Hell. yeah kind It would have been like something called Hell Motel, so it's like Hello Motel, and it's like just a weird, trendy 80s name for a hotel.
00:04:39
Speaker
I think Shudder has like a show called like Hell Motel right now or something. Jesus. It's like an anthology of the people that check into this hotel then get murdered or something bad happens.
00:04:50
Speaker
I feel like there was another show like that. thought that was like TBS. Wasn't it like The Cabin or something? Oh, there was... there's been Yeah, there's been a couple... I feel like there was one, like... Was there one, like, HBO had one where it's Every episode took place in, like, one room?
Parody and Themes
00:05:06
Speaker
it's like different Something like that, yeah. And it's like a horror show. Yeah. But, like, that's what I'm saying. think it it just becomes an oversaturated... um story where in this it's like kind of original but just totally lost on that generation that grew up in ah just like texas chainsaw because this is like three years later after texas chainsaw so they were looking for the next big every some company was like trying to cash in on southern like plain sight monsters yeah well it's i think it's specifically it's it's like it's sort of
00:05:45
Speaker
a combination or they're they're kind of making fun of or trying to like be satirical takes on Texas Chainsaw and Psycho. It's kind of a combination of both because it's like backwoods hillbillies who could like kill people and are cannibals.
00:05:58
Speaker
But then also they run a moel oh ah motel and kill people at the motel.
00:06:05
Speaker
I like how the hotel business, like it's a thriving business. it You know, like just yeah the killing part is like an extra thing. It's not like they're they're struggling. This is literally a
Character Dynamics
00:06:17
Speaker
ah a hotel that like for their own satisfaction, they do a little bit of ah killing and production making.
00:06:30
Speaker
Yeah, because we see satisfied customers. like They don't kill every single person that shows up at the hotel. like this this This family shows up and is like, that was such a wonderful time. See you next time. They leave. I think it's also like it's like a Sweetie Todd thing where they're killing only when they run low on, I guess, costs and stuff?
00:06:51
Speaker
i feel I feel like they also have kind of this like they have like this morality driving them of like, we're we're getting rid of like undesirables. We're getting rid of like like rock rock evil rockers and ah bikers and like ah swingers and all these people that we're doing a service to the world by getting rid of these people.
00:07:13
Speaker
Okay. I understood it as it's like now and then they set traps and they don't care who enters in. Because it's not like It's not like Vincent, who is sort of the main... One of the main... potential Like, just a character we follow. I wouldn't say he's the hero. He's not.
00:07:32
Speaker
He's the antagonist, but like... He's the antagonist, yeah, yeah. But it's like... He just sort of looks like he's bumbling into, like, these things for the first act of,
Character Portrayals
00:07:42
Speaker
like, oh... Like, it it does... If you don't really know the movie...
00:07:46
Speaker
The first incident that happens looks genuine. It looks like a genuine, like, oh, okay, like, I saved this person, and I'm the hero, and you're like, cool. And then it starts unraveling by the next, like, night, where he literally is, like, setting a trap, and you're like, oh,
00:08:02
Speaker
hes Yeah, it's it's it's it's funny, like, that first thing we see him do is just, like, shoot a tire out of a motorcycle. But then, like, think it's, like, next scene or couple scenes later, he's like, oh, I love coming up these traps and being creative. It's, like, it makes it so, like, more important and interesting to me to make set these different traps.
00:08:20
Speaker
But it's for the first thing he does is, like, I'm just going to shoot the tire out. So that's why I'm like, ah is he smart about his, like, whole trying to stay out of sight thing? Or is he just...
00:08:34
Speaker
He just knows that there's no witnesses.
00:08:40
Speaker
kind of wish it was more of like a, if he was more like an H.H. Holmes kind of thing, where like, it'd be more it's like it being a motel hell, where like the rooms have traps, and he's like driving people into like trap doors and stuff.
00:08:54
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I actually thought that too. And then I realized it's all gonna be be about him setting up like human traps, or um just like luring in people with like the false pretenses because like they're not as clever as he like wants to be it's a lot of like okay we need to bait this and then like even the swinger trap that happens later it's like it's like an accident it's like oh yeah we left the light on oh yeah we got this plan it's like they are not ready for this and it seems like they've been doing this for a while but it seems like it's year two or less yeah that i think i think if it's once it says like oh it's been we've been doing this for like 30 years
00:09:35
Speaker
It doesn't seem like it. We sell people meet this like meat. People love this meat for like 30 years.
00:09:43
Speaker
So that's why I'm like, okay, so just this brother-sister duo have been running this business and I'm not sure about you. But I grew up watching Porky's a lot.
00:09:56
Speaker
And when I see ah the actress that played Idna, who was actually the same actress that was in Porky's as the, like, overaggressive PE teacher.
00:10:06
Speaker
Okay. Did you ever watch Porky's? a long A long time ago. I but i've watched it recently. Okay. So, trying to forget her name. Nancy Parsons.
00:10:17
Speaker
Nancy Parson plays a really, like, zealous, almost, like, militant PE teacher that is, like, trying to whip the main cast of Porky's group in that sex comedy.
00:10:30
Speaker
And when you watch that, and you what and then, you know, it's like, you she has, like, a sort of, like, expectation of her typecasting. So it's funny to think that in this movie, she basically plays, like, a psycho hillbilly woman who um Like, has almost like tendencies of it, but again, it's like hard to not think that it's the same character from Porky's.
00:10:55
Speaker
As Beulah Ballbricker. Yeah. yeah i feel I feel like Ida would
Character Relationships
00:11:01
Speaker
fit in with the Sawyers. like She feels like a so like like a lost like Sawyer cousin or something. And then Vincent's very like like soft-spoken and like but like outwardly like very like ah like well-meaning and nice.
00:11:14
Speaker
Oh, he's like Annie Griffin from the Annie Griffin show. Yeah, he's like he's like a super charming, just like you know honest, like hard-working farmer.
00:11:24
Speaker
ah ah who is just happens to be like ah like harvesting humans. does it mean Havis? I feel like he's the mastermind. Because Idna doesn't do ah like the traps and she doesn't do any of the um like victim gathering.
00:11:42
Speaker
I mean, she joins her brother, but I feel like he's the one who just like leads her. and Is it implied that she's in love with her brother?
Terry's Character Arc
00:11:52
Speaker
ah i mean she think I think it's more like because like she there's gets jealous about people or like or they're going to hone in on her like position. i don't i't know if there's like a weird like incest thing or like she's like yeah like in love with her brother or something. but
00:12:10
Speaker
but When like um the but like the woman they ah like take in after like like almost killing her, Terry, um like she gets like super jealous Terry later on.
00:12:23
Speaker
Because it's like, oh, we're going to teach her how to smoke meat? That can't happen. um I smoke the meat.
00:12:32
Speaker
Okay. Okay. um I only say that because like she gets super jealous for like a sister role.
00:12:44
Speaker
I wonder if she's also trying to, like, if she's like more aware of trying to cover up what they're doing. like It's like, this is a loose end. Maybe. i feel like ah she's she's worried about this, and it's so close to like like just unraveling everything they've been working towards.
00:13:08
Speaker
And it kind of is. I don't know why, at this point, Vincent's just like, oh, hello, pretty girl, that I would have made into sausage. like yeah is is has it that been What changed? Yeah, has there not been other like like you know pretty young girls that he was like, oh, I like this girl. I'm going to take her home and gaslight
00:13:30
Speaker
Yeah, I didn't i didn't need like more of this mentor. like and It gets so romantic so quickly. Well, it's... The only thing I thought was like because she wasn't like dead, but then the other guy's not dead either, so it's like it's not like he only like like it takes like dead people. After the traps work, he only takes them when they're dead. like They're not dead. like They're like burying them in like a secret garden and feeding them as cattle.
00:14:02
Speaker
So yeah, it's just it's just like, oh, he's like, oh, I like this one. and I'm gonna take her.
00:14:13
Speaker
And then, yeah, and then just, yeah, like, she's, like, Terry is, like, very, like, she's, like, super susceptible. Like, is is right after they, like, tell her that her boyfriend died, um she's, like, next basically, it's the next day she's, like, oh man, I love the country. I love the this hotel. Like, I'm going to stay here forever.
00:14:30
Speaker
Yeah, that's one thing noted was how, like, vulnerable Terry is, because it seemed like she didn't really care so much about her boyfriend who died. Like, she got over that in, like, a day.
00:14:41
Speaker
Well, it she definitely has a type, too, because, like, Beau, her boyfriend, is also, like, way, way, way older than her. So it seems like she has, like like, I think for, like, older guys, that's why she's like, oh, Vincent guy.
00:14:58
Speaker
and yeah they also But they also, like, manufacture ways for like him like, or, like, just happens to be, like she like, he, like, constantly saves her from, like, dying.
00:15:07
Speaker
like Like, he's, like, he's, like, he, quote, unquote, saved her from the motorcycle crash, and then later on, like, he saves her from drowning.
00:15:17
Speaker
Well, ter like, her sister, like, the sister was just like, well, if try get rid of this girl. Yeah. after after but She wasn't even, like, sly about it.
00:15:28
Speaker
Just like, let me just pull this razor blade out of my swim cap here. Yeah.
00:15:36
Speaker
Like, always care. Well, you always, you figure, like, i Terry would turn right around be like, I don't trust your sister. If anything, it's just like, anyway, let's get married.
00:15:51
Speaker
Yeah, because like after like like I know I'm a drama, sir, but like she kind of plays off like, oh, i was I was panicking. I'm so sorry. Would you ever forgive me? She's like, oh, yeah, I forgive you. I totally understand. She should not have forgiven her.
Bruce's Ignorance - Believable?
00:16:09
Speaker
And then there's also... um There's a third sibling, Bruce, who is the sheriff of ta the town. and and um who It's interesting because you you think at first like he's in on it.
00:16:24
Speaker
But then you kind of like realize, like oh, he doesn't he know anything that's going on. He's been blissfully unaware as the sheriff for years. Because it's not like he's introduced as he just got into town and he's looking to reconnect with family.
00:16:44
Speaker
But that would but that would make sense like it would make sense if he was in on it, and like that's that's how they've been able to do it for so long, because he just covers everything up because he's a sheriff. Well, I thought that was going to be like another twist, yeah because it seemed like you can't keep visiting your family like this, and they've been keeping the secret like insanely well for what they're doing.
00:17:07
Speaker
But I guess you can. Well, because his first scene is like like, he shows up the next day after the motorcycle accident, and then... It's like, Vincent's like, oh, yeah i I buried, i yeah, Bo died, I buried him, and then like, it's like, well, how are you, like, is it, I guess, a lot of burying? And Bruce is like, eh, this town, this county, it's fine. and Like, you can do that.
00:17:28
Speaker
i think it's just, like, one last thing for the town to worry about.
00:17:32
Speaker
but seems si like like Do you just make that up? just make up this law that you can just bury people like and then that's helping them like cover this up? And it's like, nope, he's... ah that's I guess it's actually law, and also he has no idea what the hell's going on up there.
00:17:47
Speaker
um I'm thinking like it's happened so much, this like burying people, that at this point they're just used to it. They're like, oh, another dead body?
00:17:58
Speaker
Yeah, they there's an entire graveyard on the farm, or somewhere near the farm. It can't all be like the family. Yeah, so it's just like, no, that's where we put our dead. Like, are you finding the dead? Yeah, we are just the super unlucky family that keeps finding dead people. so Yeah, so so many random accidents, so many random car crashes and motorcycle accidents, and like you know people just wandering up here and dying.
00:18:23
Speaker
And ah we don't call their family. We don't make an effort to let people know that this happened to them.
00:18:30
Speaker
Well, it's it's like the it's the late 70s or like early 80s, I guess. Like, just though people could just disappear. and Messed up. ah But did you get the sense that, like, even Terry just sort of like doesn't have any family or whatnot?
00:18:45
Speaker
You know, like it was yeah. It was a little bizarre because i was like waiting to the point where she was going to mention to call any anyone she knows.
Vincent and Ida's Justifications
00:18:55
Speaker
And then they were like, maybe this is the point in the movie where, um you know, they they stop her from communicating to the outside world.
00:19:05
Speaker
But you don't get that. It's more like, OK, like you want to do this? Cool. Do you want to learn how do this? Awesome. I just I ah live here now. Yeah, she's just I'm one of you.
00:19:21
Speaker
So that's where I'm like, alright, this is fantasy. like they Thank God that they found such a like naive girl. you imagine they just found like a regular like person who wasn't this?
00:19:34
Speaker
Who wasn't just like, i yeah, you could like abduct me, whatever. I live here now. I got chores? Cool. the meat so like they gave her They gave her structure.
00:19:45
Speaker
And then she fell in love. she was she She was just like a motorcycle drifter. Yeah, anyone could have found her. And then Vincent's just sort of like, she's the one. Or do you think he just kind of like was playing along until like he needed something?
00:20:02
Speaker
You know, like, I don't even know what could be it. I feel like that's kind of ambiguous because he like he he does go to like Wolfman Jack and like set up a um mayor um o a wedding.
00:20:14
Speaker
Wolfman Jack is the town like the town ah pastor or reverend, which is hilarious.
00:20:22
Speaker
um but then But then he's like, ah like when like Ida drugs her, he's like, oh, yeah, good job. That was a good... I'm smart of this. This was better than my other plan.
00:20:36
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's why I'm like, I don't know what his goal was. And then he and and it seems like he generally... If she was like on board with like smoking humans, then he would have been like, great.
00:20:48
Speaker
We're a family now. We like we like smoke humans together. But because she wasn't, it's like, oh, well, alright. I gotta kill you. It broke the illusion. Yeah, yeah. It was just like, oh, I tried and... thought you understood. thought you understood what we're trying to do here. We're trying to provide people salty, meaty snacks and also like rid them of degenerates.
00:21:17
Speaker
Because you're so overpopulated that they're helping the overpopulation. Did they mention that? I think they did. That's part of what they're like, they're kind driving force is like, we're help. but like There's a bunch of conversations they have in like their their secret garden. We're just like, we're we're doing like a great thing. We're like getting bring people of like calling down the population. We're getting rid of like these like terrible people.
00:21:43
Speaker
are People are going like understand what we're doing here and like praise us for it. Damn.
00:21:55
Speaker
ah Only because like I thought about... They kind of stopped mentioning that by the end. And then I thought there'd be like a message about like maybe less meat consumption or like conservation. something Something I think like the hippie message would be coming through. And this is where like you realize that this guy had once good intentions and now it went horribly wrong for whatever reason. you know Some twisted sense of... like his his noble mission turned out to be like very like you know
00:22:27
Speaker
terrible for execution-wise of what he's doing. Yeah, like if if they started out... They didn't intentionally you want to like incorporate human meat. like it's like At one point, they they hit they had no meat. They got so desperate. they just like and Some like random drifter showed up and just killed him or something.
00:22:45
Speaker
And then like did it and they're like, oh, this worked. We can do this. Yeah.
00:22:50
Speaker
But it just seems like, nope, this, like, great like i think they mentioned that grandmother smoked meat, and then ah I don't know if they, like, if grandma was also, like, a murderer that was, like, killing people, or they, like, they, like, learned how to smoke, like, normal meat, and then they, like, Ida and Vincent were, like, well, we're gonna, like, ah use humans now.
00:23:10
Speaker
Mix it with the pork.
00:23:14
Speaker
Hmm.
00:23:21
Speaker
But, yeah, yeah there's and then this, like, um i do i do love their, like, like the whole, like, garden that they have. Like, there's a secret garden where they're, like, burying people up to, like, their necks and then it's just their heads popping out.
00:23:34
Speaker
And then they slit their throat they can't scream. They just made gargling noises.
Unique Horror Elements
00:23:39
Speaker
was a great like Which was pretty pretty clever. right ah But they didn't show... like the Do they come by and like force feed these people? or nutrients there's a see There's a scene when they are feeding them. They but they put like so let's say they have snorkels on.
00:23:53
Speaker
They're plopping some sort of like protein gunk into the snorkels.
00:24:00
Speaker
mean And then it gets to seem really like, oh, these these like band members are almost done. they're they're We can harvest them soon. and I was like, what are they waiting for to, I guess, like, they get skinnier? like got fat Or fatter? I don't know. but yeah do you want Do you want them fatter or skinnier when we're smoking them? don't know.
00:24:18
Speaker
I feel like you want, like, fat cows, or fat, like, pigs and stuff, I'm either fattening them up.
00:24:24
Speaker
I mean, I'm not a cannibal harvester, so I don't know if it's, like, the ideal...
00:24:30
Speaker
I don't know how humanid like humans, like, how you want your humans, like, ah prepared before you smoke them. Meat tenderizing? I and don't know. I'm trying to think, like, there's another, like, cannibal movie that that's like, oh, fear makes the meat taste bad. Like, I've i've heard that one, right?
00:24:47
Speaker
Yeah, I don't, do we ever do we ever see the Sawyers, like, actually, like, going through the process in the Texas Chainsaw movies? We just kind of, see like, they kill people, and then we kind like, the end process, like, here's like here's sausage you made, like, eat our barbecue. like I don't, I think they just grilled meat, like just hap hapishly. It wasn't like, uh, it wasn't some cool or not cool. Uh, gross out, like detailed cannibal process. Like I think there were literally just like savages, just kind of ripping stuff and just cooking it. And then not even being like good butchers.
00:25:20
Speaker
Cause cause you, you see the whole process in Motel Hell. You see like them, how they catch your people, how they prepare them, how they like butcher them. If you want to know the ins and outs of smoky humans, this is your movie.
00:25:36
Speaker
Which, again, I liked in the sense that this was very shock value, but also very, like, not, I mean, like, you know, ah very, I guess, in depth for what they were trying to do. Mm-hmm.
00:25:51
Speaker
Because it wasn't just like, oh, they could have been a simple cut fade to black, and then pile of meat, whatever. This was way more like visceral. So you did feel a little uncomfortable.
00:26:05
Speaker
Again, not bad. It settles into this pattern of they'll be they'll introduce like the victims and then you'll see like how either Vincent's trap or like how they like capture them.
00:26:19
Speaker
And then you see them like bury them in like the garden, and then they like go through like their steps. And that kind of like repeats like for... like The whole middle is kind of like this pattern. and just like like just ah like You see who they capture? ah They capture them, and then they burie then they bury them in like the garden. Because it's like the rock band, it's um like the health inspector that shows up, and then like is Snoops in the garden, and they they capture him.
00:26:44
Speaker
There's like the the two women who... I think they were like they said they were on a ski trip, but then they made money.
00:26:53
Speaker
don't know what that means. We made $1,500 on that ski trip.
00:26:59
Speaker
Also, where are they skiing? cause like It's like i don't know it's a flat, like looks like Milwaukee. Yeah, like where? yeah ah And also, like but like who's who's finding Motel Hello and like staying there? because like it's you know It's in the middle of nowhere.
00:27:13
Speaker
It doesn't seem like there's any sort of... like like tourist thing. like There's no like national like national park or like forest or anything. There's a tiny, tiny town nearby and that's it.
00:27:27
Speaker
Are people just like like getting lost? and like Oh, look, a motel!
Motel's Implausibility
00:27:32
Speaker
ah I mean, that was like a lot. and Because there was like... The maps never told you like locations back then.
00:27:42
Speaker
Mm-hmm. So you pretty much had to chance it where ah if where you were staying had accommodations, you know, it's like, oh is it booked?
00:27:52
Speaker
Is it busy? No. All right. Like, we'll take a chance. Vacancy or no vacancy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:28:01
Speaker
I'm just thinking like, man, can you imagine that's not the only hotel in town? You know, it's just like, That one ah family that's like runs an honest to God like hotel is just like they're being beat by the cannibal hotel.
00:28:18
Speaker
Yeah, because they're not offering ah a wide selection of meat products. Mm hmm. And there's just like maybe years from now, like, would see you don't know the town. This movie doesn't care to show you about anything outside of that, like road and hill in the graveyard.
00:28:35
Speaker
Well, I think they go, like, Vincent goes town, like, literally once, like, when he goes to see Wolfman Jack. Oh, yeah. But you just see, like, the church like, a little bit of, like, the main road. And then that's it. Like, it's yeah, it's all it's all, like, the hotel and then, like, the woods are on the hotel.
00:28:55
Speaker
And I think they're all sets. I think they built sets. They didn't actually go to, like, some, like, actual, like, motel. They just, like, built, like, a a motel set. A soundstage for this whole thing?
00:29:07
Speaker
I get it. This movie doesn't need to get that complicated. Because it's really just this hotel, which... You figure inside the hotel, like you said earlier, there'd be, like, trap doors, maybe there'd be a, like, secret passageway, or maybe there's, like, you know, some sort of thing that they can monitor the guests...
00:29:29
Speaker
Nope. Literally, I think if you stayed and they didn't really chase after you, you just had a pleasant stay. Yeah, if you if you didn't seem like a like a degenerate lowlife that they wanted to get rid of the Earth, of then yeah, it would seem like a a very nice country motel that you could buy meat at and leave.
00:29:48
Speaker
ah I mean, there's there's a scene in the beginning where, I guess, like, a family stayed there and had, like, an amazing time. That's what that's I'm thinking of, is, like, the the family.
00:30:01
Speaker
And, then like, the twin girls, like, wander off and kind of get scared. Like, they, like, went wander into, like, the butcher ah butch your room, which they just leave the butchering room, like, wide open oh constantly. There's no lock on it or anything.
00:30:13
Speaker
there really should be like a lock pad. Yeah, people people are just watching walking in there constantly. Like Terry walks in there later, like with no no lock or anything and like stumbles in there. Okay, I think also the Ida wanted the girls to walk in so she could scare them with the pig head.
00:30:30
Speaker
Maybe, yeah. But then everything else was literally their incompetence. I think Bruce wanders in there later, right? but think oh i think I think they actually locked it when Bruce showed up at the end, and he had, like, shoot it off with the shotgun.
00:30:45
Speaker
say okay they eventually did lock it, but it was, like, a little bit too late. okay So they they made another attempt to do something with it. Especially when you like we see, like, they're, like, they had this, like, whole, like, crazy, like, camouflage fencing, like, system for the the secret garden like,
00:31:02
Speaker
hide it and there's like oh the room where we actually like butcher people can just walk in there it's fine we have buckets full of feet and hands and torsos feet hanging around it's funny to think that um they literally could have just like prevented a lot of this movie by just putting one lock on it yep
00:31:29
Speaker
I don't know if the motel had a basement, but you could have had, like, you we're talking about trap doors, just have a trap door, yeah, sweet Taz-Dot, just, like, directly into the basement, like, drop them into, like, the butcher room, and it's like... And then no one knows, because it's in the basement.
00:31:49
Speaker
But, yes, it's a whole separate building that ah they even didn't even bother to buy, like, a single combination lock until, like, the very end. Or they were just lazy and were just like, eh, I don't need to lock it. It's good enough for the... It's good enough for us, it's good enough for everyone else.
00:32:14
Speaker
And then, yeah, so, so yeah, I think i think the my favorite ah victims were probably, like, the swingers, just because it's so those There's probably one the movies leads like so far to the humor side of it.
00:32:25
Speaker
Where they're so ridiculous. Yeah, it's like such a different Stark victims that they got going on. Because because there's there's like the rock band that's like the little bit like crazy, but don't really get lot a lot. that You kind of like don't really say anything.
00:32:42
Speaker
And they then they get like but like they get like smashed by their fan runs or bear traps and flips over. Do you think that would have happened regardless of like intervention from Vincent?
00:32:55
Speaker
I feel like just because they're just smoking weed and you're reckless. Yeah, probably. i do love that the band is called Ivan the Terribles. It's a great band name. And at least it was like, the lead singer has like a Ivan the Terrible like look to him.
00:33:11
Speaker
And the drummer is ah John Ratzenberger.
00:33:16
Speaker
From, you from Cheers and Pixar fame.
00:33:23
Speaker
which i i I would love to go to convention days that or something and be like, hey, have him sign a Motel Hell thing. Or just be like, hey, remember Motel Hell? but like I was so high filming that. Probably.
00:33:37
Speaker
Again, we looked up the history. That's like one of his early career movies. And it's totally not overused. You know, like some DVDs or other kind of Movies that, like, once, like, an actor gets popular, they're somehow getting, like, giant credits, like, poster things. They put, like, yeah, like, what was the Adam Sandler movie? Like, going overboard or whatever.
00:34:07
Speaker
Is he not the star of that movie? No, I think he's like, one scene. Really? but I thought he was literally in that movie and is, like, a big character. that this the That's the big thing about that movie. Then it's, like, he blew up and, like,
00:34:18
Speaker
but We're going splash his name all over it. Or like Grizzly 2 when that cat really is like George Clooney, Charlie Sheen, Laura Dern. They're in the first scene. That's it.
00:34:29
Speaker
That's crazy. got to look up that poster again of going overboard. i honestly thought that was like a first Adam Sandler movie and then it's like not.
00:34:42
Speaker
Yeah, i think I think it's like yeah it's he he has like a one or two scenes in it. he's not He's not actually the star of it.
00:34:50
Speaker
But, ah yeah, John Rafferty. No, he is. Oh, okay.
00:34:56
Speaker
But, yeah. It's horrible cover. Yeah, and and it was just like, it's it was so early that, like, no one even cared, no one cared until, like, afterwards, and they're like, let people know. people know. Get this movie out there. Let people know. Adam Sandler's in it.
00:35:15
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. I agree. I think that, like, the real research like Star John Ratzenberger.
00:35:23
Speaker
Toy Story's John Ratzenberger stars Motel Hell. Watch him get turned into sausage.
Humor in Horror
00:35:37
Speaker
But yeah, the swingers like... like ah you It's funny because you actually get to see what ah like a mo like a motel room at the motel looks like. That's the only time you you actually see what the room looks like.
00:35:51
Speaker
Yeah, the standard motel room. Nothing crazy. And it's not sinister, which is, I thought it would be, like, one of those rooms. It's like their kill room or something.
00:36:07
Speaker
Yeah, you'd think it'd be like like it be more like rustic or have like an outdoorsy theme just because like the like motel kind of has like this like log cabin-y kind of look to it.
00:36:19
Speaker
But yeah, it's a ba bare bones motel room. Yeah, I definitely stayed at a place like that when I was young. And you don't see those places too often if you, I don't know, prefer more brand stuff and and I guess like Booking.com doesn't really provide motels if you're going to kind of like metropolitan areas.
00:36:44
Speaker
And like, again, and i don't know what it's like now, the landscape of motel travel, but I would stay at a motel six before I stay at like a mom pop motel place.
00:36:56
Speaker
I'd love to see like modern day, like the motel hell, like the like Yelp reviews. Well, they wouldn't give reviews. It's either like amazing or like you just don't have, you can't make review.
00:37:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:37:11
Speaker
And even then, think the people they kill are just like not people that are staying there. I think besides the swingers. Yeah. yeah Which I guess that's like the only group.
00:37:22
Speaker
And the swingers mistake there their motel for like another motel called Vince's Motel. and like, are you Vincent? He's like, yeah, I am. It's like, oh, great. We found you. We found it.
00:37:34
Speaker
We found the swinger secret Swinger Hotel. Which is an interesting place for a swingers hotel. ah was I forget like like oh they're like the guy Swinger's like oh are you guys cool? And then I think like Vince is like ah it's a little chilly in here yeah.
00:37:59
Speaker
He didn't know the lingo. Yep. And he goes like I love this guy. I can't wait to kiss this guy.
00:38:08
Speaker
Do you think that Vincent knew that this was like a Swinger thing?
00:38:14
Speaker
i mean, they did they show him an ad that's in like a weird magazine that says like, I think it says like, I forget what the ad says, but i think it's like very heavily implied. It's like swinger like s Swinger's welcome or something.
00:38:24
Speaker
So it's like, yeah, they're like, oh, you guys at the wrong hotel. Well, we'll play along because we we need some more supplies.
Vincent and Ida's Downfall
00:38:41
Speaker
it's it's I wonder when they decide how many people is enough to like they like stop like taking people for a while. Because like it's not like they have like a like but like is they said they had ah they had a big order coming up. They need like more they need the more and more people to like fill the order or something.
00:38:58
Speaker
But just like there's like they keep throwing more and more people in the garden. Which I guess is like their downfall is that they throw too many people in the in the garden and they get out.
00:39:10
Speaker
Yeah, I think ah if they just, like, maintained what they were needing, but I think they were overzealous because they had, guess, help.
00:39:21
Speaker
You know, like, they they had the girl, they had Terry, so they're like, oh, she'll love this. Let's just keep making and keep making people sausage. And we don't ever see them making deliveries or anything, either. Vincent doesn't drive to town with a load full of meat to sell to people, to sell to the market or something. The only time we actually see him try to sell meat is at the hotel to that family, where he's got that Hillshire Farms sample pack, basically, he's trying to sell them.
00:39:52
Speaker
Here's the the Farmer Vincent sampler pack, it's $2.95. Yeah.
00:39:58
Speaker
Which is a crazy price even for like human meat.
00:40:03
Speaker
like how like How much real is Hilshire farm sampler things in like the 80s? Still pretty expensive. Even i mean now it's like ridiculous. Hilshire smoked meat pat, which does not give you that like giant like shoebox full of meat like you saw.
00:40:18
Speaker
um Also, we should probably like FDA test the Hilshire because they're still making that meat. Who knows what's in that meat? Yeah, hmm.
00:40:29
Speaker
check check Check all the motels around Hillshire Farms and make sure but people but people are disappearing around them. Let's see. A Hillshire ah family pack.
00:40:41
Speaker
Well, okay. If you want to buy kielbasa, it's like $4. Yeah. If you want to buy, like I guess, the non-Sam's Club thing. like i mean like A meat and cheese pack is like $70. $70.
00:40:54
Speaker
yeah seventy dollars
00:40:57
Speaker
get like four cheeses and four sausages. yeah Okay, like I'm just looking to see like what the hell is their... Their summer sausage log is... Wow.
00:41:11
Speaker
Let me tell you, if you were trying to go to the Hillshire farm to find out all this detail, it sends you through a maze of clicks that I feel like I'm entering its own motel hell of like misdirections and things, but...
00:41:26
Speaker
You know, I'm looking at Hillshower Farms. Are we? OK, no, no, no. What's the company that makes like the more specialty ones and not just like Hillshower?
Meat Commentary
00:41:34
Speaker
Hillshower is the more famous with the kibasa and it's in most supermarkets, but like roadside attraction places that like give you the um like just box meat.
00:41:47
Speaker
Now I can't find on Hillshower. Hillshower doesn't make specialty ones anymore.
00:41:54
Speaker
Yeah, i feel like, yeah i know I kind of know what you're thinking talking about. i can't remember what, there's like a different company or something. they But I don't see that anymore. You know, like Hickory Farms? Is that it?
00:42:07
Speaker
Hickory, yeah, I think it's probably Hickory Farms, yeah. Alright, Hickory Farms, I mean, yeah, like that's the one that's like 70 bucks right now. Yeah. And anything else is like, you're just crapshooting those like, Midwest places where it's like,
00:42:21
Speaker
Wisconsin and like just like mountain regions where they do more smoking, I guess. But yeah, when I growing up in the city, I never had a smoked sausage until like way later in life, just because it just was like hard to get. And if anything, you had to get like a relative or or a family friend who is traveling to those places to go.
00:42:45
Speaker
maybe fill out one of those cards and send it into the mail and then you'd get like the box sent to your house. Yeah. or like The more I think about how inconvenient it was to try like roadside sausages or like, you know, smoke meat that like you just don't get in in inner cities.
00:43:02
Speaker
I'm not it's same thing for you, Zach, where you were growing up, but like that was not easy to get. Like why people didn't have smokers at home yet. Yeah. well I definitely remember it as being like a like a Christmas, like thing. And I think i think like the old like like wish books, like you know Sears and JCPenney and stuff, this of stuff was in those catalogs. Like, here's all of our like ah like sample ah gift packs for sausage and cheese. Ordered from us. That was so like remote to me for the longest time. I think like I was like 10 when I had like a legit like, oh,
00:43:43
Speaker
this was good like this was thing you can get uh i guess from uh just like ah shipping store like it was a online store you know like it was before that yeah like it was a paper ah paper catalog paper catalog oh mailware catalog Different times.
00:44:10
Speaker
And Vincent's not even doing that. He's he's just like driving like as was driving it to like local like grocery stores. His customers come to him. Yeah.
00:44:20
Speaker
And I don't think he even supplies any like place, right?
00:44:26
Speaker
Yeah, I guess. i guess Yeah, I guess everyone knows they have to drive to the motel like if they want like the, you for Vincent's meats.
00:44:39
Speaker
Yeah, because, I mean, people are obviously buying it. Like he said, they're feeding, like, know, people like, the county or whatever have been eating it for 30 years.
00:44:48
Speaker
That plus the motel, they're doing pretty good. Yeah, the legit that's why I'm like, for them, the killing thing is sort of like a secondary thing.
00:44:59
Speaker
i think it's it's It's a creative outlet for Vincent. He's like, he specifically says that. He's just like, I love coming up with traps and yo know figuring out new things to do. like I'm going to put cardboard cows in the middle of the street the road and force someone to stop.
00:45:14
Speaker
Yeah, that's crazy.
00:45:18
Speaker
I just think that, honestly, it could have been... like he didn't really have a goal. They were just killing just to kill. And it wasn't like, oh, we need to do this to save the business. It's like, you know, we cut costs on not having animals, but they had pigs. They had animals. I don't know if those were like always prop pigs, or they just... They're mixing the... <unk> not It's not fully human meat. like They're mixing pork.
00:45:44
Speaker
That's what they said. like it's a mix they It's a mixture of like, human and pork. Why even have the human part? Is that what adds the spice? It's like, yeah, it's their secret ingredient.
00:45:56
Speaker
It should be funny. There should be someone saying, like, hmm, there's another, like, flavor here. I can't quite put my foot on, like, my my tongue on. And it's like, oh, and, like, Vincent keeps hinting at that. Yeah. I don't think we ever see a scene like that.
00:46:11
Speaker
No, they go on, like, the picnic, and it's like, oh man, I've never had ham like this before. Like what Terry says. See, but Terry eats a lot of human. she She stays there a while to eat.
00:46:24
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:46:27
Speaker
I'm surprised at the end of the movie she doesn't just start throwing up or something.
00:46:32
Speaker
Oh, yeah. She finds out the truth she's and like, I've been eating humans this entire time. But again, she's Terry, so she's going to be like, oh, okay.
00:46:44
Speaker
What do you want me to do, Bruce? yeah she Yeah, she's very, like, she just rolls with whoever like she is, like, decided to go with at that moment. Like, she was, like, fully on board with for Vincent, and then, like, when Bruce shows up and like, rescues her, he's like, well, I'm um ah fully i' i'm fully with you now, Bruce. like Where are we going now?
00:47:05
Speaker
Yeah, because that was the surprise thing for me was that Bruce was not in on it. So he like he shows up is like, what the hell is going on out here? but but the only reason he shows up at all is because he's jealous that Vincent's going to marry Terry because he wanted like Terry.
00:47:20
Speaker
And then that's when he like so like he comes back and is like, you can't marry you can't marry her. And then that's when he stumbles on like everything that's happening. it it gets attacked by his sister. Well, You know what's bizarre?
00:47:34
Speaker
It's like... If Vincent wasn't a creep... Would have... like Terry just like likes a father figure, right? It's just that's thing. yeah But Bruce has none of that. like If anything, they went on a comical cop date that yes just completely turns her off on the whole thing. And he's like, I got a shot.
00:47:54
Speaker
we We went on that one stakeout. they They went to... like make-out point or like full-on like sex point because there's a couple just like full-on just fucking in the backseat a car. um and and Then you also see like the drive-in movie theater that is apparently in the like but one feature that of the town is they have a drive-in movie theater, but have to but they watch it through like binoculars.
00:48:18
Speaker
So they're stealing. That's piracy. Yeah, and they also abuse the... He abuses his police powers to have them broadcast the audio from the movie to his like police radio.
00:48:31
Speaker
ah he He calls like the driver to the CB radio and is like, hey, pump that movie up here. yeah and they yeah then he tries to assault Terry, basically. Yeah.
00:48:46
Speaker
So he's not exactly the the hero, too.
Bruce's Transformation
00:48:52
Speaker
I was also, like, constantly thrown off the entire time by Bruce, because ah Paul Linke, he's from Chips, he's made a bunch of stuff, but he looks, like, identical to, like, Tim Baltz from Righteous Gemstones.
00:49:06
Speaker
Like, BJ from Righteous Gemstones. Yeah, isn't that the one where it's, like, he's sort of, like, the brother-in-law who marries him? Yeah. you're just Just, like, their appearance. They can be, like, identical
00:49:22
Speaker
So I just read, like, this whole thing, like, this, like, if they remake this movie, like, you definitely have cast Tim Balz as Bruce.
00:49:36
Speaker
but But yeah, but but but Bruce, like, if he eventually does become, like, he like finally becomes, like, the hero. Because, like, he, he rescues Terry, and then we get, like, the insane... ah chainsaw duel. The entire end of this movie just like totally just like ramps up everything.
00:49:55
Speaker
okay whatever movie to be honest, that feels like a just like, hey, can can ah what's his name?
00:50:06
Speaker
Roy Calhoun? Yeah, can Roy Calhoun wear those Pig Macs? Like, do you think that was him or they got like a stunt actor? I feel like there had to be ah way to like have a stunt actor in there. Yeah, right they're like, alright, Roy can't do this scene, so let's just get... What would he do?
00:50:22
Speaker
Props? Cool. Roy Calhoun is good at standing and walking, is but he's very memorable at that. But yeah, you can't do a chainsaw duel.
00:50:35
Speaker
but But I mean, you get the chainsaw duel, you get like the... ah the all the victims are finally able to like unearth themselves in the garden, then they become like a zombie horde, basically.
00:50:46
Speaker
That was cool.
00:50:49
Speaker
And then they they start attacking Ida and Vincent. um And then Vincent throws Bo shows back up to Terry's boyfriend and then Vincent throws him into the don't know if it's a chute or if it's just like the smoke room but it like kills him.
00:51:05
Speaker
But but ever everyone else attacks Ida. And then yeah that Bruce shows up and becomes the action hero, finally. like He gets a shotgun. He breaks into the butcher shop. And then Vincent has like his giant pig head and chainsaw.
00:51:21
Speaker
And then they have like a... Hold on, hold on. not So if you thought the chainsaw fight would draw people in or make up for some of the action or anything, it doesn't.
00:51:32
Speaker
it's It's a very simple, like, oh no, like, it could have been two knives. It could have been just a knife fight. Yeah. That feels, it feels like the most, blaant that's like the most blatant, like, Texas Chainsaw thing. I'm like, well, we're, we're, we're kind of like spoofing Texas Chainsaw. We gotta have chainsaws.
00:51:54
Speaker
But yeah, it does feel like that's from like a different movie or just like like a different like is a different thing. Because there's there's like nothing even similar to that. It's from the whole rest of the movie. and it's It just becomes like this over-the-top craziness of zombies hacking and Sword of zombies tagging, and then, yeah, like a chainsaw
Climactic Scenes
00:52:12
Speaker
battle, and... So, we we didn't mention that ah during the, like, when you hear the people that are basically put into the garden, ah because they don't have any vocal cords, they all have this, like, screechy sound to them, so it just amplified in this scene. It's just like, now they're out for revenge.
00:52:31
Speaker
they're they're not They're moaning, but it's not that typical zombie moan. It's almost, like, alien-like. but it's it's It's more like a gargling kind of like, yeah, cause their folk chords are cut. so It's like...
00:52:43
Speaker
It's what do you think like insectic, insectozoid like aliens would be. So it's a little disturbing.
00:52:58
Speaker
But yeah, but Bruce manages to win the duel because they manage to like embed like chainsaw, like chain like like Vincent gets, like, chased out of the side, and then... But then they kind of, like, all, like, forgive him?
00:53:11
Speaker
but so It's a weird, like... They have, a touching moment. you're still You're still my brother, like... Yeah, yeah. It's like, oh, after the adrenaline... I understood it as the adrenaline is now, like, leaving, and now that they... the daunting, like, oh... uh... Now this is the...
00:53:27
Speaker
what's going happen next. i guess But then, yeah, but they kind of give like Vincent the like evil guy monologue. Well, it's, I feel like he, he like really like did a one 80 in like, and soon as he put that like pigment head on, like he was like, ah he's like, calculating, calculating like a maniac. And like,
00:53:45
Speaker
like, he felt like totally different character, because, like, he's, like, been, like, so, like, kind of like, well-spoken and, like, you know, overly friendly, and then, like, he's just like, I want to put this pig mask on and go nuts!
00:53:57
Speaker
Ha ha ha! I guess because it's, like, the last, like, everything's falling apart, so I guess maybe he's just like, yeah, this is my last-ditch effort to, like, save my business, but... Well, he just wants, I guess, the legacy of everything. Mm-hmm.
00:54:15
Speaker
ah that that's that's sort of, I guess, the shock because he didn't have like what what was the point of this.
00:54:27
Speaker
But yeah, he tells he tells them to take care of his his animals, which means like the people. and it tells like They kind of figure out where the garden is. It's like, oh, there's go to the garden and take care of my animals. then they fight like Yeah, at this point, to the audience, it's not a twist. To them, they just realize what's going on.
00:54:45
Speaker
But there's no time to, like, daunt, because there's no one in the garden but Ida. Upside down, yeah. Oh, there's just there's also the foul joke, where, like, Vincent's last thing is just like, I was a hypocrite.
00:54:57
Speaker
I used preservatives.
00:55:02
Speaker
Do you think he always used preservatives, or you think he was, like, recently with, like, a new batch?
00:55:12
Speaker
Are we going to mention the fact that he went cook crazy for the wedding? He's like, alright, let me cater this whole thing, and then make more smoked meat?
00:55:25
Speaker
i feel like if I feel like if they remade this movie today, there'd be a whole thing about how like Farmer Vince's meat is 100% organic. ah hundred percent organic Yeah, I could see like a subtle nod. like but The structure is still good. There's something about this movie that does stand out a little bit that you can basically take it and turn it into a full-out story that doesn't have to follow the same beats as this. like You don't need the sheriff if you don't want to. You don't need Ida if you don't want it.
00:55:55
Speaker
And then, if anything, you make it more like Sweetie Todd where... They are famous. They are selected of who they make into food. And then you have like a character that you know could be a rival hotel owner. It could be like some sort of...
00:56:13
Speaker
you know desire for Vincent. And then he invites her to his house and he's a courtship and and not just like this weird Stockholm syndrome thing he's got going on with her.
00:56:25
Speaker
Yeah. And then, yeah, then then it escalates into this. um But we've seen like so many different examples of, I guess, cannibalist hospitality people.
00:56:37
Speaker
ah One of them, one of the, this room this whole movie reminds me of like one episode of Hannibal. There was a guy who was basically making like a flesh garden that he was harvesting, like, kind of like human fertilizer and then turning them then. But he did, like, way more messed up things in that episode.
00:56:58
Speaker
But, yeah, this this is, like, early 1980s example of just, like, shock horror, where, if you think about it, up until the first second act, no no real blood. It was a lot of just, like, just the ideas of scary.
00:57:11
Speaker
And then they show you the gore. You know, that was the big payoff. yeah i wonder um I'm sure it's probably a budget thing, because this is a very, very low budget movie, so they probably couldn't afford a lot of gore effects or other locations.
00:57:28
Speaker
Yeah, I just feel like if they had a little bit more money in the budget, but if anything, if that happened, they probably would went crazy on more rubber bodies or something.
00:57:41
Speaker
Yeah, because for a movie where they're butchering humans and, like, know, yeah, like, harvesting them in their secret garden, yeah, there isn't there's a lot of like, actual, like, gory violence until, like, the the most gory thing is, like, Vincent getting, like, the chainsaw into his side at the end.
00:57:58
Speaker
I mean, yeah yeah, that's actually, like, gore in motion. If anything, it's just sort of, like, pig parts and then just, like, the the limbs. Yeah. But, yeah, nothing too crazy. Nothing like a Saw movie ever gets, like, thrown in there.
00:58:14
Speaker
yeah Even when they're like and they do the vocal cords slit, it's off-screen. You don't see them like cutting into like so someone's throat and doing whatever they do with the vocal cords.
00:58:27
Speaker
And they kill the three rock band members just snapping their necks with ropes. rock band members by like just like ah stack there next with ropes They do it in a very interesting angle. They don't do it from like... They do it from like the front, which is I don't really see that.
00:58:42
Speaker
with With a whole insane build-up of... They they have these like hypnosis machines for some reason. Yeah. What? Why? then Vince is like hypnotizing them to be like, oh, you guys are going on a crazy high. You're going to go Astro Projector Mars, man. And then it's like, blast off. And they use a tractor to pull them out of the ground and set their necks.
00:59:07
Speaker
So did Vincent, he knew how to make like a hypnotizing machine? He just buy he's buy those? You could just buy 1980? here's Here's a hypnosis machine.
00:59:19
Speaker
You could like ah set it up and make people do whatever you want with them.
00:59:27
Speaker
that was that was That was like the humane way to kill them. That was like his like humane way of killing them.
00:59:36
Speaker
I mean, I would say just like, you know, you got that like, you got like a lot of stuff that can knock people out. Just like, yeah, gas them or ah drug them. And then, you know, don't know, them in the head with a hammer or something. they don't feel it. I don't know. It's weird to think that the crazy inhumane thing or like the the like dirty deed.
00:59:57
Speaker
But the fact that he invented like a hypnotized thing and it's only used in one scene And it's never like used as a trap. It's not brought up as something that maybe he gets hypnotized later. Like the weapon gets turned against him.
01:00:12
Speaker
Yeah, does does he does he use that a lot of times? Or was that just like, oh, these guys are like stoned rockers. I'm going to come up with like a specific thing just for them. like i guess he did, because it seemed like he wanted to make the deaths seem very appropriate to what they were doing. But like you only get that in that scene. Otherwise, we never get another kind of hit like a unique harvesting scene again.
01:00:43
Speaker
Yeah, because those are the only three we actually see them like kill and start like butchering for meat.
Uncertain Fates
01:00:50
Speaker
everyone Everyone else in the movie that they like ah kidnap and they i like they bury them and leave them in the garden and they all come back at the end to get their revenge.
01:01:02
Speaker
Which, they they like quickly leave. They're just like, okay, we did a thing and they all like hitchhike out of town. Yeah, we we don't we we never we have no idea what the hell happened to those people. Because they can't talk. They can't explain what happened to them.
01:01:17
Speaker
he's so right I guess they could write, yeah. But yeah, they're always there just going wander in town and be like, hey, we were kidnapped to be human pigs at Motel Hell.
01:01:28
Speaker
Because
01:01:32
Speaker
Bruce and Terry are just like, oh, well... I didn't, Vincent are dead. Let's let's leave. We're good.
01:01:41
Speaker
Yeah, the the movie just sort of ends. That's another thing I don't like about this. is It just sort of like, yeah, that's horrifying. Bye. yeah just we're just going to abandon the motel and then like We don't care what happens to it. We don't... well those All those people, we don't we don't care. We're just gonna drive You can't save this hotel anymore, now that you know everything.
01:02:05
Speaker
I mean, Terry's just burning it, which seems like a pretty good idea. Just like, yeah, like, get rid of ah all everything that happened there. I think that was like... They don't actually... I don't know if they actually did it, because the ending is just like a dream-like sequence of it exploding, and I'm like, I don't know if this actually happened or not.
01:02:23
Speaker
Well, the yeah, the the sign explodes. Well, this first is the first, before the credits, the sign actually is finally like, the O's finally sizzles out completely, and then the neon sign finally says Motel Hell completely.
01:02:35
Speaker
and then after the credits, it blows up. But it's like, yeah, did the motel blow up, or just the sign, or...
01:02:46
Speaker
It's just like, it's short-circuited and blew up, I guess? i don't know. Or Terry found some explosives and blew up the hotel.
01:02:57
Speaker
Uh, maybe, maybe like one of the vegetable people came back and just like finished the job. Maybe. Yeah. but I'm like, see, it would have been, it would have been fine if basically the garden people came back and then start wrecking havoc in the hotel while yeah if everyone else was outside.
01:03:16
Speaker
yeah these are just They all started smashing everything into the lobby and everything, just like destroying everything. Yep. And that sort of turns into, like, okay, like, you know, do you even want to save this place? and it's like, no, this place is terrible.
01:03:34
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's also where Bruce reveals, like, well, I ran away from home at 11, so that's why he doesn't know anything about what's been going on, because he left home, but then I guess came back... sometime recently to become sheriff or within whatever he came back to become sheriff.
Speculations and Revelations
01:03:54
Speaker
I guess that's an excuse. Excuse to not know that your family are cannibals. Yeah, but like, what was, what like, who's going to disprove that? all the All the witnesses are dead. For all we know, ah Bruce could be the mastermind.
01:04:09
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
01:04:14
Speaker
Well, I guess, ah yeah like you said, if like if the guard people can like write down, like, oh, it was Vincent and Ida that did this to us.
01:04:28
Speaker
But there they're dead, so you can't really like can't put them trial or anything. It's just over. Well, it's country law. just like ah and just Country your justice, yeah. you You can basically bury the dead but without letting anyone know...
01:04:42
Speaker
ah Or you could burn down a landmark that I'm pretty sure people are going to ask. What's up with that? And he's the sheriff. It's not like he's some neighboring farmer or something. yeah Yeah. And also people are like, hey, remember that? Remember like Farmer Vincent's meat? Like what happened to that?
01:05:03
Speaker
i want to see like the big like the big like report, like the news report. Like, oh, did you eat Farmer Vincent's meat anytime and recently? Guess what? It had human in it.
01:05:14
Speaker
Also, like there are people who have bumper stickers from this place. Yep. and Probably i been like years and years and years just eating smoked sausage sticks and ham and everything else from Do you think that family is still eating all that meat that they bought? like They're just like watching the news? Huh.
01:05:37
Speaker
Interesting. Because over here, it seemed like, if anything, maybe the sign blew up. Doesn't mean the... hotel blew up, and it definitely meant, it did not mean the, like, processing plant they had blew up.
01:05:51
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, but the butchering room was like, or like, area was like across as like a totally different building than motel so that's still probably fine yeah i i definitely want like more like uh yeah the cops rolling in investigating everything and then like the like a news reporter like well like whatever whatever local news is like the nearby town it's like well everyone we're all cannibals
01:06:19
Speaker
if you if you eat far-of-fist meat any time guess what you're a cannibal you you you seek medical attention now yeah i mean i guess it wasn't making people sick i mean there probably was like there probably would have been like they would have been trouble if it was like know like causing like stomach like like food poisoning or something but it seemed like they were like they actually making like you know good meat quality meat it was just human meat
01:06:52
Speaker
Because the health inspector just shows up. like or Was he a health inspector was he a weird livestock inspector? thought he was vet. I thought he was just like the the county vet. Maybe.
01:07:03
Speaker
i think he had so like you had like department of agriculture on his car or something. So he must be like a yeah livestock inspector. yeah yeah Check like the welfare of the animals.
01:07:15
Speaker
But then he... Well, it kind of made sense why he then was like trying to break into... The garden? Because he was like one the animals we got. yeah And they they play like Were they playing like an 8-track of just like weird ambient music or noise to like cover things up too?
01:07:35
Speaker
i think so. I think they were trying to make the ah like... The like garden seem like it was... Just alive. like Yeah, so that way it didn't grow so much suspicion.
01:07:52
Speaker
But of course it did. like Of course, it I don't know, like whatever footpath they were on, it leads to that. like It led to the garden. that For a secret garden, they should really put up a lock.
01:08:05
Speaker
A lot of this movie is, why don't you lock doors? Well, think there actually is a lock on the garden. like Vincent like locks it, but then and it also says camo... like fencing again they have a camouflage on it but then the camouflage is like if you're close to it it's it's very obviously it's camouflage for something it's covering a fence
01:08:27
Speaker
they should they gotta be glad they're like they don't live in like they didn't live in like the like Google Earth era cause like you could just be like if this was like a modern movie it'd be like oh look at this weird uh area by this like motel looks like a weird garden
01:08:47
Speaker
It's like the satellite satellite image. Oh yeah, like Google Earth would be like, hey, there's a lot of like stuff happening there. What's up with this blur? they have to Yeah, they to they have to pay... like we it' sensitive It's sensitive. It's government facility. You can't like you can't yep blur it out You can't show it.
01:09:17
Speaker
yeah Overall, I thought it was a
Cult Classic Status
01:09:20
Speaker
pretty fun movie. I could definitely see why it's a cult classic that people like are like you know still watch and mention. and still still getting like I think it got like a 2010 IDW comic sequel or adaptation or something.
01:09:35
Speaker
Interesting. um This movie, you need to watch it with friends. I feel like watching this by yourself is fine, but I think the enhanced experience is watching with friends to laugh and and sort of, like, get grossed out together.
01:09:50
Speaker
And even, like, even reminiscing about it. Like, it's, like, definitely not a movie you'll see a lot in mainstream. and No. I think before I saw his movie...
01:10:03
Speaker
Because going in it blind, i think, was fine. It's not like you need to know the premise so much, but it's just surprising that the the the main villain is this, like, Annie Griffin.
01:10:14
Speaker
Like, yeah and like yeah awesome country guy who, you know, when he turns into a killer, it's sort of just like, he doesn't really change persona. It's not like, he also doesn't blame anyone. You know, in a movie where it's like this, he would be like, oh i had a rough childhood, so explains why I make sausages out of people.
01:10:32
Speaker
Or, like, Yeah, he doesn't have a Norman Bates style like, well, mother my mother controlled me. My mother is forcing me to do this. you just like He's just like, yeah it's family business.
01:10:44
Speaker
We're trying to give people quality meat and a place to sleep. <unk> We're doing Lord's work.
01:10:55
Speaker
But yeah, I think i think you said it earlier, like yeah this is definitely not like a like starter horror movie. like This is not like a like horror 101... Watch this to get into horror movies. like You need to be like very well-versed in horror like find this one get into this one.
01:11:17
Speaker
Just because of how weird it is, and then kind of like the... um
01:11:25
Speaker
yeah like like how it's kind of it's kind of a satire of like other movies that you probably should be aware of or I have like knowledge of too
01:11:38
Speaker
but yeah it's it's it's on uh I watched an AMC plus it's on there if you weirdly not not under the shutter like section it's under the AMC plus like or the AMC section which is weird but that's how it is on the app I guess um I think it's...
01:11:56
Speaker
ah This one, it feels like it should be on, like, Tubi and stuff, but don't I don't think it's actually on Tubi. It should be like a plea like like, a Pluto Tubi kind of thing.
01:12:10
Speaker
But yeah, i think AMC Plus is the only place you can watch it right now.
01:12:14
Speaker
Yeah, it's definitely, like, a hard movie to get, which I don't understand, because I don't feel like this is a movie that has so many... rights ownership i just don't think they know how to like market this movie and it's like halloween it's like now's the time to to do something like this i mean did it did get a 4k like two years ago so it is on like you can get like physical like 4k from scream factory did it so that's you know they they know what's up so
01:12:49
Speaker
But like yeah, it's had a bunch of like a other... rent like like There's a stream service apparently called Memento or something that's on. I have no idea what that is. Nope,
01:13:02
Speaker
no idea. But ah yeah, if you can find it, if you're looking for something weird off the beaten path for the creepy season, would say check it out.
Next Episode Preview
01:13:12
Speaker
And come back next week, we're going to finish off Spooky Season and ah play one... ah the or watch the final game of Jigsaw and ah discuss Saw 3D, aka Saw the Final Chapter, because that's celebrating its... I think it's its 20th anniversary next week?
01:13:31
Speaker
like how that final chapter is thrown in there, but it's totally not the final chapter. The 15th anniversary. but guess i guess it's the final chapter... like... chronologically?
01:13:43
Speaker
no No, I thought the final chapter is a Book of Saw, whatever. that that does everything that That has nothing to do with ah like the main ah storyline. Because it's like a jigsaw copycat, it has nothing to do with like any characters basically set up in the main line Saw series. Oh wait, then what's the one where it's like
01:14:11
Speaker
What's the one where it's like... Jigsaw's a prequel, and then we got Saw X, which was like the interquel. Okay, okay.
01:14:22
Speaker
So yeah, like, chronologically, the final Saw movie. Saw 3D, which we'll dive into all that next week.
01:14:34
Speaker
So, and then over to site, we got all of our stuff there. We got news, reviews, trailers, um...
01:14:41
Speaker
We've got my Tron Aries review, if you want to read that. um ah Next week, actually, along with Saw three d we're going have our um kind of spooky October commentary. We watched Night of the Demons, another like 80s cult classic. So that'll be up next week if you want to that out and watch that movie along with us.
01:15:03
Speaker
And all of our stuff is up there as well. Head over check all the stuff out. And yes, for Chris, I'm Zach, and we will see you next week. For more for Everything Action, head to www.everythingaction.com. You can also find us on Facebook at facebook.com slash everything.action and follow us on X at EVAction.
01:15:23
Speaker
We're also on Instagram and threads at everything.action. Find more episodes of the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your at podcast app of choice, and be sure to rate and subscribe.