Motel Hell (1980)

Now here's a film where the emphasis on melodrama works. Here's a film that doesn't go the lengths make the killers inconceivable or any kind of enigma. It's a film  that actually forces you to spend time with these freaks and the result is something more absurdly uncomfortable than outright frightening. The film revolves around the brother and sister team of farmers/motel owners/meat smokers...is there a most sinister combination of jobs a character in a horror movie can have? But what's fun is film follows them along pretty much the whole time. At the start of the film a girl and her boyfriend are in an accident. In a delirious state the girl remains with farmer Vincent and eventually decides to stay by her own accord.

Now in case you haven't figured it out, farmer Vincent is a cannibal yeah that's where we're at with this.  He and his sister abduct drivers and use them in their sausage but the process they use is really something else and for a movie that's mostly pretty goofy there's some really horrific sound effects. Now here's what really makes this film special. The girl actually falls for the killer! On top of that Farmer Vincent's brother is the local sheriff who has no idea the rest of the family has chosen in career in human meat. A funky love triangle starts to emerge between the girl and the two brothers....and some how the girl chooses the cannibal and decides to get married to Vincent. Is there a shittier friend zone scenario? The girl would rather fuck your older cannibal brother, life's a bitch.

Now this runs a little too long, but there's a series of sudden shifts in tone that really make this film a trip. First when our main girls tries to bond with Vincent's sister they decide to go tubing together and the transition to this scene that begins with the fatass sister canonballing into the lake. There's also a pair of victims whom the film spends an unusual amount of time establishing, they're a pair of swingers who destroy much of the hotel room with a whip and hope that farmer Vincent will join in their three-way....not making this up.  My favorite weird variation is when Vincent is preparing the meat for harvest he uses some oddly psychedelic techniques to relax the meat before the kill.

While the film drags a bit, the climax really seals the deal. If there is one movie trope I want to see more of its chainsaw fights...yep the film goes there. And it all takes a really melodramatic turn and I'm not talking 1950's Douglas Sirk Melodrama I'm talking Dudley Do Right levels where the leading lady is strapped to a conveyer belt that slowly moves towards a meat saw. Motel Hell functions mostly as fun parody of Psycho and Texas Chainsaw Massacre but also manages to stand on its own as with legitimate scares.