Mr_Ectoplasma The cover art for "Mountaintop Motel Massacre" may mislead you— its presentation of a wild-eyed grandma peeking outside a hotel door evokes feelings of madwoman slasherdom and maybe even something akin to "The Shining"— "Mountaintop Motel Massacre" is neither of these things. The film revolves around an elderly woman, Evelyn, who is released from an institution and returns to the motel she once ran. After a local storm puts travelers out, they come one by one to Mountaintop Motel, and so does Evelyn a'knockin', one by one.This backwoodsy micro-budget picture is more of a thriller than a conventional slasher by any means. Our antagonist is a bonkers old lady, after all— think Tobe Hooper's "Eaten Alive" without alligators, and factor in a loony, doe-eyed grandma— but there is something inarguably charming about this film in its earnestness. Filmed in Louisiana back country in the early eighties, the film was not released until 1986, and became a staple of mom & pop video stores' horror sections. The film begins almost as a psycho-drama, with Evelyn returning home and brutally murdering her daughter after catching her dabbling in witchcraft in their basement. Things spiral out of control from there when Evelyn re-opens her motel, which is in all actuality more a series of rundown cabins nestled in the backwoods— but hey, this is an eighties drive-in flick, so I can work with it. Travelers arrive one by one: a carpenter, a couple of freewheeling hippie girls, a music executive— quite the cast of victims.The pacing picks up about midway through the film, and there are some really inventive sequences featuring underground tunnels that run between the motels (premonitory of the 2007 thriller "Vacancy"), and a bizarre and eerie score punctuates the hacking amidst the torrential downpour. The setting here leaves a bit to be desired in terms of excitement; the motel cabins are claustrophobic, but not exactly the greatest spaces to be photographed, and the cinematography is fairly unexciting overall. Even so, I found this film incredibly amusing. It's a clean-cut example of eighties motel horror flicks at their most low-budget, yet it still retains a sense of self-respect that is admirable. A bit light on slashing and cinematic flair, but we've got a motel, a crazy old lady with a sickle in hand, and— snakes! 6/10.

acidburn-10 The set up was quite good, at first we see the main character Evelyn working in her garden peacefully until she goes a bit nuts when she sees one of her daughters rabbit's on loose, and then goes a bit psycho, which was totally hilarious. Then we see the young girl holding some sort of séance, which isn't explained and Evelyn goes a bit nuts again with her trusty sickle and accidentally kills her daughter. We also learn that Evelyn was in a mental hospital for 3 years, but doesn't explain why, and some time later a few guests arrive at her rundown motel cabins. We get a quite interesting bunch ranging from an binge drinking preacher, a black carpenter, a young married couple, a businessman pretending to be a record producer and 2 wannabe singers.The motel setting was very creepy and the thunderstorm does add a nice touch to the proceedings, plus the acting was pretty decent from everyone involved. Also the tunnels underneath the rooms was effectively done, very dark and dusty with cobwebs and undergrowth was very nicely done. Plus the scenes were Evelyn plays pranks on the guests by unleashing a snake into one of the guests room, was very horrifying and makes your skin crawl, and also some of the death scenes were pretty good, especially the sickle through the face, which was realistic and great.Now the bad stuff, firstly the girl at the beginning who I assumed she was the daughter, but wasn't explained, like firstly what was with that occult stuff, why or what was she doing with all that, and her corpse at end walking about, what was that all about, was she a zombie or something. Then there's all them pranks which was fun and creepy at first, but went on for far too long and grew pretty tiresome. While the acting was fine, some of them were pretty boring and didn't keep my interest, and scenes in between the killings also got boring and plus there is no explanation of why Evelyn is the way she is, nothing is explained.All in all an okay movie, it doesn't anything fresh or new to the genre and doesn't quite keep you interested, and recommend to slasher fans only.

Masterstroke90 I must say, this movie most appeared to me as a bad "Psycho"-inspired B-production... or maybe C...A crazy older lady kills her daughter (by mistake, in rage, I don't know), an by some reason, she starts to kill every single person who comes to the motel (oh yeah, she owns a motel by the way) because she hears voices, which I think is the daughters voice, telling her that she must kill them ("you have to kill them, they know etc.). And that's about it. The movie is one big "Mountaintom Motel Massacre". I don't have much more to say, except; Don't waste time on this movie! If you like scary movies check out "The shining" instead.

TOMASBBloodhound So this is where the makers of last spring's Vacancy got the idea for their film! Well, maybe not but you cannot avoid recognizing the similarities of the plot. Moutaintop Motel Massacre is a title that pretty much sums things up. Atop one of the many pine-covered bluffs of western Arkansas sits a rundown motel run by a strange old woman. Early in the film, she kind of has an "accident" in the basement that results in the death of her daughter. Apparently, the daughter has been performing some kind of witchcraft that she may have learned from her mother. Anyway, the old woman sees what her daughter is up to and goes nuts. After her tantrum, the daughter is dead, and the old woman goes off the deep end. Matters also aren't helped by the fact that the old woman has recently been released from a mental institution. With this setup, it's a pretty safe guess that the next guests at her motel are not going to get much sleep.For such a rundown motel, there sure are a lot of visitors that show up. We have a kindly old drunken preacher, a nice old carpenter, a couple of newlyweds, a phony record company exec, and two girls he picks up along the side of a rain-soaked highway. And I must say it's a good thing its raining, because these two nubile young women have forgotten to wear bras underneath their plain white tee shirts! As soon as the guests arrive, strange things begin to happen to them. First off, the old woman begins releasing various critters into their rooms. She uses a tunnel beneath the rooms to move about and enter each room when she likes. Just like in Vacancy. You can only do so much damage with one rattlesnake, a few rats, and a bag of roaches, so eventually the old woman breaks out her sickle and begins chopping these guests up. Will the law arrive in time to stop her, or will all rooms be vacant for the next night? The film really could have been worse. True, it has some dull spots that think they're suspenseful. And yes, some of the acting is awful. The newlyweds are particularly bad. But the film is really creepy. The music and lighting help this atmosphere, and its a good thing they do. The old woman just isn't that scary on her own. She really doesn't look like the picture on the DVD cover. The conclusion seems to be trying to leave room for a sequel, but this film was likely never even in theaters so that would have definitely been a reach. The film was actually sitting on someone's shelf for three years before it was even seen on cable. It will give you an unsettling feeling, but don't expect any huge scares. Few of these actors ever appeared in anything else! Psycho, this is not! 5 of 10 stars.The Hound.