Mountaintop Motel Massacre

Motorists stop off to stay at a lodging in some backwoods remote area, not knowing that the owner was just recently released from an asylum (and responsible for killing her own daughter). Will they suffer the same fate as her daughter?
***

 
What a weird little movie. First off, the setting; man, what a dump! If you wind up at the Mountaintop Motel, life has taken a giant, steaming pile (complete with flies in a tizzy) on you. Broke folks living off “old crow” and canned sausage wienies, with little option as to living arrangements at the current, wind up at this motel (rickety wooden shacks that pass as hotel rooms; these are the kinds of places just ripe  for snuff film productions). Even worse than having the misfortune of landing here at the hotel is becoming the target of a crazed (recently released from the loony bin [natch]) proprietor, using the tunnels under the buildings to travel, wooden doors hidden from the view of customers who are unaware that she would use them to intrude upon them with possible malevolence.

I guess out of the slasher films I’ve seen from the 2013 batch, Mountaintop Motel Massacre has the most potential as a cult film. It is quite an oddity. It is all in the execution, really. Apply the right mood, with the correct bit of casting, and a setting a little creepy and off-the-beaten-path, there might just be a slasher that doesn’t become forgotten the moment the credits roll.

A memorable psycho makes all the difference in the world. In that regard, Mountaintop Motel Massacre excels. She’s so unstable (voices from the daughter slain at her hands calls to her to kill), is such a weirdo in look and behavior, and conducts herself as someone unable to keep a grip on her sanity (the sheriff, in the scene where the paramedics are taking away her daughter, seems to know that something’s not right), with indicators that she could go off the deep end at any moment and never return, that throughout we are just left wondering when the killing will start. But before taking her sickle to some victims staying at her “motel” (used very loosely), she releases rats, roaches, and a snake on her customers. That underground tunnel is quite an invention that adds a creepy factor I think will be another huge draw in the film’s favor. Lots of eerie shots of her, with lantern in hand, moving about in quiet, sometimes even with make-up and lipstick clowned all over her face. The occupants of her motel rooms aren’t aware of this secret access, so she has the element of surprise which is unfortunate for them.

There’s a good score that heightens the unease and adds to the sinister aura of the film. A combination of elements can help matters substantially. The floor doors leading to the tunnel Evelyn uses to move from one hotel room to another, the score that provides an added level of creepiness to the already bonkers killer, a plot that confines the characters to the hotel (road block, thunder/rain storm outside), and the victims uncertainty about who is threatening them and why: these all can enhance a slasher. I think MMM just needs some attention brought its way.

I think the title can either be a detriment or enhancement depending on whichever side of the fence you’re on. Mountaintop Motel Massacre, once eyes catches it, is most likely a “nope” or “yep” kind of title that will appeal or disinterest you right at the onset. It is just hard for viewers to take your film seriously. In order to rise above it, the film will have to leave some sort of impression. I might get laughed off the stage and out of the room, but I think MMM might just surprise despite its title.

The plot doesn’t attempt to exhaust itself with complexity. The characters come from various walks of life, most down on their luck. Two girls (cousins) have a car that breaks down right as the rain really gets to pouring. A Memphis ad executive, passing through, offers the girls a ride, stops off at the hotel for a night’s rest, hoping to score with one of them after telling them he’s a record producer from Nashville. A carpenter suffering through the harsh economic climate needs a place to stay for the time being, the hotel, even if a dump, at least provides shelter from the storm. A reverend seems to have fallen on hard times and is without a church. Young marrieds wind up at the hotel because there’s no money after their impromptu betrothal. It is the wrong place/wrong time scenario commonplace in the slasher genre; these people have arrived at a location inhabited (and operated) by a woman slightly (*cough*) mad…hey, we all go a little mad sometimes (most of us just don’t carry a sickle, sneak underneath buildings through a tunnel, and “punish” innocent people with the blade).

Anna Chappell certainly carries the part of loony off well. Those tunnels turn out to be quite wonderfully spooky, too. The weird follows all the way until the end when Lorri seems to be walking the grounds despite having been killed by Evelyn at the beginning. The film never ceases to remain steeped in the weird. If you enjoy weird, it’s quite possible Mountaintop Motel Massacre has vacancies and awaits your attention. While her daughter factors ultimately very little in the film overall, this girl is a more than a bit strange, at worship and attempting to summon the spirit of her father, with a goat and bird in her lair (it located within the bowels of the underground tunnels), along with sketches taped to walls. I would say that daft runs in the family.