176) Mountaintop Motel Massacre (1983)

"They know you're crazy. They're gonna send you back to the hospital. Everyone must die."

Director
Jim McCullough Sr.

Cast
Anna Chappell - Evelyn
Bill Thurman - Rev. Bill McWiley
Will Mitchell - Al
Virginia Loridans - Tanya
Major Brock - Crewshaw
James Bradford - Sheriff
Amy Hill - Prissy
Marian Jones - Mary
Gregg Brazzel - Vernon
Jill King - Lorie

I've done a decent number of reviews for horror movies released within the year. Now, I want to get back to some good old fashioned, nitty gritty, gag inducing, sick and insane, blood 'n guts, so bad they're good, fright night, creature feature horror flicks. I want to get back to the kind of horror movies, as my blog header says, you forgot about, wanted to forget about, or just haven't heard of... yet. 

I have a lot of these kind of schlocky horror movie titles listed in my go-to movies I plan to get to at some point. 

Well, recently, I stumbled upon a horror subgenre called psycho-biddy. The term sounds familiar. I'm pretty sure I've heard of it before. 

This subgenre is a label for psychological thriller flicks that center on older women who have gone insane to some degree or another. The 1990 movie "Misery," based on Stephen King's novel about the crazy and unstable Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates) who holds author Paul Sheldon (James Caan) hostage comes to mind. In early psycho-biddy horror movies, these violent unbalanced older women were often depicted as being among the upper-class. 

The 1962 psychological horror thriller "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" starring Joan Crawford and Bette Davis is great example of this subgenre. 

There are a few other psycho-biddy movies filmed in the same period that pair well with "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" such as "Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte," (1964) also starring Bette Davis, "What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?" (1969), "What's the Matter with Helen?" (1971), and "Whoever Slew Aunti Roo?" (1972). 

Bette Davis stars in another psycho-biddy horror movie called "Dead Ringer" (1964), also known as "Who Is Buried in My Grave?" Even the movie poster advertises it as "for 'Baby Jane' people!" 

And Joan Crawford stars in the psycho-biddy horror films, "Straight-Jacket" (1964) and "Berserk!" (1967). 

Maybe it's fitting to cast Joan Crawford in these kinds of movie considering her true life past. The 1981 biographical psychological drama movie "Mommie Dearest" which I've heard some refer to as horror, is based on Crawford's parenting. 

Anna Chappell and Bill Thurman in "Mountaintop Motel Massacre." 

Anyways, the 1983 psycho-biddy slasher flick, "Mountain Motel Massacre" is a movie I've tried watching twice before. And each time, I ended up falling asleep. That's not a criticism of the movie. Well, this time I stayed awake for the entire experience. 

The story is set in rural Louisiana. Motel proprietor Evelyn (Anna Chappell) is taking care of her motel after previously spending time in a mental hospital. Little does she know that her daughter, Lorie (Jill King), practices black magic in the basement, trying to contact her deceased father. 

When Evelyn finds Lorie in the middle of some weird ritual, she has a breakdown and accidentally kills her own daughter with a sickle. 

Not sure what to do next, she drags Lorie's body to the kitchen, calls the police, and convinces them she had nothing to do with her death. 

Of course, they believe her...except the sheriff (James Bradford). He's not convinced. 

Meanwhile, the motel she runs, called "Mountaintop Motel," is really a bunch of separate cabins used as motel rooms.

After Lorie's funeral, Evelyn is now alone at her motel. And as expected, she begins to go mad.
Rev. Bill McWiley (Bill Thurman), who presided over the funeral, checks into the motel for Evelyn's sake. 

Soon, other guests arrive. 

A guy named Robin Crewshaw (Major Brock) checks into a cabin right next to McWiley's. The two of them chat it up and have a drink in McWiley's cabin. 

Meanwhile, some newlyweds named Vernon and Mary (Gregg Brazzel and Marian Jones) arrive as they pass by on the freeway during their honeymoon road trip and need a place to crash for the night.

Later, as rain starts pouring, cousins Prissy (Amy Hill) and Tanya (Virginia Loridans) are also driving along the nearby freeway towards Nashville when their car breaks down. As luck would have it, a wealthy businessman named Al (Will Mitchell) passes by and offers these young girls a ride. 

With the rain coming down in sheets, they decide to find a motel to wait out the storm. Attempting to drive in the rain would be dangerous. 

They hitch a ride with Al, who claims to be a record producer for Capitol Records. He even has a car phone which is pretty prestigious for 1983. 

Of course, the girls leave their money and stuff in their car. So, they have to bunk with Al at the motel. They fancy themselves singers, so they see this meetup as a golden opportunity for a potentially successful career. And Al is just full of promises. 

Back in Crenshaw's cabin, Evelyn peaks in through a trap door on the floor. When the coast is clear, she releases some cockroaches in his room, 

In the newlywed suite, Mary is getting ready to hit the sack as Vernon is relaxing on the bed. Evelyn sneaks underneath their cabin and releases a poisonous snake into their room unbeknownst to the couple. The snake makes its way towards Vernon, and bites him on the face. Mary freaks out and tries to call a doctor. But the phone doesn't work. 

She runs to the main office and runs into Al just after he checks in. 

Mary tells him what happened, and he calls a doctor. 

Everyone is generally uneasy in their rooms. McWiley is awoken with rats in his cabin and tries killing them all.  

But in Al's room, he and the girls, especially Tanya, start getting loose with themselves. 

Before anything happens, the girls lock themselves in the bathroom to freshen up and argue over who's going to sleep with Al. Tanya's willing to go to bed with him if it'll lead to a record deal. 

But Prissy remains in the bathroom. 

As Tanya and Al begin fooling around, Evelyn sneaks into the bathroom through a trapdoor and slashes Prissy's throat with a sickle. She takes her body down into the basement. 

Tanya hears the ruckus, but when she opens the bathroom, Prissy is gone. All that remains is blood splatter on the wall. 

Soon, some of the guests discover the trap doors and begin to figure out what Evelyn has going on. So, it's up to someone to stop her and get to the bottom of these massacres.

This is nothing more than a hack n' slash flick where all the bad acting and plot devices are enjoyed for the sake of a cheap fright.

It's clear the guests are going to die. But how it all plays out is what keeps audiences tuned in. It's definitely a poor man's "Psycho." Very poor!

But watching this movie makes me glad I set this blog up in the first place. This is the place where shlock like "Mountaintop Motel Massacre" has a memory hole to fit into and remain.