Some of the most iconic hotel or motel themed Horror films are all-time, easily you turn to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 classic Psycho or Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 masterpiece The Shining. Two very different films, the ‘80s produced a few others, one being the overlooked 1980 film Motel Hell, but the other the even more obscure Mountaintop Motel Massacre. A film that is for many long since forgotten, who among Horror fans does not recall seeing the wild VHS cover for Mountaintop Motel Massacre of a crazy-eyed elder lady peeking around a door with bloody finger marks? Probably no one, and it was that very cover which struck curiosity… one which still sticks with you as the film turns 40 years old.
The work of filmmaker Jim McCullough Sr. (who acted as producer on the 1980 Comedy Soggy Bottom, U.S.A.), Mountaintop Motel Massacre was actually originally titled Mountaintop Motel. A relatively small project, the film was actually released originally independently in McCullough’s hometown of Opelousas, Louisiana on July 15, 1983. That being said, it was also shot in Louisiana; in the fall of ’82 at a dilapidated and abandoned fishing camp near Cross Lake in Shreveport. Something that very much adds to the film’s atmosphere, it would not be until ’85 that it was picked up for distribution by Roger Corman’s successful New World Pictures. With that the final scene was reshot, and finally released broadly in March of 1986 under the title Mountaintop Motel Massacre.
Now, like most Horror films that were released during the era, the critics sliced-and-diced it… no pun intended. Dubbing it as derivative of the aforementioned Psycho or a gory mess. Really unfair, if you pay attention to Mountaintop Motel Massacre, it is really so much more. Thick in atmosphere, the film relies on the mood, backdrop of a rundown motel, and soundtrack which is largely electronic, plus quite eerie composed by Ron Di Iulio. Furthermore, the story is full of despair like only an off-beat ‘70s or ‘80s Horror film could provide. In terms of this, think 1974’s Deranged, or ‘80s Motel Hell. In truth, Mountaintop Motel Massacre’s mood falls more along the lines of these two films than anything else. And with that, the story is not really all that absurd. In it we have a mentally disturbed Anna Chappell as Evelyn who is terrorizing anyone who dares to check into the motel. Simple enough, it is effective, and from here the unsettling mood takes off.
Not making much of an impact at the box office, yet remembered now by many as a drive-in favorite, Mountaintop Motel Massacre found its way to local video stores in August of 1986; and that is where the classic VHS cover art began making impressions on shelves. Ironically, that cover was not in fact the original theatrical poster. The original art was a bit more artistic; featuring a hand drawn doll with a sickle through the head looking quite morbid.
Floating around video stores for years, from here Anchor Bay released it on DVD in 2001, as part of a double feature with 1984’s The Initiation in 2003, before being e-issued by Image Entertainment’s “Midnight Madness” series in 2011. However, the best and most recommended option for viewing the film would have to be Vinegar Syndrome’s 2019 Blu-ray edition which features a new 2K scan of the original vault materials. The most clarified transfer of all, the exciting part is that you can still pick up a copy via the Vinegar Syndrome’s website in 2023 at a relatively reasonable price.
So, is Mountaintop Motel Massacre an all-time Horror classic? No, but it is one of those gritty, fun, surprisingly effective early ‘80s Horror films that deserves much more credit. In truth, they cannot and will not ever make movies like Mountaintop Motel Massacre ever again, more of the reason why it is worth celebrating 40 years later.
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