PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB EVELYN... SHE ALREADY IS.




[title] Mountaintop Motel Massacre
[year] 1983
[rated] R
[duration] 96 minutes
[director] Jim McCullough, Sr.
[written by] Jim McCullough, Jr.
[screen] 1:66:1 widescreen
[starring] Bill Thurman, Anna Chappell, Will Mitchell, Virginia Loridans, Major Brock, Amy Hill, Marian Jones and Greg Brazzel.


[brief plot synopsis]
Meet Evelyn Chambers, the strange old woman who's been running the Mountaintop Motel ever since her release from the Arkansas State Mental Hospital for killing her daughter.
When a violent accident flips her crazy switch, the evil voices in Evelyn's head send her on a room-to-room rampage via her underground network of tunnels from one cabin to another. In the long night of slaughter that follows, a group of stranded will discover that this is one motel where check-out time can be bloody murder.


[good things]
The atmosphere in this movie is creepy, hazy and wet. The motel looks more like a run-down Camp Crystal Lake, which I am sure is purely intentional with the camp slasher craze of the early 80's. The soundtrack is cheap but adds to the creepy elemnt.
The plot is surely not unique, but but is is well done. Get a bunch of stranded people in one secluded place where the law can't help them and then kill them. The formula that worked with Friday The 13th 5 times.



[the bad]
The acting in this is absolutely HORRENDOUS! The make-up effects aren't much better. The story is good, but we know who the killer is from the first 5minutes of the movie on, which in my opinion took ALOT of suspense out of the movie.


[final thoughts]
I think this movie would have been so much better with a fatter budget, better acting and more of a "whodunit" mystery, but we had neither of that and the movie falls flat even though there is a valiant effort.
The D.V.D. doesn't give us any extras, and we all know that sucks.

[my rating]
I give this movie 1 out of 5 for blood and gore.
3 out of 5 for the plot.
1 out of 5 for characters.
1.5 out of 5 overall.






Screen captures of the movie courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment.







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