- Release year: 2025
- Director: Adam MacDonald.
- Producers: Erin Berry, Paige Haight, and Alex House.
- Screenplay by: Ian Carpenter, Aaron Martin, Lucie Pagé, and Shelley Scarrow.
- Cinematography by: Jordan Kennington.
- Music by: Spencer Creaghan.
Synopsis: a group of true-crime “experts” are invited to the inauguration of a hotel where a massacre took place. They are hunted one by one.
Shotgun Commentary: a fun movie about a disaster waiting to happen which, surprising no one, happens.
Review
Hell Motel is a SHUDDER show that began in June and ended a few days ago, with the end of July. It is THE show for fans of murder mysteries, slashers, and gore. However, not so much if you like your ending wrapped up neatly and with a bow. Worry not, there will be no spoilers in this review, but we will get into why you should, or maybe shouldn’t watch this brand-new slasher show.
Destination funeral
The show takes place, as the title hints, at a motel with a grisly past. Thirty years into the past, a couple was killed at the Cold River motel. Their tragedy was exploited by true-crime fans, leading to a slasher franchise and other lore around the story. Now, a couple has decided to restore it and invite true-crime celebrities to an exclusive inauguration event that will last a few days. With a storm brewing, the odd crew will find themselves unable to leave the location despite becoming sitting ducks for a killer (or killers) who will murder them one by one.
The motel is absolutely spot on in its averageness. The type of motel you see thousands of everywhere, that what makes it scary. It is not the kind of establishments that screams “run for your lives”. On the contrary, it is unremarkable as hell, which sends a clear message: this could happen anywhere, to anyone, including YOU.
Vultures gonna vulture
Still, the new owners have made sure to give it a true-crime-fan-friendly makeover in order to highlight the gruesome past of this establishment, transforming it into a must-visit true crime destination. The rooms where murders have take place are transformed into art installations, they recreate the puddles of blood that formed as a result of the murders, and they even wrote eerie quotes from Dante’s Inferno on the room doors and keychains.
The whole thing reads like a destination that walks the line between tacky and in poor taste. That is, the production design department did a fantastic job. This is exactly the type of location you expect people to build, and the sort of capitalisation of a tragedy you wouldn’t be shocked to discover. People are attracted to morbid situations by default, an attitude as natural as it is reproached by society.
Looks ARE everything
In addition to the moral aspect of the story and its wonderful mise-en-scène, there is one element of the story that needs to be acknowledged. Arguably, the most important element, considering this is a slasher show: the murders.
You may or may not like the story or its character, but their creative, gruesome deaths are undoubtedly superb. The manner in which each character dies is unique, almost poetic, and the makeup and visual effects are perfectly disgusting and realistic. Not to mention that the murder scenes themselves are gorgeous in a very Hannibal (2013–2015) sort of way.
The story itself is quite thrilling, keeping you guessing until the very end, sadly, quite literally. While the pilot is the perfect opening, and the middle episodes manage to keep the story up quite brilliantly, the ending is original, but rather unsatisfying.
Still, it is a big step ahead from the creator’s previous work Slasher (2016–2013), especially in terms of pacing. All the characters are presented quite efficiently and the action is constantly evolving. A good story that, paired with the right cast, creates a thoroughly entertaining experience for slasher fans.
All in all, Hell Motel is a fascinating work that will make a lot of audiences happy. It may not have your usual, straightforward ending, but that doesn’t make the experience of watching the mystery unravel any less intriguing or fun. It is a series made by people who love the genre, and it shows. The characters, sets, and story all work flawlessly together to create a great product that is totally worth the binge.
Advice to take from this movie:
- Never go to the middle of nowhere without at least three different plans to get out of there if things go south.
- Mass hysteria can be as dangerous as a serial killer, if not more.
- Be as kinky as you want, but make sure to ask for consent first. ALWAYS.
What’s your take? Have you watched Hell Motel? Don’t hesitate to let me know your thoughts in the comments section below, or leave a message in my contact page! For more reviews and cinema-related articles, check out the rest of my blog! 😀