Stuck in the rundown cabins-from-hell on a rainy night in the Deep South
An aged woman with mental issues runs a dilapidated motel consisting of singular huts in southwest Arkansas. On one stormy night, her seven guests face several weird challenges as they try to figure out what’s going on.
“Mountaintop Motel Massacre” (1983) is an arcane slasher with bits inspired by “Psycho,” “Black Christmas” and the first two “Friday the 13th” flicks mixed with the general Southern Gothic tone of “Squirm” and “Eaten Alive.” It’s more focused on eerie mood than buckets of gore with enough interesting elements to keep your attention even though it ranks with the least of these.
The characters are nicely fleshed out and Virginia Loridans (Tanya) is appealing in a girl-next-door kind of way, with her glorious brunette hair. Jill King is notable as the twisted woman’s redhead daughter, Lorie, but this was her only role in cinema.
It runs 1 hour, 35 minutes, and was shot at Caddo Parish in northwestern Louisiana, mainly at a defunct fishing camp on Cross Lake, but also Oil City, Mooringsport and Shreveport. Southwest Arkansas is only a 30-35 minutes drive north.
GRADE: B-