Motel Hell

Farmer Vincent Smith runs a rural motel and a smoked-meat business with his sister Ida, selling a product praised throughout the area for its distinctive flavor. The secret lies in a hidden garden on the farm, where Vincent buries living travelers up to their heads, tends to them, and later uses them as the raw material for his sausages and smoked meats. The pair's routine is disturbed when they take in a young woman after a road accident and allow her into their home, unaware of how the family business actually operates. Vincent's brother Bruce serves as the county sheriff.

Motel Hell was released in 1980 and directed by Kevin Connor, arriving between At the Earth's Core in 1976 and McBride: It's Murder, Madam in 2005 in his filmography. Steven-Charles Jaffe and Robert Jaffe wrote and produced. Rory Calhoun plays Vincent, with Nancy Parsons as Ida, Paul Linke as Sheriff Bruce Smith, Nina Axelrod as Terry, Wolfman Jack as Reverend Billy and Elaine Joyce as Edith Olson. Made for about 3 million dollars by United Artists and Camp Hill, it took roughly 6 million dollars worldwide.

Reception was mixed and modest rather than enthusiastic. On IMDb and TMDB, audiences rate it 5.8 out of 10, and a critics' rating of 5.8 from 27 reviews places professional opinion in line with the general audience response.