Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

SincereFinest disgusting, overrated, pointless

KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Bea Swanson This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Mr_Ectoplasma The cover art for "Mountaintop Motel Massacre" may mislead you— its presentation of a wild-eyed grandma peeking outside a hotel door evokes feelings of madwoman slasherdom and maybe even something akin to "The Shining"— "Mountaintop Motel Massacre" is neither of these things. The film revolves around an elderly woman, Evelyn, who is released from an institution and returns to the motel she once ran. After a local storm puts travelers out, they come one by one to Mountaintop Motel, and so does Evelyn a'knockin', one by one.This backwoodsy micro-budget picture is more of a thriller than a conventional slasher by any means. Our antagonist is a bonkers old lady, after all— think Tobe Hooper's "Eaten Alive" without alligators, and factor in a loony, doe-eyed grandma— but there is something inarguably charming about this film in its earnestness. Filmed in Louisiana back country in the early eighties, the film was not released until 1986, and became a staple of mom & pop video stores' horror sections. The film begins almost as a psycho-drama, with Evelyn returning home and brutally murdering her daughter after catching her dabbling in witchcraft in their basement. Things spiral out of control from there when Evelyn re-opens her motel, which is in all actuality more a series of rundown cabins nestled in the backwoods— but hey, this is an eighties drive-in flick, so I can work with it. Travelers arrive one by one: a carpenter, a couple of freewheeling hippie girls, a music executive— quite the cast of victims.The pacing picks up about midway through the film, and there are some really inventive sequences featuring underground tunnels that run between the motels (premonitory of the 2007 thriller "Vacancy"), and a bizarre and eerie score punctuates the hacking amidst the torrential downpour. The setting here leaves a bit to be desired in terms of excitement; the motel cabins are claustrophobic, but not exactly the greatest spaces to be photographed, and the cinematography is fairly unexciting overall. Even so, I found this film incredibly amusing. It's a clean-cut example of eighties motel horror flicks at their most low-budget, yet it still retains a sense of self-respect that is admirable. A bit light on slashing and cinematic flair, but we've got a motel, a crazy old lady with a sickle in hand, and— snakes! 6/10.

acidburn-10 The set up was quite good, at first we see the main character Evelyn working in her garden peacefully until she goes a bit nuts when she sees one of her daughters rabbit's on loose, and then goes a bit psycho, which was totally hilarious. Then we see the young girl holding some sort of séance, which isn't explained and Evelyn goes a bit nuts again with her trusty sickle and accidentally kills her daughter. We also learn that Evelyn was in a mental hospital for 3 years, but doesn't explain why, and some time later a few guests arrive at her rundown motel cabins. We get a quite interesting bunch ranging from an binge drinking preacher, a black carpenter, a young married couple, a businessman pretending to be a record producer and 2 wannabe singers.The motel setting was very creepy and the thunderstorm does add a nice touch to the proceedings, plus the acting was pretty decent from everyone involved. Also the tunnels underneath the rooms was effectively done, very dark and dusty with cobwebs and undergrowth was very nicely done. Plus the scenes were Evelyn plays pranks on the guests by unleashing a snake into one of the guests room, was very horrifying and makes your skin crawl, and also some of the death scenes were pretty good, especially the sickle through the face, which was realistic and great.Now the bad stuff, firstly the girl at the beginning who I assumed she was the daughter, but wasn't explained, like firstly what was with that occult stuff, why or what was she doing with all that, and her corpse at end walking about, what was that all about, was she a zombie or something. Then there's all them pranks which was fun and creepy at first, but went on for far too long and grew pretty tiresome. While the acting was fine, some of them were pretty boring and didn't keep my interest, and scenes in between the killings also got boring and plus there is no explanation of why Evelyn is the way she is, nothing is explained.All in all an okay movie, it doesn't anything fresh or new to the genre and doesn't quite keep you interested, and recommend to slasher fans only.

punishmentpark I picked this one from an ICM-list and hoped for the best: an above average slasher. Well, it's not the best, but it does have its pros, so let's start with those:The best thing about 'Mountaintop...' I found to be the idea of having a motel (there's never a mountaintop in sight, so you'll have to imagine that bit) with an underground passage (something which isn't obvious at first) that leads to all the (shabby) little cabins .Second, I loved the very, very understated roles of some of the main parts, particularly Al 'the Lying Salesman Trying to Get into the Pants of Some Lovely Singing Brokedown Ladies' and Crewshaw - intended (unlikely) or not (very likely). Correct me if I'm wrong.(third) The gore is very adequate. Every kill seems to be the same (Evelyn coming at them with that sickle), but there is enough variety (and blood) to keep things interesting. And what about that ugly, ugly snakebite?Then, there are some things which are just mediocre, like the character of Evelyn; there is potential there, but somehow she doesn't get the depth / attention she deserves. From the get-go, she is presented as a simple crazy, and nothing changes. The teen daughter (I'm guessing that's Prissy by Amy Hill?) deserved a little more attention, too (outside the short ghost appearance in the end)...Particular downsides are the slow evolving of the 'story' and... well, that's just about it; it's a rather slow, slow piece of slasher horror with just enough pros to counter the cons (the soundtrack left me mostly indifferent, even if the ghostly voice of Prissy tried hard enough).6 out of 10. Of course, the roadside wet t-shirt competition did help.

HEFILM Most of these actors would never be in a Hollywood movie, they look and act like authentic back-road types. This helps give the movie a dangerous off road reality that helps keep a sense of danger going during the rather uneventful proceedings. But you don't notice that not much is really going on and then people start getting bumped off and it does earn its massacre title. Could have used more "voices in her head" moments to drive the film into high gear, but it's odd in a good way and there is some clever gore.More ghostly voices, more strangeness and this would go up several points, but has a feel that makes it different from other slasher films of the era. Good make-up effects help. And you never know for sure who will live and who will die, and important thing most films don't ever bother to even try to do.