From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: Motel Hell (1980)

Posted on March 3, 2026 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink and to another “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update. For this one we will be revisiting a series that I covered way back in 2013 as I feel that I could have done better and that it deserves this update formula treatment. The film and comic series I am talking about is the 1980 film Motel Hell and the IDW comics based around it! Farmer Vincent deserved better as he was an icon of my childhood when it came to horror just because of the image of him wearing a pig head holding a chainsaw that was on a cover of Fangoria Magazine…but that story will come later. And this will be only the first of many that I revisit as I also want to cover Strangeland, Pumpkinhead, Dr. Giggles, Jason Goes To Hell, Psycho and Terminator 2 better so look for them to get the “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” treatment over the coming years! So if you are ready, let’s pack our bags and head to the Motel Hello and stay for a bit as I hear they have fantastic smoked meats!

Let’s start by taking a look at Farmer Vincent Smith, the owner of a motel as well as the maker of fine smoked meats and his ways of dealing death to those travelers that end up on his ingredient list. Farmer Vincent Smith is a businessman who owns a motel as well as a smoked meat company alongside his sister Ida. Farmer Vincent Smith is sort of a local celebrity because of his smoked meat as it is considered some of the best in the world, and this makes people not look at the older man as a killer or a psycho and with his friendly good nature many people fall into his trap as he has a calming manner when around the public. But it is said that Vincent does suffer from syphilis of the brain and this makes him act very odd and violent at times and gives him an odd look on life. Vincent kills humans to use in his smoked meat, as it is one of his secret ingredients that make his meat taste better than anyone else’s, Vincent is very clever and sneaky as he lures his victims in by using traps alongside the road like shooting out tires, leaving fake road blocks and even spike strips to cause accidents. Farmer Vincent Smith, once he has a person, he will bury them up to their necks in his secret garden where he will cut their vocal cords and then feed them via a tube, and when it is their time to be turned into smoked meats, he uses hypnotizing lights to put them into a trance and then breaks their necks with nooses attached to his tractor. Vincent is also very skilled with many weapons that can help him deal death like knives, scalpels, rifle, shovel and even a chainsaw plus he uses knockout gas to sedate some of his victims out cold. And when it comes to killing these humans for his meat treats, he has no emotions and truly thinks he is doing great work, almost like gods work. He is also joined in his killing ways by his younger sister Ida who is just as crazy as he is and also seems to love killing, running the motel and helping him smoke meats! And once fully crazed Vincent loses all control and his brain turns wild as he wears a Pig Head as a mask and this sight is enough to scare a person half to death as he laughs like a madman while swinging a chainsaw. He is also a cannibal as he eats human meat and truly sees nothing wrong with doing so, nor feeding it to other people. And while Farmer Vincent Smith is very dangerous, he is still just a man and that means he can be killed by all methods like being shot, stabbed, crushed, burned, natural causes and all other ways a person can die. He also has other weaknesses that make him open for attack or heartbreak as he is a fool for a blonde as he falls in love with one of his would be victims, and this clouds his judgment. He is also very upset that he lies about his meats as he does use preservatives, and this weighs heavy on his twisted diseased mind. While Farmer Vincent Smith is a dangerous cannibal killer, when he fully mentally breaks he is also downright scary with his laughter and Pig Head Mask.

Now that we have chatted about Farmer Vincent and his madness and ways of dealing out death to those who are in his way, I think that its time we take a look at the film he is from and that Motel Hell! And like always, I will be getting the film’s plot from our friends at IMDB, and then I will write about the film’s production as well as my thoughts on the film. So if you are ready, let’s grab some beef jerky and head out to the motel and see what kind of terrors await us.

Motel Hell (1980)

“Farmer Vincent kidnaps unsuspecting travelers and buries them in his garden. Unfortunately for his victims, they are not dead. He feeds his victims to prepare them for his roadside stand. His motto is “It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent Fritters”.”

The brothers Robert & Steven-Charles Jaffe decided to work on a horror film script together after being inspired by films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). They wanted to mimic its dark family weirdness, but they added comedy to their story and they got it done in 1977…but it took many years for a studio to decide to take the film on as many of them hated the script and wanted nothing to do with it. At one point the film was going to be made by Universal Pictures with them even going to bring on Tobe Hooper to direct, but they backed out once more due to them having issues with the script. Things looked hopeless until United Artists decided to give it a go even after passing on it before as horror films were becoming big again at the box office and they wanted something cheaply made that could bring the gross scares that they could make money on. The film was given a budget of $3 million by United Artist and Frank Cotolo and Tim Tuchrello touched up the script. The Jaffe Brothers would also act as the producers, and they would hire Kevin Connor to direct the film as many of you readers will know him for directing such horror & sci-fi films as From Beyond The Grave (1974), The Land That Time Forgot (1974), At The Earth’s Core (1976), The People That Time Forgot (1977), Warlords Of Atlantis (1979) and The House Where Evil Dwells (1982). When it came to casting, Rory Calhoun was hired to play Farmer Vincent Smith with Nancy Parsons casted as Ida Smith his sister. Other names hired for the cast included Nina Axelrod, Paul Linke, Wolfman Jack, Rosanne Katon and Monique St. Pierre to name a few. Filming would take place in California and would last a little over two months and once done Lance Rubin would score the film before it was released in theaters on October 18, 1980 and would be a semi hit for United Artists bringing in $6.3 million dollars at the box office. The film at the time of its release was meet with mostly positive reviews from both critics and viewers as they all praised its use of dark humor and weird characters. The film would gain a cult following thanks to Fangoria Magazine as well as its home media release on VHS as it was a big rental for stores, and later would be a must own DVD and Blu-Ray for horror film collectors. The film would also spark much merchandise over the years like t-shirts, toys and yes the IDW Comic series. The film in 1980 was released alongside such other horror films as The Fog, The Shining, Humanoids From The Deep, Mother’s Day, Terror Train, Friday The 13^th, Fade To Black, Prom Night, Island Claws, Alien Dead, Alligator, Maniac, Inferno, City Of The Living Dead and Nightmare City to name a few showing that this was a great year for horror!

Motel Hell is a film that I first learned about thanks to Fangoria Magazine as they had Farmer Vincent wearing his pig head with a chainsaw in his hands as one of the covers for their issues, and it became a film that I was obsessed with as I had no clue what the film was about but new that the Pig Head Guy had a chainsaw and looked liked he knew how to use it. As I said way back in 2013 when I first covered Motel Hell, I had no idea what the film was about and in my mind it was a slasher film that had a mutated pig running wild killing beautiful scream queens who would try to escape the blade teeth of his chainsaw. And it would be thanks to Commander USA’s Groovie Movies and USA Saturday Nightmares that would let me see the film for the first time, and I can remember thinking this was nothing like I thought it was…but also loved the weird and strange plot of the film plus the ending of Farmer Vincent wear the big head swinging the chainsaw and laughing like a mad man was awesome stuff and was always in my memory after seeing it. Rory Calhoun was the perfect choice to play Farmer Vincent as he is truly able to play the two sides of the character that is the sweet old country gentleman and the other is a human meat jerky making psychopath! And it’s crazy as Rory was mostly known for his roles in Western films and shows and was a popular leading man in the 1940-1960’s cinema, and was over all a really great actor. It’s sad to say that he passed away on April 28, 1999 at the age of 76 from the combination of diabetes and emphysema. In fact sadly Nancy Parsons who played sister Ida Smith who was a great actress and who was known for her role in the Porky’s films as Beulah Balbricker was a great choice as well for the part sadly passed away on January 5, 2001 at the age of 58, making Paul Linke who played the sheriff brother Bruce Smith the only one still with us of the Smith family. And as a kid I geeked out when I seen Wolfman Jack in the film and funny enough he was playing a Reverend and he had such an iconic voice. One thing about this film as well as when I was a kid I always thought that it was way more bloody then it really is, as don’t get me wrong the film does have blood being split and some gruesome deaths but its not a bloodbath like I remembered it being. Over the years I have owned the film on VHS, DVD and Blu-Ray and it remains one of the films I watch at least once every year or so. I even have the Farmer Vincent action figure from Trick Or Treat Studios that is in my horror collection, as this truly is a film that I have enjoyed since I was a kid. And in these modern times I am shocked that Motel Hell never got a remake or sequel film as in my opinion it would be easy to do a sequel to this film as you could have more of the Smith family taking over the family business of the motel and jerky making. But if you have never seen Motel Hell, make sure to give it a watch if you like horror films with a dash of dark comedy that is a slasher film from the 80’s with a crazy farmer and his sister who harvests human meat and try and run a motel in the middle of nowhere.

With that, we have talked about Farmer Vincent and his way of killing people to use for his meats as well as the film he is from and that is of course Motel Hell, and now it’s time for us to re-visit the comic mini series that was released by IDW Comics in 2010 as part of there Midnite Movies line, that sadly was very short lived. If anyone from IDW is reading this please bring back this line of comics, as it was great for us horror comic readers who enjoy comics based on films. And I would like to start by thanking Mavericks Cards And Comics, Bell Book And Comic and Game Swap Kettering for making this update possible by having these issues in stock. I would like to also remind you all that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So if you are ready, let’s check into our room at Motel Hell and talk about comic books.

Motel Hell # 1 ***
Released in 2010 Cover Price $3.99 IDW # 1 of 3

Farmer Vincent Smith has now taken to making his own wine that sells for around $500 a bottle and he and his sister Ida Smith have just taken out a family to make into smoked meat, as Idea with a hatchet ends the husbands life and Vincent uses drugged wine to knock out the wife and the fate of the two young sisters is unknown. Meanwhile reporter Holly Bell has been chosen as a guest to stay at the Motel Hello along with the likes of shamed football player Freddie Stanford, oil man and sleaze ball Rupert Godrey, rich snob brat Desirae Childs, mortgage conman Joss Warburton and wannabe rockstar Gage Hardmiller and Holly is grossed out by all of the fellow guests. They are all ushered onto an old plane that is being piloted by Vincent and Idea as the guests are given lots of wine, smoked meats and drugs with Holly not consuming as she is working on her story about the experience for the paper she works for. Farmer Vincent leaves the cockpit and talks to his guests, with Gage rubbing him the wrong way when he uses the lords name in vein and snaps at him in front of everyone. Once they land and they are shown their rooms, Holly finds herself in the same room as Desirae and late at night they watch as the plane takes off, unknown to them the plane is filled with dead bodies as well as Gage who is strapped to a seat and Ida alerts him that he has to be the first to die as he annoyed her brother! And Ida uses a flamethrower to set the bodies on fire and then she puts on a pig head and parachutes out of the plane as it explodes killing Gage, and all the other guests look on in horror and Holly gets scared when she notices in the shadows Farmer Vincent in his pig head thinking he is a monster and freaking everyone out when she screams.

In this first issue of Motel Hell, the crazed Farmer Vincent and his sadistic sister Ida have added making wine to their businesses and have invited many rich and corrupt people to stay at the motel in order to get a look at the wine making, but also invited is Holly, a reporter for a newspaper who is looking at this gig as a fluff piece, but is clearly starting to see that this might be something more sinister, and when the plane that brought them in explodes in the air that night and she thinks she sees a monster in the dark…her suspensions could be true they are all in danger. Holly Bell is a reporter who is looking for a big story that will make her a bigger deal in her field, and while she is annoyed at first over this wine story she soon finds that it really could be the story of a lifetime. The rest of the guests are rich and weird people who have not been fully flushed out yet with one Gage already killed as he is blown up in a plane and crashes to earth on fire while strapped to his seat. It’s clear that the guests thought this was going to be a fun time of drinking wine and eating smoked meats, but are now a little scared as they watch the plane explode and cannot find Vincent nor Ida! Farmer Vincent has clearly decided to make some big changes to his business as while smoked meats are a big part of what he does, he has turned the motel into a spa retreat and his next big thing is making wine, and he is just as nice and yet crazy as ever. Ida is still around as well and doing what her brothers wants her to do, but for some reason now she wears a pig head a lot and even makes pig noises…just a strange change for the character from movie to comic made here. But what is nice is that the Smith siblings are just as weird and murderous as you would want them to be, and still think they are doing Gods work with all the killings. But one other puzzling thing about this comic is how did the Smiths live after the events of the film and who the heck are all the women that are working for them on the plane? The issue has two bloody deaths with one being a hatchet to the head and another being a man on fire falling to his death. And the horror of this comic of course comes from The Smith siblings as well as just the Motel Hello it’s self as it’s so far away from everyone and gives off a true spooky vibe. The cover for this issue is really awesome and showcases both Farmer Vincent and Ida looking all crazed and American Gothic styled. The interior art is done by artist Chris Moreno and is good stuff and while the characters don’t look like the actors that played them in the film, it’s close enough and you know who they are supposed to be. Over all I would say that I liked this issue a little more than I did back when I first reviewed it as I found it a great build to the story and a way to introduce our cast of characters, even if it does leave a lot of unanswered questions. With that, let’s see what issue two has in store for us once again.

Motel Hell # 2 ***
Released in 2010 Cover Price $3.99 IDW # 2 of 3

Farmer Vincent and his staff alert the guests that the plane was stolen and crashed by Gage Hardmiller who was high on drugs and that they are all stuck there for the time being. Over breakfast of smoked meats Farmer Vincent during the morning prayer insults each of his guest and this angers Freddie Stanford who is then tased by Vincent and then again by Ida and this leaves the rest of the guest confused and scared. As Vincent takes the others for a hike around the farm an vineyard to show them all that there is no escape, Ida puts on her pig head and goes to work on Freddie as in the corner in a cage is the two young sisters who are now captives. Vincent mocks his guests and will not allow them to have any water and Holly Bell calls him out for his cruel actions to zero effect. That night the guests are all locked in their rooms as Freddie wakes up in a caged ring as Ida lets loose a massive wild hog named Hogsquatch that ends up hurting the football star. In the end Vincent and Ida have to pull the massive hog off Freddie as they need him alive in order the planet and turn into smoked meat later on.

The terror for these guests goes into full effect as they watch as their only way to escape exploded in the air and now learn that Farmer Vincent and his sister Ida have tricked them all into coming with the idea of teaching them a lesson and not allowing them to leave alive! And reporter Holly Bell now has the story of a lifetime as she tries her best to figure out what is truly going on as well as standup to Farmer Vincent when he tries to bully her and the other guests with harsh words and threats. The other guest all seem to be trapped and confused besides poor Freddie who ends up getting shocked by a taser twice and then mauled by a giant hog for trying to stand up to these demented Farmers. Farmer Vincent is a delight as he is crazy as ever and uses his religion as well as his own warped morels to try and “teach” his guests a lesson of two, he even allows a small dog to die of dehydration and does not think that he was cruel as he was not the one to bring the dog even though he is the one with the water that he did not share during the hot hike. Ida is just as twisted as she has went full pervert as she likes to do sexual acts with many of the male victims before they murder them or even planet them for meat. And the brother and sister also have a massive pet hog named Hogsquatch that seems to enjoy trying to kill humans. The issue has blood as well as violence with the hog attack being the most gruesome. This is a very fun and bizarre issue, and while Farmer Vincent and Ida are around, it also kind of only some what feels like a comic based on Motel Hell as the characters are slightly off as is the plot of a vineyard and a massive pet hog…now it’s not a bad thing for the most part, I do have to say that mega fans of the film might be a little more annoyed by these changes in feel and mood. The cover for this issue is ok and showcases mostly our series villains, and like before the interior art is done by artist Chris Moreno and is good stuff, but again I have to stress the characters look nothing like the actors. With the cliffhangers being the remaining guests trapped in their rooms and poor Freddie being injured and ready to be planted in the earth to be harvested for meat later on, it makes me look forward to reading the third and final issue once again.

Motel Hell # 3 ***
Released in 2010 Cover Price $3.99 IDW # 3 of 3

With Farmer Vincent and Ida out in the fields burring Freddie up to his neck, the other guests take this time to escape their rooms with Joss and Rupert escaping via a broken window and Holly and Desirae using a credit card to unlock their door, but before the two ladies can escape they run into Farmer Vincent who they knock out of the way to get their freedom. The two old con men Rupert and Joss do not get far as they run into Ida and her sledgehammer, the ladies however end up finding the secret human crop and the hidden barn were they set the twin girls free but Desirae is killed by Ida who strangles her to death and even causes her eyeball to pop out! Farmer Vincent ends up killing two cops that come to the motel looking for answers about the plane crash and the he arrives just in time to save Ida who has been hit with a hammer by Holly. Vincent and Ida end up going out to the farm and removing the eyes of the humans they are harvesting as they use them for the wine as Ida stomps on them, and they send Hogsquatch free in order to track down the twin girls who have found the dead cops and taken the gun and free Holly to give it to her so she can save them all from the giant hog and the crazy farmers. Holly allows Hogsquatch to bring her back to the farmers and she then pulls out the gun and kills the hog, she then shoots Ida in the face and shoots Vincent who is now in his pig head and slinging a chainsaw! As Vincent is dying he tells Holly he used anti-freeze in his wine as well as he got the idea of doing all this from cult leader Charles Manson. Holly and the twins then set the farm and crop on fire just as a police helicopter is arriving to help save them.

Farmer Vincent and Ida have meet their end…again in this third and final issue of Motel Hell as they are killed by reporter Holly Bell, who escapes their motel and is able to use a gun to end their reign of terror…but not before all her fellow guests end up killed! But you have to give Holly credit as she is able to save the two young twin sisters, plus I am sure she will become a big star with her report on this motel of terror. The fact that Farmer Vincent uses human eyeball for his wine is great and gruesome stuff as we get to see Ida stomping on the eyes that are in a tub to make them into liquid. And while he is still very loyal to his motel and smoked meats, its clear he things that God wants him to also make wine from people. I am not sure why Farmer Vincent also acts as if he got some of his idea from cult leader Charles Manson, as he keeps talking about how the two wanted to slaughter the piggies of the world. The one puzzling thing about this comic is that they never explain a lot of things like how Vincent and Ida survived the events of the film and who all the pretty ladies that helped them throughout the comic are and were they went by the final events. And again I think many fans of the film would possibly enjoy this strange mini series, but they might also get very annoyed by the extreme changes in the Smith siblings who do act slightly different than they do in the film. But one thing that will make fans of the film happy is that Farmer Vincent wears his pig head and his sister Ida does as well! Missing from the comic is the killer’s police officer brother Bruce Smith as well as the films female survivor Terry, it would have been nice to have seen them involved in this weird plot. The issue has lots of blood and gore with Ida squashing the eyes being pretty gross and Ida’s death being shot in the face is the issues best kill. The cover is very eye-catching as it shows Vincent and Ida with a gun pointed at them, and like two times before the interior art is one by Chris Moreno an is pretty good stuff as I like the way he drew Famer Vincent with the pig head on. Over all I have to say that I really enjoy this comic series more now than I did when it was first released, as while it is a strange take on Motel Hell and the characters from the film it adds a new tale for them, and I am ok with that as maybe this is how The Smiths would be in 2010! If you like the film, I think you should check this comic mini series out and I also think that if you like Farmer Horror stories also give it a read. Check out the artwork below to see the style used by Moreno in this series.

Motel Hell is a truly cult classic and one strange horror film that I have been a fan of since I can remember and even before I seen it thanks to Fangoria Magazine. And when this comic was released by IDW, it once more helped spark my interest in comics as during that time I was reading a little less than normal as I was not getting into anything Marvel or DC was releasing. And I really do hope that IDW will return to making comics based on classic, cult and current horror films as for readers like me we miss them. So in other words, IDW, bring back the Midnite Movie Comics as MGM has lots of great films to choose from that should be getting the comic book treatment. Well our revisit to Motel Hell has come to an endm and I hope that I did it more justice with this one and I am looking forward to going back and covering a few more in the future. Our next update will of course keep us in the world of horror comics based on horror films as we will be talking about Final Destination and the comic mini series based on it. So until next time, read a horror comic or three, watch a horror movie or two and as always support your local horror host. See you next update as Death has lots of strange ways to deal it’s self out for us to read about on the pages of a Horror Comic.

It Takes All Kinds Of Critters…To Read IDW’s Motel Hell

Posted on August 9, 2013 by bloodlinematt

So last update we took a look at IDW’s “IT! Terror From Beyond Space,” and this update we are going to look at Motel Hell, thus far the second and last in IDW’s Midnite Movie comic series. From an early age I found myself drawn to horror films, and some of my first memories of TV were of watching Shock Theater hosted by Dr. Creep, Star Trek, MTV and wrestling making my likes from an early age fantastic, scary and over the top entertainment. My brother Bryan was also very much into horror films and would get old Fangoria & Starlog Magazines from time to time, and one image always stuck with me and that was an ad for an older issue that had a man with a chainsaw and a pig’s heads! Being little, I called him Pig Head Guy and thought Motel Hell was about this killer Pig who killed with a saw. This image made my imagination run wild as I pictured sexy blonde ladies being chased by this pig killer who would oink super loud as the women would scream at the top of their lungs. In my mind this was a slasher film with a mutant Pig Man! My brother never seemed to show it as much attention as me but would also call him Pig Head Guy when we spoke of the film we both had never seen. But my version of the film was about to come to an end thanks to a childhood icon of mine, and through him I was about to see the real story of the Pig Head Man!

In the 1980’s and 1990’s, TV had many great horror hosts, many of whom I watched and some of whom are the key reasons why I make movies and shows now, and on one of these horror host shows is where I got to see Motel Hell for the first time and that show of course was Commander USA’s Groovie Movies! When the movie was about to be shown I remember being super hyped to see this killer Pig Man do all types of evil things, and after watching it I felt let down. In fact, the version of what the film really was to me was only a so-so slasher film that packed very little punch to younger me. After viewing it the first time the charm of Pig Man who I found out was really farmer Vincent Smith who was a mortal man who killed people to make into meat snacks and only puts the pig head on in the final moments of the film in a crazed state, wore off and I soon forgot about the film. The film would run again on USA’s Saturday Nightmares, a great little block of horror inspired program that would show a film and TV shows like The Hitchhiker and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, but I would skip the showing of the film and watch the horror shows after. The next time I would see this film was when my brother rented it from K&L Video, and we gave the film another shot. Now in my late teens, I found the film to be a fun cheesy film that had some good horror moments. I would then see it again years later hosted by Joe Bob Briggs on TNT’s Monstervision and again found it to be fun, but I am sure Joe Bob also made the watching of it more so fun. After all these years a film that after seeing it crushed my vision of it, still remains a fun silly, cheesy, hammy watch that I have grown to like.

Motel Hell is about Farmer Vincent Smith and his fat and nasty sister Ida Smith who kill people along side the road and who stop at their motel called The Motel Hello. They mix the human meat with pig meat to make meat snacks like beef jerky and BBQ. But Vincent, who is an old man, falls in love with a young woman who he has caused to get memory loss after he kills her boyfriend. Their human crop, who they bury and remove the vocal cords from, are getting fired up to fight back. Throw in brother and cop Bruce Smith, and you have one bad situation. I don’t want to spoil to much of the film so I will stop here. The film has been put out on many home media like VHS, Laserdisc and DVD making it easy to find for those who would like to check it out.

One thing before we get into this review, much like last update in which I noticed the rise of super cute nerd girls who read comics, play Magic and dress up as characters, with all this talk of pork, I need to talk about this weird trend of hot girls who love bacon! Bacon is a greasy mostly breakfast food that is known for being bad for you. Fast food places like Wendys add bacon to many of their cheeseburgers and for the most part this food product is junk food. But somewhere along the way girls have found that this pork product is good comfort food and has now become an obsession to some. Bacon is now everywhere in culture from stuff dolls, tattoos, shirts, bras, fetish pics, chip dip, hot sauce, lip baum, gummi candy, bubble gum, vodka, sandwich spread, breath mints, books, popcorn, potato chips, car air fresheners, cup cakes, more fast food burgers and the list can go on and on! While I don’t get the love of bacon, I find that if you love it then enjoy it just don’t get the tattoos.

Now let’s get down to the review of IDW’s 3 issue mini series of Motel Hell! Just a reminder once again I grade these on a standard 1-4 star rating and am looking at how well the comic keeps to the source material, its entertainment value, its art and story. And after I will throw in another review for an old Marvel horror comic. All the comics on this update are thanks to the team up of Mavericks Cards and Comics, Game Swap Kettering and a special thanks to Bell, Book and Comic for having Motel Hell issue 1 after mine went missing, so thanks Pete!

Motel Hell # 1 **1/2
Released in 2010 Cover Price $3.99 IDW Comics #1 of 3

Farmer Vincent Smith and sister Ida are back, and this time besides making their famous smoked meats they are also making fine wine! And they start the issue off attacking a family with twin girls. Holly Bell is a reporter who has been sent to write a story about the wine the Smiths are making and is a guest to the Motel Hello Spa alongside wannabe rock star Sage, Desirae a rich bitch, con man Joss, perverted old man Rupert and NFL star and dog killer Freddie. The group climbs aboard a run down old plane and are taken to the Motel Hello Spa, but the first night the peace and quiet are disrupted as the plane takes off. Ida, now in Pig Mask, has Sage tied up and dead bodies all around and jumps from the plane leaving him to die in the crash. The other guests watch in horror, and so ends issue 1.

This first issue is a little disappointing and changes the whole core of who and what the Smiths do! The idea of them inviting all these high profile people to the motel to kill is a little over the top and leaves way too many openings on how they will be caught. I mean I understand they want the outside world to believe that they all died in the staged plane crash, it just seems overdone. Vincent seems more off his rocker in this one and seems to snap in and out of being sweet farmer and raving lunatic. Ida in this issue the main killer who plops on the pig mask and does all the killing. She also seems to enjoy humping some of the victims again changing her film tomboy nature. The issue has some blood and gore, and while well done, the story so far just seems to be lacking something to really draw me in. The art is pretty cool, and I enjoy the dark nature of the presentation. The cover is really well done and has the American Gothic Painting nature to it. The comic has some basic elements of the film but has taken many liberalities with the source materials that thus far I am not sure how I feel about. Plus how the hell are Vincent and Ida still around after the events of the film? Over all the series is starting slow but let’s see how issue 2 does and if it can bring this so far average series up a notch or two.

Motel Hell # 2 **1/2
Released in 2010 Cover Price $3.99 IDW Comics #2 of 3

The next morning the group meets for breakfast, and Freddie gets insulted by Vincent. The old farmer uses a stun gun to knock out the young man and forces the rest of his guests outside for a long hike. Freddie is taken and becomes Ida’s plaything, as Vincent takes them 3 miles out and explains to them no matter which way they walk they will never leave Motel Hello alive! They are then forced back into their rooms and the doors are locked. Freddie meanwhile wakes up in a cage where Ida lets her giant pet Boar attack him. After he’s badly hurt Vincent and Ida try and pry the boar off and so ends issue 2.

This issue is the same as the first and seems to be lacking something. Being the second in the series and next issue being the last, it makes me worried that the end of this story is going to be so badly rushed. More of the same in this issue as Vincent this time lets more of his evil side out and lets his guests know he has a greater plan for them all. Ida is once more a fat crazy sex craved killer, and both brother and sister wear the pig masks. Holly who is clearly the main hero of the story don’t seem to have much to do in this issue and makes you wonder how much of a threat is she to the killers. The rest of the group seem to be throw aways and none of them seem like good likeable characters. This one has blood as well but has no kills. The giant pet boar is funny and its name Hogsquatch reminds me of the legend boar himself Hogzilla. The art is the same as last issue so it’s good. The plot is a little lack luster, and the cover this time around is kind of lame. Let’s see if the 3^rd and final issue will be a gem in this slightly disappointing series.

Motel Hell # 3 **1/2
Released in 2010 Cover Price $3.99 IDW Comics #3 of 3

Freddie is taken and buried to where only his head is out, as Joss and Rupert escape their motel room only to be captured by Ida. Holly and Desirae also escape but are seen by Vincent who wants to turn it into a cat and mouse game. After running, the two woman find the twin girls locked up in a barn and free them only to be ambushed by Ida, who kills Desirae and is then attacked my Holly with a hammer. Before she can kill the fat crazy bitch, Vincent comes to his sister’s aid. With Holly tied up and the twins on the run, they release Hogsquatch to bring them back. Vincent and Ida go to work on making their next wine batch that is made of human eyes that they get from all the captured guests as the twins free Holly. Together they make a plan that leaves brother and sister dead as well as their giant pet boar.

This final issue seems rushed, and the story is not fleshed out making it a disappointing read. The way they blow through all the guests this issue just seems tacked on and not impactful, as are the “deaths” of the bad guys, Vincent and Ida go down way to easy and the end “fight” is a rushed anti climatic way to end the terror. The fact they use human eyeballs in the wine is also not as shocking as I think they were hoping it would be, if you have seen the film you knew that the secret had to be some human body part. Holly who turns out to be the hero to no ones shock seems cold blooded as she sets the place on fire with some of her eyeless fellow guests still alive. Using the Twins at the end was a fun nice twist as they add a little humor and spice to the plot. The art in this one also seems as rushed as the plot making the final issue an average read. This issue does step up the blood and for those who hate eyeball violence, you might not want to read this series. Issue 3 was not the saving grace I was hoping it to be, and oh yeah why the hell does Vincent start talking about Charles Manson as he’s “dying”?

Motel Hell was a comic mini series that had lots of potential but never seemed to reach it. While the film’s plot was a dark comedy horror style, this comic series seemed more of a rushed horror comic that tried to spice up the characters. First Vincent, while the character is a psycho he never was as mean spirited in front of multiple people nor would he have given away the fact he wanted to kill them all that easily. Ida, while a stone cold bitch of a character never was a sex crazed rapist. But in this comic mini series they both did the stuff mentioned and then some. Plus were the hell is Bruce Smith, their brother and Terry, the woman he kidnapped in the film? They just seem to be phantoms. Motel Hell the comic was a letdown much like the film was when I first viewed it many years back, making this second Midnite Movie IDW mini series an average at best horror comic that packs some blood and gore, cult horror characters, a rushed storyline and good art. This one changed the source material, and I think by doing so is what lead to the so-so run of the series. IT! was a fun surprise that I found entertaining, Motel was just a nice warm up for what I hope are more Midnite Movie mini series to come.

Marvel Comics has also had its share of great classic horror inspired comic series that chilled the bones of the youth of the past. Many great titles like Tomb of Dracula, Werewolf by Night, Man-Thing, Monster of Frankenstein, Ghost Rider and many more kept the youngsters reading as they hid under cover late at night with flashlights and read these spooky issues. But some but not many of today’s readers remember a series called Uncanny Tales From The Grave or also known as Uncanny Tales, Marvel’s Tales From The Crypt style comic. But what the series really was reprints of past old short horror comics crammed together to make a new series from. So while we can, let’s take a look at issue 5 in this series and see how good it holds up to a first time reader.

Uncanny Tales From The Grave # 5 **1/2
Released in 1974 Cover Price .25 Marvel Comics #5 of 12

4 stories to chill your blood in issue 5 of Marvel’s Horror comic. “The Strange Machine” is set during the Spanish Inquisition and has a mean ass judge getting what’s coming to him via his own hands when he tries to set up his rival. In “A Little Pain Never Hurt Anybody” a dentist is cruel to his wife and patients, and when he comes home and finds a world famous brain surgeon hitting on his wife he snaps! But the Dentist has one slight issue with passing out and when he awakens it’s revenge time by the hands of his enemy. “The Man in Black” ia a cold hearted spy who comes to America to steal weapon plans but makes a big mistake that could lead him to his own death. In “The Little Pests,” a man and his girlfriend kill his wife for the insurance money, but the truth might come out thanks to some winged insects.

This is a very cheap imitation of Tales from the Crypt that crams 4 reprinted stories into an issue and passes it off as a bone chilling read. Each story is a bloodless horror thriller with a twist ending that is set to shock. The big issue with this comic is the fact none of the stories stick out and there was no host such as Vault Keeper or Old Witch to keep the pacing up and to add some spice to the mediocre stories. The best story out of the 3 has to be The Little Pests. While it’s simple in nature, the shocking pay out in the end is well done. The art in the comic ranges from good to so-so as do the stories themselves. The issue’s cover is super misleading and nowhere in the issue does this take place with a raving monster, in fact there is not a monster to be seen! Over all this is my first time reading an issue of Uncanny Tales From The Grave, and this did not make me a fan. While I would be fair and check out another issue, I am not going to be in any hurry.

So we stayed three issues at Motel Hell and then got an uncanny tale. Now it’s time we say goodbye for now but I am sure you’re wondering what the next update is going to be. Well in my youth one thing would always make me happy in comics and film, epic battles between two things that shouldn’t be fighting but are. So next update, we will be looking at battles in comics that are so amazing you will be cheering for a side and finding out who I think should have won! So see you next update, and get ready for some epic rumbles!