Last Chance Motel is a beguiling, low-budget splatter fest that I couldn’t help but enjoy. To set it up, Lovebirds Andi (Scout Taylor-Compton) and Casey (Danielle Harris) have decided to tie the knot and have invited close family to join them for a destination wedding. Except the destination is a Pepto Bismol-colored nugget of rundown joy outside of Vegas known as the Last Chance Motel. Owned and operated by former showgirl Bobbi Love (Heather Langenkamp), the locale struggles. But, what the property doesn’t have in amenities it tries to make up with charm. That and a few dead bodies here and there.
Along for the destination wedding from hell are Casey’s brother Cuervo (Zachary Roozen) and his disaster of a girlfriend, Sugar (Monica Keena). Add to that Casey’s childhood friend Axel (Shane West,) Betty (Sierra McCormick,) and Izzy (Jacob Kaput) and the intimate wedding party is complete. This ragtag group of well wishers rolls into the Motel parking lot and is greeted by Bobby Love and her scraggly, tatted lackey, Harold (Jeremy Spencer). Despite the arid breeze and lack of water in the pool, Andi and Casey are determined to mine the desert landscape for every last note of romanticism.
It’s at this point I began to wonder why Andi and Casey chose this, of all places, to get married. There are hints along the way that something isn’t quite right. The way Harold is always nearby, slack jawed, and menacing. The way Bobbie Love dances around the office in a trance every time she plays her music. Or perhaps they should have seen the collection of abandoned vehicles in the parking lot as a red flag. Everyone settles in for the night, ahead of the wedding day and that is when things begin to go awry. The next morning one of the wedding party is missing and the trap is sprung.
What makes Last Chance Motel work is that this is a horror comedy made by horror fans who get it. There is nothing groundbreaking here. The gore and practical effects are adequate. The story is one we have seen before. We happily ignore the lack of logic and reason and wait eagerly for the first kill. But that is sort of it. Written and directed by horror icons Danielle Harris and Scout Taylor-Compton, with a writing assist from Brandon Slagle, we are given a silly, campy, often hilarious film made with a genuine love of the genre.
There were a few stand out performances for me, but I have to call out Jeremy Spencer’s Harold. Dopey and creepy at the same time, he nails the non-verbal punchline. I will just say it right now, Langenkamp steals every last frame that she appears in as Bobbi Love. A sort of acid-washed mix of Dolly Parton and Pamela Anderson, her Bobbi Love is full on camp. Flinging her exhausted blonde locks of hair around and delivering her lines with a cartoonish southern drawl, she really shows her comedic chops and it’s so much fun to watch.
Last Chance Motel is a blood-soaked ode to horror comedies made with tongue planted firmly in cheek.
