Hell Motel, on Shudder

The Cold River Motel is more notorious than the Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles or the Stanley in Colorado, so, naturally a small group of true crime weirdos want to stay there for its grand re-opening. Years ago, a pair of satanists tried to summon the demon Baphomet with their human sacrifices. Decades later, they have apparently returned for a second attempt, but maybe someone else had the same idea. That means the rest of unhealthily obsessed but harmless guests find themselves in serious trouble throughout creator-writers Aaron Martin & Ian Carpenter’s eight-episode Hell Motel, which premieres tomorrow on Shudder.

Unwisely, the well-heeled Portia indulged her lover Ruby’s enthusiasm for grisly murders by buying the old Cold River Motel and renovating it a theme resort for oddball fans like her. For the exclusive by-invitation-only opening, they invited Paige Harper, a fading actress, who starred in the exploitation franchise inspired by the real-life ritual murders. Joining her are Andy Lecavalier, a true crime academic, Balke Williams, a podcaster who survived a serial killer attack, Crow, a psychic blah-blah-blah, Kawayan, an artist who specializes in crime scene-themed installations, and Adrianna, who sleeps with serial killers. Their disgusting dinner will be catered by Hemingway, an arrogant celebrity chef, who uses his own blood in his cocktails.

Pretty much any of them could be viable suspects, even before Shirley and Floyd Dantree crash the party. They came seeking shelter from the storm, but what were they doing in the middle of nowhere, anyway?

You can usually guess who gets killed at the end of each episode because they typically have their backstories explained in flashbacks. However, Martin and Carpenter take a page out of the playbook used by the under-appreciated 2009 series Harper’s Island for its first choice of victim. Regardless, they build a great deal of suspense by turning the secret satanic killer loose to compete against the returning Cold River Killers (who are revealed quite early), because even when the survivors come close to identifying the originals, viewers know there is still someone else out there, killing victims while wearing a Baphomet mask, just like his or her predecessors.

Indeed, series director Adam MacDonald maintains a high level of tension, but viewers should also prepare for a good deal of brutal gore. Of course, most of the guests are so creepy, they are almost asking for their grisly fates. For instance, Genevieve DeGraves, Eric MacCormack, and Shaun Benson are each flamboyantly nutty as Adrianna, Hemingway, and Crow.

Gray Powell and Yanna McIntosh develop strong chemistry as the Dantrees, while Atticus Mitchell manages to be both sad and scary as the traumatized Williams. Paula Brancati and Jim Watson also skillfully play up the ambiguity of Harper and Lecavalier, the ostensive final girl and good guy. However, Emmanul Kabongo is arguably a little too restrained as the cold-blooded Kawayan.

Throughout the series, Martin and Carpenter slyly hint at demonic forces lurking behind the scenes of the slash-and-hack psycho killings, so fans of both sub-genres will probably enjoy the series. The sinister design of the Cold River Motel settings and trappings definitely help set the mood. The one episode set outside its confines is also a clever break of format. Recommended for fans of slasher horror (which makes sense, since it is from the creators of the Slasher franchise), Hell Motel starts streaming tomorrow (6/17) on Shudder.