The similarities to "Psycho" are obvious. A shower. A big knife. A sultry blonde in the shower. Mother lurking just off screen. A death count. Okay...I'm not saying 2022's "The Paradise Motel" will go down as a classic...but it is better than anything Cate Blanchett or Olivia Wilde have ever done. The 2022 Walter Hochbrueckner film features Dawna Lee Heising! Enough said! Big breasted blonde, centerfold type, in much peril...no woke social justice messages...just blood, b**bs, and pretty good music.
Nikki (Heising) is running away from an abusive ogre of a husband (Hochbrueckner). After years of physical and mental abuse, she is on the run and driving into the desert. She'll meet two hitchhikers...the mysterious Misty (Llenelle Gibson) who looks like she has her own story. Then, she'll meet the actress wannabe, Crystal (Angel Princess). She'll stop for the night at The Paradise Hotel managed by the weird Raymond (Mel Novak) who is studying human taxidermy. He'll be knocked off his fee at Nikki's exaggerated beauty and give her a room right next to his office. Oh, Raymond's mother lurks just off screen and to us, we only hear her voice.
Okay, Nikki meets slimy guys who want to have sex with her. They should beware...she has a big knife. Oh...those two hitchhikers? They also come to the hotel. The hitchhiking babes may be a bit homicidal, themselves and be a tag team pair of killers...you'll see. Then we see Nikki's abusive husband arrive. He is looking for Nikki so he can discipline her. Nikki? She takes a nice shower, admires her big knife, and acts very naïve, but is she? Then the murders start. A big knife will fell many of the characters in this film.
Just who is wielding the big knife when it is used against the guests at The Paradise Hotel? Is Nikki in danger or is she the cause of the danger? How about Kevin's mother? Is she any relation to Norman Bates' mom? Quirky, weird, unsettling, alluring, and likable! The Paradise Hotel may be a movie you will have a hard time talking up in mixed company...but, you will enjoy it nonetheless.
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