By MICHAEL GINGOLD
It’s the new show from the creators of SLASHER.
Shudder has revealed that its new original horror anthology series HELL MOTEL will debut with a two-episode premiere Tuesday, June 17 on its platform and AMC+. The remainder of the eight episodes will release weekly thereafter on Tuesdays. In Canada, it will air exclusively on Hollywood Suite, with the premiere taking place on Friday, June 13 at 9 p.m. ET and episodes debuting thereafter on Tuesdays beginning June 17. Created by Aaron Martin and Ian Carpenter, it stars SLASHER: RIPPER’s Eric McCormack, Paula Brancati, Shaun Benson, Atticus Mitchell, Emmanuel Kabongo, Jim Watson and Genevieve DeGraves. The synopsis: “HELL MOTEL sees a group of 10 true crime obsessives invited to the opening weekend of the newly renovated Cold River Motel, the site of a 30-year-old unsolved Satanic mass murder. History repeats itself when the guests get stranded and start getting knocked off one by one during a murder spree that grows exponentially more gruesome than the original with each kill.
“McCormack takes on the role of Hemmingway, a chef with a wickedly sinister flair, and is joined by fellow motel’s guests Paige [Brancati], a former scream queen actress looking to revive a career that has seemingly left her behind; Crow [Benson], a new-age medium with an apparent connection to the massacre’s victims; Blake [Mitchell], a true crime writer and himself a survivor of a mass killing; Kawayan [Kabongo], a talented artist with a dark focus on murder; Andy [Watson], a bookish academic at the forefront of contemporary true crime studies; and Adriana [DeGraves], a hybristophilic flight attendant with several notorious serial killer notches on her bedpost. Canadian drag queen Icesis Couture also makes a guest appearance as Magenta, a stylish real estate agent who sells the Coldwater Motel to its new owners Ruby [Brynn Godenir] and Portia [Michelle Nolden].”
“When Aaron Martin and Ian Carpenter reached out to tell me they had crafted another irredeemable a-hole for me, my response was, ‘Where do I sign?’” says McCormack. “If you loved hating [RIPPER’s] Basil Garvey, prepare to feel an instant disdain for Hemmingway.”
“With HELL MOTEL,” say Martin and Carpenter, “we take a good look in the mirror as both horror fans and horror creators, delving into the allure of a genre of storytelling as old as drama itself. But as any horror fan who’s ever uttered ‘Bloody Mary’ three times into a mirror knows, you’ve got to be careful what you wish for…”
