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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hilarious, dark, twisted, and beautiful, December 23, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Desire and Hell at Sunset Motel [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Alternating between hilarious and suspenseful, Desire & Hell at Sunset Motel is a compulsively watchable film with a complex plot -- THE USUAL SUSPECTS meets THE HONEYMOONERS. Full of great lines and strange characters, it brings ordinary people -- a salesman husband, a wife who just wants to go to Disneyland -- into a world of amnesia, double-crosses, and sensual temptation. The 1950s details are flawless, and the film's rich visual texture keeps you watching. The plot's complexities are resolved in a stunning surprise ending.
If you liked BLUE VELVET, EATING RAOUL, or almost any movie by David Cronenburg, you'll enjoy this film.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Desire, July 19, 2005
This review is from: Desire and Hell at Sunset Motel [VHS] (VHS Tape)
I have been trying to find that jazzy tune since I first saw this movie in the 90's!! Red lips raven hair pretty much said it all. This is one of my all time favorite movies. I discovered it accidently one day on HBO and taped it on a whim. The mood and feeling invoked by Sherliyn Fenn's character and the sultry music moving in and out of the action are what set this movie apart from others. Halfway through you'll realize you have no idea what's going on. It's intriguing, fun, sexy, and quirky. It should be a cult classic.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beguiling, or bemusing: it's up to you, January 10, 2011
I'll be frank: Desire and Hell at Sunset Motel (no definite article precedes the motel's name) is not for everyone. Many will find it confusing, though the peculiar stew of supporting characters should prevent boredom, at least. The film seems as if it were written by taking random headlines out of an issue of Time Magazine from the mid-to-late '50, and constructing a plot that would connect them. Thus, we get beat poetry, cold war fears, Norman Vincent Peale salesmanship, hula hoops, telephones in every room (what an innovation!), subliminal self-help audiotapes (reel-to-reel, presumably), the opening of Disneyland, one-piece bathing suits for women, Ray-Bans, McCarthyist blacklisting, you name it. (We also get cheating wives, murderous husbands, blackmail, and a spice of sexual perversion.) The one major story not mentioned directly is the one pivotal to the plot: the case of Bridey Murphy.
Except that Sherilyn Fenn's character is named "Bridey."
I'll say no more about the plot. Reasons to watch: a) you have a pop-culture boner for the 1950s; b) you're a big big fan of Paul Bartel; c) Sherilyn Fenn in a one-piece swimsuit doing the backstroke in slo-mo; d) you're a big big fan of David (New York Dolls, "Buster Poindexter") Johanssen; e) how film scripts are constructed interests you.
The DVD seems to be the best available. It is somewhat dark, no worse than a good VHS tape. It is widescreen. There are no special features worth mentioning.
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