My fellow couch potatoes know how hard it is to find quality horror television. Too many series have no faith in their audiences, so we get overexplained to death. Many others run into issues with networks and can only give us so much blood and violence. These are a few reasons why my favorite Shudder series, Slasher, stands out from the crowd by avoiding those pitfalls. The last three seasons are criminally underrated, and I have been waiting to see what the team would do next. Luckily, the wait is over because Hell Motel is coming to a television near you this June. 

Hell Motel follows a group of true crime obsessives invited to the opening weekend of the newly renovated Cold River Motel. The motel is the site of a 30-year-old unsolved satanic mass murder. The group soon discovers that history might be repeating itself as they each begin meeting their grisly demise one by one. The series is the brainchild of creators Aaron Martin and Ian Carpenter.

Upon hearing that Martin and Carpenter were creating a new horror anthology and bringing most of their Slasher crew with them, I ran to my editor’s inbox to call dibs on interviews. I crowned myself the Hell Motel Lady of Horror Press and started sending emails. That is how I ended up picking Ian Carpenter’s brain about Hell Motel. I figured as co-creator, executive producer, and showrunner, Carpenter would be a great place to start looking for answers. We discuss what it was like reassembling so much of the Slasher squad for a new series, how the team manages to keep the audience guessing, and (obviously) haunted motels. Read on for a spoiler-free discussion about this new bloody series bringing mayhem, murder, and mystery to Shudder this summer.

An Interview with Hell Motel Co-Creator Ian Carpenter

Sharai Bohannon: You and Aaron Martin have been pretty frequent collaborators since Slasher: Solstice. So, I was giddy when I saw you were the co-creators of Hell Motel. What do you think makes this partnership work so well? What unique things do you think you both bring to the table?

Ian Carpenter: Great question, and it feels strange to answer it with him absent. I think it works well because we have lots of similar interests and loves (humor, crazy situations for extreme but grounded characters, a well-turned mystery, sweetness, meanness, and camp). I think our tastes have moved a little in each other’s directions, but an essential part of our creative chemistry is the ways in which we’re different.

So, we can surprise each other. That’s very present in our back-and-forth on scripts. Our humor has some differences, and we’ll each push different boundaries. It has reached a Lennon/McCartney state where the divisions are very blurry, and all the more blurry because we’re now great friends. I don’t know that I’d want to dissect it.

There are so many other familiar names behind the camera and familiar faces on screen. I think it says a lot about the culture you all created on Slasher that so much of the troupe keeps turning up (in Hell Motel and Guess Who). Are you at the point where you write with specific actors in mind already? Or do you write it and see where it might be fun to put the people who are returning?

It’s a bit of both. One or two actors will come up for one or two characters. We might write with them in mind, but then we also like to keep the characters clean of the cast. So, we let them live and grow independently. Then, when we get near the end of writing all the scripts, we start talking about who it could be. Sometimes that’s an unranked list of four great actors for one part, and you figure out, “Well, if we get So-and-So for this, Actor X would be a great foil for her in this part.” If I laid out the almost cast core Slasher actor moments (often impacted by scheduling), your mind, like mine, would explode. The crazy thing is that it always leads to actors in parts you then can’t imagine being played by anyone else.

Many of you have worked together for almost a decade between Slasher and Hell Motel. However, each season and each show provides new challenges and opportunities. What is one thing you learned, or maybe realized for the first time, about yourself (or your creative team) while working on Hell Motel?

It helps to have a witch, like Aaron’s mother, show up and make sure the weather does exactly what you need it to.

Motels are always interesting locations for horror. They are these big looming presences that become almost another character in movies like Psycho, Identity, Vacancy, etc. How did you and Aaron settle on telling a story that unfolds in a motel? What excited you about tackling something so location-specific with this new anthology series?

We’re both super aware of all the great movies set in motels, so it feels like a ripe location. There’s something about the vulnerability of everyone moving through those spaces, off-kilter because they’re out of their homes, in danger because they don’t know the kind of monsters who could be right next door, just like it is for all of us in real life. This really worked for the famous murder-site story we wanted to tell. You just know someone’s going to (if they haven’t already) Airbnb a home that hosted a terrible murder…

Many of us have a few stories about motels (or Airbnbs) that still haunt us (or make us itch). Do you have one that you’re willing to share? 

Nothing crazy. My wife is very interested in ghost hunting, so we’ve visited many haunted locations. I’ve had a door slammed on my back in a 100% empty room when I was by myself, a ball at a haunted school house moved non-stop, two feet in front of me. But having the entire Inn at the Falls in Bracebridge to ourselves, no other guests, no staff, felt crazy given its haunted history. For some reason, creeping around there at night, just the two of us, was way scarier than the other moments. As with horror, it’s usually the anticipation or fear of what’s going to happen that freaks me out. Actual activity kind of delights me…but, maybe I’ve been lucky with what’s happened…

Many people will show up thinking this will be a standard motel horror situation and be pleasantly surprised. There is already so much to unpack in just the first two episodes.  It’s diving into influencer culture, true crime fanatics, and an actor struggling to find her place after the industry has spit her out. It’s feeling like it’s leaning into the idea of trends and, more importantly,  what the things we make trendy say about us as a society. If I’m not off base (I’m only two episodes in), what are you hoping audiences take away from this? Do you think they’ll be able to see themselves in the mirror the show is holding up to all of us?

It’s exactly what you’re saying. We wanted to hold the mirror up to them, our fans, and ourselves as both horror fans and creators. Why are we drawn to these awful stories? What do we get out of them? I know many (or maybe even most) of us have our limits and no-go zones (like kids, animals, or SA). However, if that sense of morality or sensitivity or trauma, exists in us as viewers and creators, why is so much other awfulness okay? I’ve got lots of thoughts as to the why and what we all get out of it, but I’d rather hear our audiences’ experiences. And, make no mistake, I LOVE these kind of stories, but like all horror fiends, I get questioned all the time by friends and family who don’t like or understand the genre. So, it felt like time for us to do that from a fan perspective.

One of the things I love about Hell Motel is the examination of true crime content creators. It’s a very murky business, and mileage varies from person to person. It feels like we have differing viewpoints on the genre as a whole (and also the people who benefit from it). It’s a sticky subject but is also always trending. What inspired you and Aaron to go in this direction? Also, are either of you true crime fans?

We’re both much more interested in fictional crime and horror, but we dive into true crime and the fictional remakes that are trending these days. As creators, you’re always wondering about the factual hell that some people have experienced or wrought.

I’m leaning in for this journey that Paige (Paula Brancati) is on as a former scream queen who has been all but forgotten. I think that happens with women over the age of 25 in all fields. I’m rooting for her character to live just because she’s so relatable. I have to ask, is this character influenced by specific horror actresses? Or is it just kind of a general observation of what happens to women society decides are past their prime as soon as our frontal lobes finish developing?

Hard-core horror fans and creators are super loyal to the actresses who affected us all so much. But, for every Barbara Crampton and Jamie Lee Curtis, there are those unsung heroines who ran half naked, covered in blood on freezing cold nights, acting their guts out, who have just come and gone. Anytime I’m watching 70s and 80s horror, I’m looking up what happened to certain actors, and there’s lots of sad stories out there, like Robin Stille from Slumber Party Massacre. It was the pervasiveness of that brutal history, rather than one particular person.

You’re wearing a ton of hats at Hell Motel, and I noticed one of those positions is serving as the showrunner. We all know that is not a job for the weak as it requires you to be everything everywhere all at once. However, I think this scans for you because it’s something you’re pretty great at and seem to enjoy doing. So, what is your favorite part of this stressful title? What gets you excited enough about it to volunteer as tribute?

Thanks! I mean, to me, it’s the most creative position. Aaron and I have built this thing, and I want to see every inch of it reach what we think is its greatest potential. To make sure it’s what we intended and love. The best part is working with other artists, like Director Adam MacDonald, the amazing DOPs, Production Designers, Editors, Composers, Costume Designers, Hair, Make-up, and our amazing prosthetics team at Black Spot. The list, which is dangerous to start for fear of excluding people, goes on and on. The genre demands a lot from everyone on the crew. So, if I can inspire those people to take creative risks, to bring their A-game, to get them to push my boundaries and blow me away, it’s an incredible experience. And I count every last one of them as part of it. It’s a list with over 150 names on it. I’m grateful for all their involvement.

While we’re here, what is one thing you wish you had known before accepting your first showrunner position on Slasher: Solstice?

Because I had wanted to do it, I was studying it on every gig I had before Slasher. It was a study of leadership, and I asked the showrunners I worked with to expose me to anything I didn’t understand or know about. At one point, when I was between gigs, I thought, I don’t know enough about post [production]. So, I reached out to friends with shows and asked if I could shadow any of those moments. The only person who said yes was Aaron. And, pointedly, the thing he invited me to was the mix for the pilot of season 2 of Slasher. Having Aaron on the end of the phone when I started on season 3 made it all a little like showrunner school. I was really fortunate to have all of that experience available to me.

One of the many reasons I love your work is because you have mastered the art of the kill. Not trying to spoil anything, but what is your favorite kill this season? Is it possible to give us a hint?

Ha. It changed as we shot and edited, but in the end, there’s a callback kill just past halfway in the season. At night, in a rainy forest – and the victim’s performance and the direction and how it looks, all guts me.

It’s really special to me and beautifully emotional.

We live in a time where many movies and shows reveal everything within the first five minutes. However, part of the fun is figuring out the whodunnit. One of the things I love about what you and Aaron are doing in the slasher genre is this refusal to write down to your audiences. You’re making shows for smart people who do want to dissect the plot and dig into the themes.

So, first off, thank you for making smart TV. Secondly, how hard is it to stay ahead of your audience, who has watched horror forever and will overanalyze every single detail?

Another great question. It’s really hard, verging on impossible. With a whodunnit, that’s always present, right? I mean…if the killer comes out of the blue, it’ll dissatisfy everyone. So, you absolutely must have tips, and clues, and motivations that track, but if you tip it too much, that doesn’t work (though you can see we’re playing with that this season). This is where our execs at Shaftesbury, Hollywood Suite, and Shudder come into play.

They’re our first readers. A big plus with David Kine at Hollywood Suite and Nick [Lazo] and Sam [Zimmerman] at Shudder is they have an amazing story sense. Between Nick and Sam, they’ve seen everything in horror. A great note in our first season working with them that came up a couple times is, “Our audience will totally figure it out if this moment happens.” Our audience is next-level, and they’re combing through everything and assembling all the possibilities. But that kind of engagement is super exciting and motivates us even more.

Hell Motel premieres on Shudder with a two-part episode on Tuesday, June 17.