Motel Hell – Surf Film by Harry Bryant

Episode 3 of EAST with Harry Bryant is LIVE, presented by Kona Big Wave and Vans.

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3 years and $200K later, Motel Hell has arrived and is ready for your viewing pleasure. Photo by Tom Robinson

Watch: Harry Bryant And Dav Fox’s “Motel Hell”

Guzzle milk, hit play. 

cinema // Feb 27, 2024
Words by Ethan Davis
Reading Time: 2 minutes

What a year it’s been for Bradda Haz. 

From getting a perfect 30 at the Vans Pipe Masters, to touring his three-year film project across the globe, ‘Teej’ has had fewer seconds to rest his blonde mop than compliments T Swiz has copped from Kanye. 

Motel Hell is the result of three years of chasing swells from South Oz to Ireland with co-stars: Wade Goodall, Eithan Osborne, Tom Lowe, Rolando Montes, Shaun Manners, Dion Agius, Craig Anderson and more.

Unlike your typical surf film however, there’s milk involved. Plus a bunch of fever-dream skits and post-production magic that give it more of a classic Loose Change or Doped Youth feel with a heavy lactose/salmonella undercurrent. 

“We gained a lot of inspiration from Jack McCoy, and those corny skit-type things that don’t necessarily mean anything. The storyline of the film is just ridiculous, the whole aim of it is to confuse people”.

Harry Bryant on Motel Hell
We’ve been chipping away at this for a while — and the first part of the film is based in Australia through the lockdowns. When everything opened back up, we wanted to go places aside from the same surf camps where you’re guaranteed waves.” – Harry Bryant

As expected, the surfing is a tad more explosive than a demolition derby at Yandina Speedway and features a lot of ‘BIG FUCKING BARRELS’ in remote locations, which was a bit of a reoccurring theme amongst our SSOTY winners

Side note: Harry finished fourth only to Nathan Florence, Ethan Ewing and Filipe Toledo in our poll of the 50 most influential voices in surfing last season, while Motel Hell ranked second in the ‘Film of the Year’ category (it didn’t help that most people hadn’t seen it).

From the top ropes. Photo by Tom Carey

Since first stunning us with his acid-dropping, security guard headlocking performance at Waco in 2018, Haz has always possessed a charisma that has shone through be it on Stab High, Stab Highway and The Pick Up — Some of his BTS yarns described in the eponymous 120-page newspaper are worth the $20 price of admission alone. 

Interview with Haz to drop later in the week.

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