Slaughter Hotel (1971)

That was an excellent one.

I'll tell you why so serious

Did you people see the same film I saw?

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

Fernando Di Leo (known primarily for his Italian crime action thrillers) directed this exploitation flick, set in a posh "asylum" where wealthy wives are "put away" to "get better" by their "concerned" rich husbands. I guess many will consider "The Cold Blooded Beast" (its alternate title is "Slaughter Hotel", which I think is not accurate and misleading) a giallo of sorts. A killer, wearing a black cloak and ski mask (Di Leo mostly shoots him in shadow and off to a distance), is selecting patients to murder and it is up to the viewer to decide who this mysterious psychopath is. Could it be the enigmatic, man-of-few-words Dr. Francis Clay (Klaus Kinski, just as fascinating and tight-lipped as he normally was back during this time in his career), adored by the neglected patient, Cheryl Hume (Margaret Lee)? Could it actually be someone with a deranged psychosis that causes him to lash out at women? The bevy of beauties who populate this locked down institution include Rosalbi Neri (stealing the film as the sultry nymphomaniac, Anne Palmieri, whose illness could derive from her husband's impotence towards her), Jane Garret (as Mara, pretty much abandoned by her parents), and Gioia Desideri (as Ruth, a patient with suicidal and homicidal tendencies). The institution, which looks more like a fashionable resort than a den for lunatics, has medieval devices (not sure why these weapons are used as décor for a place dedicated to wealthy, but troubled wives) the killer will use throughout, such as a dagger, sword, crossbow, iron maiden (!), and spiked ball (used to bash the heads of nurses in one hurried assault as the police are after him!). The violence, to be honest, is off-screen and edited in a fashion not to detail the kind of savagery that seems implied (to be honest, when Di Leo shows the results of the killer's savagery, they are less gruesome than it might appear, such as Rosalbi's fate).This film also features (much to my pleasure) a blossoming lesbian romance between a nurse (the gorgeous, petite red-head Monica Strebel)and her favorite patient, Mara, including a massage and bathtub rub-down, climaxing in a dance and brief, but titillating, love-making session. I was a bit frustrated that Di Leo pulls away from their climax just as it was getting good, but the whole film seems to shy away from "going too far" (all though there are plenty of female crotch shots to our disposal). Neri, to tell you the truth, is the reason to seek this one out—she smolders seductive power and makes love to us through the camera. I tell you I worship every inch of this woman's tantalizing body. Who can fault the gardener for not rolling around with her in the greenhouse?!?! Again, their sex scene only goes to a specific "safe" point, without becoming too softcore. Margaret Lee, who certainly isn't a slouch, also has a scene similar to Neri's final scene, where she writhes in ecstasy on her bed, naked and in a state of bliss, seemingly caught in a fantasy dream. If you like this, then Di Leo doesn't disappoint you. Neri practically makes love to her bed, masturbating, and wallowing around in her sheets like a pig in slop; it is spellbinding if you love the female form. Kinski is as odd in behavior and strange as he needs to be to possibly convince an audience of his perhaps being the killer. With John Karlsen as the chief of the institution, Professor Osterman.

A mysterious killer, clad from head to toe in black, breaks into a loony bin that seemingly caters exclusively for rich beautiful women. Utilising a variety of medieval weapons, that conveniently and rather unbelievably decorate the huge institution, the maniac proceeds to slice, chop and stab his way through the patients and staff.Hampered by a simple story and rather unimaginative deaths, The Cold-Blooded Beast isn't a particularly great giallo; but with a good cast (including Klaus Kinski) and a bevy of gorgeous hotties willing to shed their clothes at the drop of a hat, the film is still worth a watch if you enjoy sleazy Euro-horror.Director Fernando Di Leo wisely packs his otherwise unremarkable film with so much full nudity and soft-core sex that one can easily forgive the pedestrian plot and lacklustre kill scenes. The women (who aren't exactly the shy and retiring type) all get nekkid at one point or another, and some of them are even kind enough to indulge in a spot of lesbianism, and, occasionally, graphic masturbation (at least in the uncut European version that I saw).Margeret Lee is drop-dead gorgeous as Cheryl, ultimate target of the killer, whilst scorching hot Rosalba Neri (French Sex murders, Amuck) stars as nymphomaniac Anne (who steals the show with a spot of explicit self-gratification). Also unmissable are Jane Garret and Monica Strebel as a pair of rug-munchers who, in the film's funniest and most memorable scene, indulge in a spot of tribal dancing before getting down to business.Klaus Kinski isn't required to do an awful lot; he doesn't spend much time on screen and, thankfully, he keeps his clothes on.Although the violence in the film is fairly frequent and quite nasty in tone (an axe attack, a stabbing, a crossbow bolt through the neck, a body trapped in an iron maiden), the actual gore level is fairly low (we see quite a bit of blood, but not much else). Towards the end of the film, things get a bit stronger and eventually when we are treated to a fabulous moment where the killer goes crazy with a mace and does away with a whole group of nurses in seconds.Shortly after this, he is shot to death by trigger happy police officers in a squib-tastic finalé.The Cold Blooded Beast gets a fairly decent 7/10 from me, for it's gratuitously sleazy vibe and for not worrying too much about letting a decent story get in the way of all of the sex and violence.

I knew beforehand that Di Leo's sole foray into the giallo subgenre didn't have a good reputation, but I couldn't have anticipated that it would be so lame! As a matter of fact, it almost challenges Riccardo Freda's TRAGIC CEREMONY (1972) for the title of the poorest and most bewildering vintage film by a renowned Euro-Cult director I've ever watched! Despite its violent outbursts - mostly confined to the second half - typical of Di Leo (one particularly vicious episode at the very end, which leaves numerous victims, has to be seen to be believed), he shows no real feeling for - or even much interest in - this type of film! In fact, a good deal of the running time is devoted to exploitative erotic content featuring nymphomaniac Rosalba Neri and a lesbian relationship between a nurse and a black patient! With respect to technique, the editing is particularly sloppy: sometimes it seems like the editor has fallen asleep on the job, with several scenes going on for much longer than is required (beginning with the very first scene of the killer prowling the asylum grounds - though before the credits had even rolled, more than just my brain cells had suddenly snapped to attention with the appearance of a fully naked Margaret Lee {one of my favorite Euro-Cult starlets} tossing and turning in bed; regrettably, this is her only nude scene in the entire film!); occasionally, however, there are disorientating tilted shots and a series of pointless - and irritating - rapid cuts of two converging locations (for instance, the killer approaching a victim's room); besides, we get all kinds of people having flashes to earlier scenes, but the shots are so randomly chosen as to make no sense whatsoever!The score, usually a prominent feature in a giallo, occasionally delivers but it's too uneven (the killer's theme is dreadful, for instance) to really count as a success; indeed, the only worthwhile element to the whole film is the casting of three Jess Franco alumni in the lead roles: the aforementioned Lee (despite the fact that her role doesn't give her much scope) and Neri (who, at least, gets to shed her clothes quite often and takes a shower memorably), and Klaus Kinski as an enigmatic and wild-looking doctor who becomes romantically involved with Lee - even if his contribution is a listless take-the-money-and-run turn, seemingly there only to serve as a red herring! By the way, the notorious and mystifying audio glitch found on the version (horrendously dubbed in English and actually bearing the on-screen title of COLD-BLOODED BEAST) released by Media Blasters - which also plagued the copy I watched - is a real pain in the neck...

A long-haired Klaus Kinski plays the doctor in charge of an isolated lunatic asylum.Of course the patients are all beautiful women with various sexual problems.And of course they're being killed off in various gruesome and sadistic ways.Writer/director Fernando Di Leo specialized in violent,sleazy mafia movies like "The Italian Connection" or "Mister Scarface"."Slaughter Hotel" is his only giallo,but it contains tons of sleaze and misogynistic violence.Euro-horror goddess Rosalba Neri is amazingly sensual as the resident nymphomaniac.Her sex scene with the gardener is hotter than hell.The film was originally released in Europe as "The Cold Blooded Beast".All the actresses including Rosalba Neri, Margaret Lee,Monica Stroebel,Jane Garret and Gioia Desideri are very attractive and provide lots of female flesh.There is obligatory lesbian sequence between Stroebel and Garret and strikingly sleazy Neri's masturbation scene.The action drags sometimes,but the climax is a suitably frenzied and audacious.Give this sleaze classic a look.10 out of 10.