Slaughter Hotel (1971)

What makes it different from others?

Truly Dreadful Film

Good start, but then it gets ruined

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Sent to a mental facility, a young woman finds that the asylum is the setting of a rampage against the residents and staff at the hands of a maniacal killer and tries to find a way of setting things straight once the bloodbath begins turning up more victims.This here turned out to be quite the impressive and enjoyably trashy giallo. With the main focus of the film stretched out in a large, gloriously Gothic villa there's an absolutely spectacular atmosphere here that makes the film seem far more suspenseful than it really should be as the massive lay-out, numerous long twisting hallways and cavernous structures providing the perfect foil for a location which is a rather suspenseful setting for such a film. That plays into the film's main enjoyable section here in that this one is so enjoyable trashy and sleazy that it really does come off far more watchable than it really should. With the Gothic atmosphere firmly established, that it utilizes these in conjunction with the utterly bizarre weaponry featured for the killing tools as on the wall of the communal sitting room is every medieval weapon any homicidal maniac could dream of, just hanging there for the plucking and there's even an iron maiden as a special bonus. That the absurdity of the situation, wherein this is supposedly a facility trying to nurture people's well-being would allow for such a devastating potential outcome makes this quite a sleazy time here almost as much as the other main fun to be had in it's copious nudity. The story has nearly the entire cast far more concerned with hitting the sack with the patient's, from forcing them into shower sessions, extended lesbian encounters scrubbing their bodies down with loofahs, enthusiastic butt massaging, hypnotically-erotic dance sessions and what seems like the main pastime at the château, indulging in languid self-pleasure between the sheets. These occur with such alarming frequency that it simply adds to the trashy charm of the film alongside the crude-if-unrelenting gore used for the kills which are given life due to the rather abundant torture tools on display. here. Though the majority of these are rather cheesy, there's a certain level of brutality inflicted in these scenes, from the assault on the patients in the garden to the utterly absolutely crazy finale where the killer strikes dozens of people across the head with a spiked mace that's rather chaotic. These here are the film's good points that manage to hold off the few flaws present. The main issue here is that sleaze and absurdity that flows throughout here might become something that works against it when this one really gets going, fully making for a bit of overkill at times. It's quite much for some, and there's a slew of things about it that makes for a challenging time. As well, the other issue here is the fact that there's no real mystery here for the strange killer running loose as it's quite obvious and doesn't come off as a surprise once it starts in, making for a little dull beginning as it sets this up which gives it away quite early. These here here it back even though there's some pretty enjoyable positives here.Rated Unrated/NC-17: Continuous Full Nudity, Hardcore Sex Scenes with plenty of stimulating touches, Language, Graphic Violence and drug use.

The great late Fernando Di Leo is certainly best known for his brilliant Milieu-Trilogy ("Milano Calibro 9" of 1972, "La Mala Ordina" of 1972 and "Il Boss" of 1973), three masterpieces and undisputed highlights in Italian crime cinema. While the incredibly sleazy Giallo "La Bestia Uccide A Sangue Freddo" (1971) is certainly not most ingenious work in Di Leo's career, it is still a highly enjoyable film that my fellow fans of Sleaze-Horror should not miss. Admittedly, "La Bestia Uccide A Sangue Freddo" has one of the most nonsensical and silliest plot lines ever in a Giallo (then again, the Giallo-genre is usually known for intelligent and convoluted plots), but it makes up for this with tons of stylish sleaze and gratuitous nudity from a gorgeous female cast, gory murders, Giallo-typical elegance, and the great Klaus Kinski in the role of a psychiatrist. In spite of the plot being incredibly illogical and silly, this is an outrageously entertaining film, which does not get tiresome for a second.Kinski plays Dr. Francis Clay, a psychiatrist who leads a noble psychiatric facility set in a remote countryside château; all the patients happen to be hot women, including a gorgeous brunette nymphomaniac (Rosalba Neri), an equally gorgeous black chick (Jane Garrett) who suffers from amnesia, her gorgeous red-headed lesbian nurse (Monica Strebel), and others. In this loony-bin for hot chicks, a sadistic killer is on the loose. He commits his crimes using medieval weapons, which happen to be hanging on every wall (maybe not such a good idea in a psychiatric facility?). More and more beauties disappear...The film is actually a mixture of Giallo and rather explicit Softcore Erotica, and while the mystery part of the Giallo pales in comparison to most other specimen of the genre, the film entertains on all levels. The setting in the château is elegant, the cinematography is genre-typically beautiful, and the murders are gory and sadistic. Klaus Kinski doubtlessly was one of the greatest and most charismatic actors who ever lived, and while this is probably one of the movies that he meant when he publicly (and frequently) despised his own films as being "s***", it is great to see this favorite actor of mine (who himself wasn't exactly known as the sanest person in the world) as a psychiatrist. Regrettably, he is a little under-represented in the film though. The doubtlessly most convincing reason to see "La Bestia Uccide A Sangue Freddo" is the gorgeous female cast, most notably the regular genre sirens Rosalba Neri ("La Figlia Di Frankenstein", "The Devil's Wedding Night") and Margaret Lee ("Venus in Furs", "Dorian Gray") and the virtually unknown but incredibly ravishing Jane Garrett, who unbelievably never did any other films. All female characters are exhibitionists, and they all have either nymphomaniac or lesbian tendencies. The nudity and sleaze is quite explicit, even by sleazy Italian 70s standards. The score is good, but not too memorable by the high Giallo-standards.Overall, "La Bestia Uccide A Sangue Freddo" is doubtlessly one of the most nonsensical Gialli ever made, but The beautiful female cast, the constant sleaze, gore and elegance are easily enough to forgive the lack of logic and real suspense. A series of gory murders, taking place in a loony-bin set in a castle, full of gorgeous naked women... how could anybody not like this film? True entertainment, recommended to all my fellow Eurohorror/Cult fans.

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...

"Slaughter Hotel" is quite a perplexing film experience… Not so much because of its brilliance, uniqueness or professionalism but because it's so damn addictive despite being one of the most poorly scripted horror film ever made. This is one giant trashy mess in which story-logic, atmosphere and character drawings have all been skipped in favor of more luscious nudity and sleaze. We're welcomed in a resting home for hot & wealthy ladies, with mental problems going from burnouts to nymphomania. There's a team of strange doctors, unprofessional nurses and even a hunky gardener at these ladies' service to help them get over whatever problems they got. In order to make "Slaughter Hotel" at least somewhat resemble to a giallo, director Fernando DiLeo also introduces a mad-raving murderer, typically dressed in black and using the institution's old-fashioned armory decoration as slashing tools. All put together, this results in extended sequences of females having any form of sex (masturbation, lesbian action or actual sex) before brutally getting killed. The basics of exploitation cinema, maybe, but nonetheless a bad movie with too many tedious moments and totally wasting a great cast. I don't think you're meant to care for the killer's identity as his/her motivations largely remain unexplained at the end. There are a lot of things that don't make the least bit of sense (butt-massages??) and the girls, for some reason, all have extended flashbacks with completely irrelevant contents. I suppose that was done to reach a playtime of 90 minutes. Klaus Kinski looks terrifically vicious with his long blond hair but even his presence can't bring much redemption. The murders are gory (especially the grand finale!) but not the least bit disturbing. "Slaughter Hotel" is worth watching for fans of Italian horror but I'm sure everyone will acknowledge that it's nothing more than a poor man's Sergio Martino, Dario Argento or Mario Bava.