Cleveronix
A different way of telling a story
Usamah Harvey
The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
Kaelan Mccaffrey
Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
Dave from Ottawa
This minor shocker from Italy has a few fairly brutal slayings and several nude scenes involving b-movie veteran Rosalba Neri, but little else to recommend it, even to jaded schlock seekers. The setting, a high-end sanatorium set in a remote château, is completely unbelievable, as are the doctors and nurses who work there (or more accurately commit malpractice there). Who puts a psychiatric facility in an old château filled with scary medieval weaponry and doesn't keep the dang things locked up? And why is the grounds keeper always wandering around on upper floors where the patients rooms are? The average weekly ER viewer has more medical savvy than is in evidence here, and the worst offender is Klaus Kinski, who looks WAAYYY too creepy to be a psychiatrist. A patient? Yeah, maybe. Anyway, most of the screen time is taken up with patients demonstrating strange compulsions while the staff cluck tolerantly and promise to make them well. Yeah, right. I would not trust any of them to treat a cold sufferer. The main problem is the script, which has the feel of having been made up on the spot, with no research time spent to acquire a feel for how psychiatric medicine is practiced, or what a sanatorium should look like, or how psychiatric patients with real disorders act or anything. With little credible drama to drive the story forward and almost no suspense, the viewer has just about nothing of interest to watch between slayings. This is a common problem with many slasher movies: a few moments of shock punctuate long stretches of unwatchable dead time. In a well made thriller, the viewer is carried from one high point to the next by developing a suspenseful or creepy atmosphere, but there is none of that here. Boring!
Bezenby
At a very plush mental hospital in Italy, a masked intruder is stalking the halls at night. Various Euro-beauties sleep off their various mental illnesses while others strike up 'relationships' with the staff. Sounds like the makings of a giallo to me...Asylum Erotica, as this film was embarrassingly titled when I bought it, hasn't really got much of a plot, but it's a fairly interesting giallo packed full of Euro-Babes and atmosphere, and daftness. There's very little by way mystery or investigation when it comes to the murders, rather is pans out like a three act play. In the first part, we're introduced to our various mental patients, all of which are stunning (including Rosalba Neri! Lady Frankenstien herself!), and the staff, and therefore we get to know the victims and our suspects. In the second part of the movie, we get a very long stalk and slash sequence where the killer carves his way through some of the cast, and the last part of the film there's the police intervention and resultant catching of the killer. Very simply played out, but not without it's entertaining quirks.Rosalba Neri (Lady Frankenstien! Worth saying twice!) is a nympho with an unhealthy fixation on her brother, who has sensibly put her in the asylum out of harms way. She does however still peel her clothes of and go out on the prowl for men. Then there's Klaus Kinski in a very ill fitting suit, and his love interest. And the budding relationship between patient and nurse (another stunner), which is sadly cut short by a crossbow just before it was going to get interesting.It's not a pervy as the title suggests, just more of a mid-range giallo that keep you entertained through seventies sexual values (Rosalba Neri!), mild violence, and a pretty good, although stupid ending.Can be picked up for a quid in the UK - not sure if it was cut, but the pan and scan cropped the picture a bit.
Coventry
"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.
HumanoidOfFlesh
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.
