Slaughter Hotel
by Fernando Di Leo
List Price:
Our Price: $11.18
You Save: $8.80 (44%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $10.27 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Jane Garret, John Karlsen, Klaus Kinski, Margaret Lee, Rosalba NeriDirector: Fernando Di Leo
Cinematographer: Franco Villa
Writer: Fernando Di Leo
Editor: Amedeo Giomini
Producer: Armando Novelli
Producer: Tiziano Longo
Writer: Nino Latino
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 89 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-03-30
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Shriek Show
Movie Reviews of Slaughter Hotel
Movie Review: A sort-of-giallo classic!
Summary: 5 Stars
This film is not on the level of gialli directed by Mario Bava, Lucio Fulci, or Dario Argento. However, it is so loopey and bizarre that it is actually fascinating!
In the beginning of the film, a man and his wife are driving through the countryside in an automobile that looks like a bathtub. We learn that the wife is suffering from some sexual-homicidal malady and is being taken to a sanitarium for treatment. She attempts to strangle her husband, who continues driving at no reduction in speed, while fighting off her attack. As she temporarily recovers her senses, her husband asks, "I can understand your trying to kill me - but why try to kill yourself?" They then arrive at the sanitarium, where he drops her off in the parking lot saying that he is sure that she will have a fast cure. He does not take her inside the building or introduce her to any of the sanitarium staff - just drops her off in the parking lot where she promptly attacks a member of the staff!
The sanitarium is a strange place. It is housed in an old Italian castle with a front door that was designed for very short people. Many characters use this door over the course of the movie and have to bend their heads almost as low as their waists in order to pass through. Once inside - keep in mind that this is a sanitarium for mentally disturbed people - the building is decorated with numerous, functioning, medieval instruments of death and torture. These dangerous instruments are basically laying about, in reach of anyone who chooses to employ them!
Also, the psychotherapy practiced at the sanitarium is somewhat unique. It involves playing croquet, checkers, and having sexual relationships with the staff! Liquor is served to the patients during evening social gatherings - apparently to "loosen them up!"
Into this brew, add a masked maniac - who walks with a swagger that looks as though he is a tenderfoot and just got off the back of a horse - who commits seemingly random, ghastley murders. He uses the asylum's "decorations" as convenient murder weapons. Somehow, the sanitarium "professionals" are not aware that there are any murders being committed at all - no one seems to question the absence of the victims - until the very end of the film! The final scene of the movie is perhaps one of the most violent, gorey episodes ever filmed up to that time.
The film stars Klaus Kinski, who poses rather than acts - and appears to be "grooving" to an overdose of Valium; the gorgeous Margaret Lee, who is the reason for all this mess; John Karlsen, as the pompous, clueless sanitarium Director; and the delectable Rosalba Neri, who bounces off the walls in a must-see, psychadelic shower scene.
The film score is initially charming, but there is a recurrent, lush "Love Boat"-type theme that becomes increasingly annoying with each repetition. The last several repetitions are the equivalent of having an ice-pick plunged into one's brain!
I have seen three separate versions of this film and have never seen a better-looking, more complete version. If you like Italian B-movies, you should not miss this cinematic gem! Warning: this film is not suitable for children, as there is non-stop violence and wall-to-wall nudity: actual "toilet parts" are shown!
Similar DVD Movies
Roger Corman's Cult Classics Sword And Sorcery Collection (Deathstalker, Deathstalker II, The Warrior And The Sorceress & Barbarian Queen)Uni; Release date: 2011-08-23; DVD
Best price: $15.75
Price in other shops:
The NestingE1E; Release date: 2011-06-28; DVD
Best price: $9.76
Price in other shops:
DeliriumWEA DES Moines Video; Release date: 2008-04-29; DVD
Best price: $4.13
Price in other shops:
Celebrity Nude Revue, Easy 80's Volume 1Release date: 2011-10-26; DVD
Best price: $22.49
Price in other shops:
The Perfume of the Lady in Black (Il Profumo della Signora in Nero)E1E; Release date: 2011-03-22; DVD
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops:
Nightmare: 30th Anniversary EditionCODE RED ENT.; Release date: 2011-07-26; DVD
Best price: $14.49
Price in other shops:
Murder ObsessionKoch International; Release date: 2011-12-06; DVD
Best price: $8.49
Price in other shops:
Maria's B-Movie Mayhem: Mardi Gras MassacreCODE RED ENT.; Release date: 2011-09-27; DVD
Best price: $11.00
Price in other shops:
Lorna The ExorcistRYKODISC; Release date: 2011-02-01; DVD
Best price: $16.87
Price in other shops:
Fernando Di Leo Crime Collection (Caliber 9 / The Italian Connection / The Boss / Rulers of the City)E1E; Release date: 2011-03-15; DVD
Best price: $20.99
Price in other shops: