5/5 A sort-of-giallo classic!
  by Steven Phillips (Ada, OK United States)
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!

4/5 Good Sleazy Fun!
  by Guido (NY United States)
Whoa! This movie is something else. The plot is thin, the acting is worse and the music, laughable. Why then you may ask did I give it 4 stars? It's simple. Most 70's and 80's giallo's fall into 2 categories (so bad it's good and so bad it's awful. {the exceptions being giallo's by Dario Argento, Mario Bava etc.})

Anyway, this movie falls into the so bad it's good categorie. It takes place in an old, weird asylum for women who are either suicidal or mentally ill. Some cloaked killer has entered the building and he starts brutally murdering the patients one by one. I'm not so sure there was much more of a plot than that. Klaus Kinski (Crawlspace) stars as Dr. Francis Clay and of course he brings his signature weirdness to the part.

Yes, the effects are dated (blood looks like red paint) but it doesn't matter. There is also a ton of nudity, including many shots of full frontal, not to mention some pretty graphic masterabtion scenes (especially for 1971). At times you'll think you're watching some kind of cheesy 70's soft core porn film. Definitely not for younger viewers. However, if you're in the mood for a masked killer offing naked women, with medieval weapons, in classic giallo style then this film is for you. It's early 70's, sleazy, cheesy, Eurotrash at it's best.

3/5 Ultimate sleazefest, Minimal gore
  by M. Celaschi (California)
I will start by saying that in the Director's Interview, Di Leo admits outright that he did no research on mental institutions when he decided to make a film based on, well, mental institutions. When asked how he got along with the actresses on set, he replies, "They had good bodies." He also admits that he didn't like the film, but he is glad others do. This is really all you need to know about the film. No, wait... there is more.

Slaughter Hotel's original ad campaign played upon the idea that the film is "Based on a True Story", which means it really wasn't. It was compared to the crimes of Chicago mass-murderer Richard Speck (who actually killed student nurses and not patients), but is technically unrelated.

The premise of the film is to not be grounded in reality. Or that is my interpretation at least. Basically, this is a mental institution running in a castle complete with armored knights. The only patients they admit are young, beautiful women with a problem of running around naked for no apparent reason. The film has about 20 sex scenes, which are repeated in flashbacks as though I would forget, so I guess it is more like 115 times people have sex onscreen. Ugh, there is no mystery here. I think Di Leo forgot he was making a horror film. I guess a couple girls die later leading to a tacked on, lame ending.

The major problems with the flick are many. There is highly inappropriate music resembling The Love Boat. The sound quality is bad with constant thudding and a poor transition between music and background noise. Klaus Kinksi, the lead actor, stands around with nothing to do. Di Leo has no idea what mental stability and instability is.

The scenes in this film are beyond bizarre. My favorite of which is when a Black patient hearing drums says, "This must be from my native country. I must have danced to this when I was a child." Yes folks, that's right, she proceeds to dance like a chicken and finish it off by having lesbian sex with her nurse. The rest of the film is pretty much the same. Nude massages & sponge baths, full-on female masturbation sequences, etc.

I felt like I was watching porn with bad dialogue, but I guess that would be redundant because that's what porn is. Sex, bad dialogue, and some more sex.

Nothing in this film makes sense. There is no linear plot, no mystery, and no one cares. I honesty think this was a wet dream Di Leo had. I was waiting for the flying unicorn to tackle the leprechaun for his pot of gold. And then have sex with it.

Favorite Quote - Doctor says to Female Patient, "Your desire to make love is excessive. Now go take a shower."

Extras: Well, I guess there was a Still Gallery, Trailers, and Interviews. As stated before, it includes educational commentary from the director.

Bottom Line: Ultimate sleazefest with minimal gore and zero intelligence. If you like sleaze, I recommend buying it. You will be happy. If you want a good giallo, then set this on fire, do a dance around it, and hope that God will send you anything from Argento, the Bavas, or anyone else that is Italian.

Rating: I guess it depends. Either 3/10 or 7/10.


Molly Celaschi
www.HorrorYearbook.com
MySpace.com/HorrorYearbook

3/5 Annoying but some fun
  by Jeffrey M. Meyer (Syracuse NY)
The quality of the DVD is very good. Clean and clear image, a few audio drop outs and a grainy segment or two within the film, probably from the transfer of footage from other sources. The story is basically about a sick-o running around a womans loony bin killing patients and nurses with an assortment of mediaeval weapons. There is lots of nudity, a couple of explicit female nude scenes. Not a kids film by all means. The plot is good but the way it the movie was edited together is poor. There are jump cuts, continuity errors and dialogue drop out that will annoy most viewers who seek technically well made films. The director did a great job annoying me with the set up for each sex scene. The director used very loud, confusing, claustrophobic music while adding a montage of flashbacks to make the viewer feel uncomfortable before and durring each nude and sex scene and murder scene. The only highlighting factor for the first 3/4 of the movie are all the nude scenes. The rest of the movie is rather dull. The murders in the last 20 minutes are pretty cool. The director did a great job casting. Kinski is good and the two female leads are beautiful. In my opinion the director did a splendid job annoying me with jump cuts, overdone flashback scenes, bad mood music that kept looping over and over again durring the sex scenes and very ugly, I mean butt ugly male leads. The woman are all cute, except for the one with the bad skin complexion and nasty pimple above her eye. If you like sleazy sex, bad effects, crappy mood music, ugly male leads, hot female leads who like to get naked, jump cuts, annoying flashback scenes that drag on and on plus very long sequences that have no plot value at all then this is for you. If you plan on getting this to fill your need for Klaus Kinski then this drudge will do.

2/5 Check Out of this Hotel
  by Sir Jub-Jub (Sir Jub-Jub's Lair, Alaska)
"Slaughter Hotel" has one basic flaw that prevents it from being worth your time; it is boring. The story is one familiar to giallo fans. A masked killer is stalking and murdering scantily clad or unclothed women. The main problem with this is that there is lots of boring dialogue for the first half hour and when the killing starts, it is without style or graphic violence. So you get a lot of set up with no payoff. You know a film of this type is in trouble when Klaus Kinski has a starring role but is given nothing to do. He simply walks through his part and smokes a lot. The only thing to recommend about this film is that two of the women are fairly attractive and they do take their clothes off. That takes up about one minute of the films ninety five minutes. The DVD has a decent picture but also an interesting flaw. In one sequence (the arrow death), it appears that the dialogue is horribly out of synch with the action. The DVD also contains an extra with additional nudity from one of the stars and a really poor trailer. Also, while the box titles the film "Slaughter Hotel" the film itself displays "The Cold Blooded Beast". Under any title, it is not worth your time.