Asylum Erotica

A loony wife is sent to a mental home that seem to be inhabited by nymphos (Oh yea, there's a killer on the lose somewhere too). Klaus Kinski stars as the doctor who doesn't really do anything. Who thought that a horror film, with this ample amount of nudity, full frontal, extreme close-up type nudity none the less, would be so ghastly incoherent and ,yes, downright boring. Skip this awful film and find something better to do with your time (Let me suggest, watching paint dry)

My Grade: F

DVD Extras: Photo Gallery; Interview with director (where he admits, more or less, that the film is a turd); Alternate scene; Theatrical Trailer; Trailers for "Blood Feast 2", "My Dear Killer", "Zombi 2", and "Flesh For the Beast"

With the retreat of film censorship in Europe and the US in the late 1960s and early 1970s the makers of exploitation films were left loose on the somewhat unsuspecting cinema goer. Both gore and sex content of such films increased dramatically, while less care was taken to embed the spectacle in a coherent, gripping and believable story. This was particularly obvious in the Italian Giallo, a genre that emerged in those years from the traditional Italian horror film and the German Edgar Wallace thrillers.

Here we have a typical example of the genre: a serial killer is on the loose , we see gruesome and gory (but stylish) killings that do not reveal the identity of the murderer, have some sex thrown in at good measure, and are finally rather disappointed when the murder mystery is solved.

Asylum Erotica is set in a mental hospital for the very rich, on some isolated location in the countryside. The asylum is run by Dr. Keller -- played by Klaus Kinski in one of his many personifications of psychiatrists. The patients are busy having a good time, including the inevitable hanky -panky (come in Rosalba Neri as the resident nymphomaniac), when suddenly corpses are starting to pile up. Apparently, they have been killed with some medieval weapons that are conveniently on open display in the lounge. Why has nobody considered them a safety hazard -- this is a mental hospital , after all? Why aren't they tucked away after the first killing(s)? We shall never know.

Clearly, this isn't a great film, but it is still quite watchable, certainly if you like Eurosleaze. For fans of Kinski and Neri this is a 'must'.

This is another one of those movies that got cut up where ever it played. ASYLUM EROTICA is the most heavily cut, stay away from this! SLAUGHTER HOTEL is less cut but still is missing bits of sex and violence. The only complete copy I have seen comes from France and is the only widescreen version available worldwide that i am aware of. Truly a classic sleaze film, this begs for remastered DVD release ASAP!

As a giallo this movie is a real disappointment. The plot is virtually non-existent, the suspense is nil, aside from the widescreen compositions the cinematography is unimpressive, and I'm sure the occasionally interesting score was recycled from a better movie. Klaus Kinski obviously phoned in his performance (long-distance with a very bad connection) and Rosalba Neri (aka Sarah Bay) is pretty much wasted.

On the other hand, if you're looking for softcore porn, this movie is a relative masterpiece. The crisp cinematography is superior to just about anything else in that genre, and you have an elegant Italian instrumental score as opposed to the usual, grating wah-wah synthesizer. The plot may be anemic, but it certainly doesn't interfere with any of the action. Even sleepwalking through their respective roles, Neri and Kinski can act circles around your typical softcore sex performer. Kinski, of course, does not actually perform any sex scenes (which is good--we're talking Klaus here, not Natassia). Neri, on the other hand, has done many sex scenes in much better movies, but I'm confident no one will complain about her scenes here, even if they don't exactly show off her considerable acting talent. As in many European movies, Neri's "solo" sex scene really pushes the line between softcore and hardcore, but in the best possible way. Only the ending is terrible regardless. It comes out of nowhere and will appeal only to fans of medieval weaponry and/or the Richard Speck student nurse murders.

Wow! You ever wonder why you are who you are, and how you got this way? I saw this movie in 1973 when I was 12 years old. Didn't know it at the time, but it was happily inappropriate for a group of impressionable pre-teens. My day camp counselor who was about 17 at the time took us to see this along with a karate flick ("The Hong Kong Cat"). It was classic - the counselor and his girlfriend drinking beer & sitting five rows behind nine raucous and rowdy 12 year olds. Then when the first solo shower scene of one of the inmates comes on, followed by a pretty sizzling interracial lesbian vignette, we were dead silent. "Slaughter Hotel" is a roller coaster ride of wood-inducing soft core action, followed by well, slaughter. There are spots where they try to make sense of the story, but its basically a maniac loose in a hospital where all of the female patients are lusty and attractive. I remember thinking how I could get a job at a place like that? Years later it reminded me of the Richard Speck episode from the sixties, where he killed 8 nurses in Chicago. I got this on VHS from Amazon a few years ago, and it maintains its ability to stimulate. Yeah we were all marked after that movie. We later graduated to hard core flicks on 42nd St in NYC, but I digress..Rent this if you can, and see if doesn't maintain your ah, interest. Klaus Kinski probably removed this from his resume, but I consider this one of the godfathers of there slasher genre.