Asylum Erotica

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.

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'.

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 on screen. 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 on your mood. Either 3/10 or 7/10.

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

While not as violent as other Italian Giallo/slasher movies of the 70's, Slaughter Hotel is worth a look. The movie centers around a series of murders at a mental hospital for women. We learn all about the patients sexual desires before they are killed off with mediaevall weapons. Plenty of nudity and a pretty bloody ending won't disappoint those who like this kind of entertainment either. A pretty decent cast and good photography and sets also help a great deal. Overall, this is a solid movie.

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"