Hotel Fear

Pensione Paura (Fear Hotel on the print I saw) is a decent, slow-burning thriller.

Set toward the end of WWII, Leonora Fani plays Rosa, a girl living in a hotel owned by her mother. Her father is away in the war and Rosa writes letters she cannot send to him. The hotel's guests are a strange and unlikeable group hiding out from the war. There is a pimp with his two prostitutes, a widower with an unhealthy fixation on Rosa, an older rich woman with a younger lover named Rudolph (Luc Merenda). This gigolo has his eyes on Rosa. In addition, hidden away in an upstairs room is the lover of Rosa's mother. He deserted the war and is rumored to have caused some tragedy to his fellow soldiers. Right from the beginning, there is a sexual tension between these guests and Rosa. Then, Rosa's mother dies in an accident. Rosa is left alone to run the hotel with only one drunken, unhelpful servant. The viewer knows something bad is going to happen. Further suspense comes with the arrival of two last guests, both men dressed in black, one carrying a switchblade. Both have the look of professional killers. Have they came for the lover hidden away or for some other reason?

Fear Hotel does a surprisingly good job at building a tense atmosphere. Little happens for most of the movie but, thanks to the actors and the evocative cinematography, the viewer keeps watching. However, there are some problems. The film's attempt to become a murder mystery in the last third does not work. The finale, while appropriately grim, has a denouncement that did not work for this viewer.

Having acknowledged these, Fear Hotel was better than expected. Leonora Fani, the attractive star of Kyra (aka House by the Edge of the Lake), was the reason I watched Fear Hotel. In addition to her physical charms, Fani convinces as an innocent teenager, even though she was in her early twenties at the time of filming.

It feels like two different movies. The first 2/3 is an incredible film! Leonora Fani is great as the lead. The supporting cast play sleazy very well. Damn near everyone here is a sleazy monster. The is incredible tension. Great character moments. A real mystery afoot. And it's all directed and filmed with incredible style.

In the last third of the film, it all falls apart. It abandons everything that came before it and blurs the lines between fantasy and reality. Even worse, it squanders all the intrigue that had come before. Barilli is a skillful director. I just wish he could have gotten his hands on a good script.

This giallo is a film which has a good reputation despite its relative obscurity. I, therefore, had high expectations going into this one and have to say I came out of it a little disappointed. Firstly, it is a little questionable whether this truly qualifies as a giallo at all. It might just be me admittedly but I tend to think that films of this sub-genre need to be set in contemporary times (at the time of filming), whereas this feature has an atypical period setting. This simple detail gives it a different tone from other typical gialli, meaning it feels like a film somewhat apart from the others. Set in an Italian hotel during the latter stages of the Second World War, it focuses on a teenage girl who helps her mother run the establishment as she waits for her father to return from the front. Meanwhile, her mother hides a traitor in the attic, who is her secret lover, and the hotel is otherwise filled with an assortment of guests who could charitably be described as oddballs and more honestly be categorised as sleaze-bags, with all of them seeming to be using the hotel as a means of hiding from the horrors of the war. Murder, sexual assault and dark secrets soon follow.

This one was directed by Francesco Barilli, who was responsible for the earlier The Perfume of the Lady in Black (1974), which was a more traditional giallo which remains one of the most visually beautiful in the genre. Pensione Paura is definitely less impressive for me. It is very slow to get going with little actually happening for a long time, so much so it really had me wondering just where exactly this one was going. The murder/mystery side of the story almost felt tagged on in order to tie it in with others in giallo category, as a means of marketing it easier. But this side of the story is too under-developed to have much impact both in terms of the murders themselves which are either off-screen or very brief and also the mystery aspect which only really is detailed very late on and makes little sense. Although admittedly, the senseless part is one thing that does tie this one in with its giallo brethren, as does its cast of unlikable characters. By no means is this a bad film, it's just one whose reputation suggests it will add up to more. It's odd ambiance and hotel setting reminded me a little of the earlier giallo Death Falls Lightly (1972), which was a film which improved on a re-watch; perhaps this one will be the same.

This is the second film I've watched from little-known director Barilli; like the first – the slightly superior THE PERFUME OF THE LADY IN BLACK (1974) – it can be labeled an arty horror film…though, frankly, there's much more of the former than the latter this time around! In fact, it's set during World War II in a downtrodden Italian hotel run by a woman (whose husband is a flyer) and her innocent young daughter.

Apart from the somewhat wasted Francisco Rabal (as a partisan informer hiding out in the titular hotel and a paramour of its owner), the casting looks rather unimpressive on paper but, surprisingly, we get a couple of excellent performances from the two nominal leads – 23-year-old Leonora Fani (as the harassed daughter who is an object of desire to several of the hotel's guests!) and an unheralded sleazy turn from usual 'good guy' Luc Merenda (as a shady stud living off a rich mature keeper). Both Merenda and Fani are involved in several nude scenes and, in the latter's case, looking much younger than her true age makes for some disturbing viewing (particularly her rape by Merenda himself – witnessed by the latter's mistress and by which she's visibly aroused!).

The film has a memorably sinister soundtrack by one Adolfo Waitzman which may best be suited to accompany a bona-fide giallo, but it certainly elevates the end product considerably; the composer's name didn't register with me at first, but a quick check on his IMDb resume' soon revealed him to also be the man behind the music for (at least) two other significant "Euro-Cult" efforts – Jess Franco's THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR (1973) and Claudio Guerin Hill's A BELL FORM HELL (1973). Also notable in PENSIONE PAURA, the film's original title, is the atmospheric lighting – where the adoption of various color gels for disquieting effect was, in all probability, directly influenced by Dario Argento' contemporaneous classic of supernatural horror SUSPIRIA (1977).

As with most efforts from this genre, the major liability would have to be its deliberate pacing – however, since the film is a mood-piece first and foremost, I guess it was to be expected and, well, unavoidable. Still, the shock moments (when they come) certainly deliver the goods – with the most effective being the double axe-murder of Merenda and his lover (with its slimy aftermath), and the last-minute rescue of the heroine (about to be victimized yet again) which turns into a machine-gun massacre of the hotel's entire guest list by an as-yet unidentified character (soon revealed to be a partisan companion of Fani's reportedly deceased father). The latter scene actually leads immediately into the unexpected and ambiguous conclusion – which seems to be a particular thorn with most viewers discussing the film on an Italian forum; then again, a happy ending would have been highly unlikely for an essentially somber piece such as this!

Until the fairly recent Italian DVD release, this was considered a very rare item even on its home turf; hopefully, the film's reputation will soar in future…even though it's one the director himself seems not to like much at all (undeservedly, if you ask me)!

This long neglected, erotically charged Gothic-singed Giallo from Francesco Barilli is not only entirely undeserving of such ignominious treatment, its recent HD restoration was long overdue, and richly deserved! In addition, I have noticed that Luc Merenda is frequently given short shrift as an actor, which is an opinion I resolutely do not share, but even his harshest sceptics might need to momentarily retract their claws, as devilishly handsome, charismatic Merenda nastily manifests a strikingly sordid performance as the unleavened sleazebag Lothario Rodolfo, a super-skeezer abuser, rakishly replete with a slimline scumbag 'tash and oily, slick-backed barnet! Much of Barilli's deliciously voyeuristic, sin-suffused chiller's oppressive atmosphere is optimised by the fantastic score, maestro Adolfo Waitzman creates a subtle sense of unease that complements the increasingly debased activities within this benighted locale. I adore Francesco Barilli's stylish, darkly degenerated, enjoyably off-kilter thriller 'Pensione Paura', and I am quite sure that this needlessly obscure Italian thriller will soon find a great number of fresh admirers, especially since it towers above much of the tepidly recycled terror tedium produced today.