Hotel Fear

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 is a kind of hard to define film, which is set during World War Two, and is more of a mystery with elements of Eurocrime that decides to turn into a giallo right at the very end.

Rosa has got a life you wouldn't wish for. Her father is off fighting in the war somewhere, and Rosa has to help out at the hotel her mother runs that is host to some of the worst guests ever. For one, there's the smarmy, chain smoking gigolo (Luc Merenda) who is really pro-active in adding Rosa to his list of conquests, much to the annoyance of his older girlfriend. Then there's the man whose family were killed in a bombing raid, who also seems to have his eye on Rosa. There's a pimp and his two hookers who aren't too fussy on who drops in on them. Plus, there's a mysterious man in the attic (Francisco Rabal) who is hiding from unknown persons.

Rosa's mother is aware of how awful the guests are, but can't get rid of them because they are the only paying guests they have, and there's a war going so Italy isn't exactly the current holiday destination. Constantly trying to avoid Merenda in particular (she has to lock her door at night and he asks her to look through the keyhole for a surprise. Thankfully, she doesn't), the plot thickens as Merenda's girlfriend has something he really needs, two shifty looking guys move into the hotel, and Rosa's mother falls down a flight of stairs and dies, leaving Rosa no protection from the weird guests...

Just like his earlier The Perfume of The Lady In Black, Francesco Barili gives us a something full of mystery that doesn't let on to the audience what's actually happening until near the end of the film, and just like Perfume, this one comes wrapped in strange visuals with an emphasis on violets, pinks and purples. Even though this is mainly thought of as a giallo, no one is murdered until well over an hour has passed, with the bulk of the film detailing Rosa's struggle with what is basically a hotel full of Harvey Weinstiens. That said, it kind of felt like Barili didn't quite know how to tie up all those loose ends.

Luc Merenda is the standout here as the absolutely vile gigolo with the pencil moustache. He spends about the half the film either naked or half naked as he attempts, and finally succeeds in raping Rosa (the grimmest part of the film by far, but it was part of the plot as it opens up the giallo part of the film. Merenda shows once again that he's got the versatility to plays other roles than the usual crime films he ends up in.

"Pensione Paura" is a brilliant and a little bit surreal giallo from director Francesco Barilli,whose "Perfume of the Lady in Black" was one of the genre's most haunting and original films.The film takes place in 1945 somewhere near a lake.Some guests are staying in the "Pension of the Sirene" led by Marta with the help of her daughter Rose.The girl knows that the mother has a lover hidden away in the attic.She waits for the return of her soldier father and cultivates a simple friendship with the guide,the grandson of the parish priest.In the pension stays also a violent criminal named Rodolfo who lays a trap on Rose.One day Marta is murdered and the girl is assaulted and raped by Rodolfo and his companion.Both are dispatched by a mysterious black-gloved killer..."Pensione Paura" is a stylish and overlooked giallo.There is enough violence and wonderful visuals to satisfy fans of Italian cult cinema.The film is finally available on Italian DVD without English subs.

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.

Francesco Barilli had already proved a great talent for creating a nightmarish atmosphere with his most famous film "Il Profumo Della Signora in Nero" (1974), and while that film is a true gem I liked his second Giallo, "Pensione Paura" of 1977 even more. With only few murders and an obscure storyline that is not mainly concerned with a murder series, "Pensione Paura" is no typical example for the Giallo-genre, but an incredibly moody one. Set in a guest house in rural Italy in the final stages of WW2, "Pensione Paura" maintains a thick and nightmarish atmosphere that makes the film seem like a gloomy fever dream at times. Beautiful yet incredibly eerie, the film oozes a constant atmosphere of doom that is intensified by beyond demented characters and a magnificent score that stands out even in the good company of Italian genre soundtracks.

When World War 2 nears its end, Rosa (Leonora Fani) and her mother Marta (Lidia Biondi) are keeping their eerie old guest-house open for a bunch of demented guests, among them the sleazy and sinister playboy Rodolfo (Luc Merenda), as well as Marta's lover (Francisco Rabal) who is hiding out from someone. Rosa, who is eagerly awaiting her father's return from the war is writing letters to him on a daily basis... Giving too much information about the plot would spoil a part, which is why my plot description ends here. As in any Giallo, of course, there is a series of murders involved, and the beautifully but decaying old rural guest-house is the eeriest setting imaginable. Leonora Fani is great in her leading role of the innocent teenage girl, a character it is easy to feel and be scared for. The rest of the characters are almost entirely demented, and the performances are great. Regular Italian cult leading-man Luc Merenda ("Torso", "Milano Trema", "L'Uomo Senza Memoria",...) is brilliantly sinister in his sleaziest role as the pencil-mustached womanizer Rodolfo, who has an older girlfriend but is also pursuing the innocent young Martha. The great Spanish character actor Francisco Rabal ("Dagon", "Nightmare City",...) is equally great.

"Pensione Paura" is a fantastic example for the atmospheric power of Italian Horror film. Without showing anything explicitly 'horrible' in the first half, the film maintains an eerily beautiful and uniquely nightmarish atmosphere of pure gloom from the very beginning to the very end. The remote rural setting with the gloomy guest-house and the nearby picturesque village create a menacing mood of seclusion and being lost. The brilliant score by Adolfo Waitzmann must be one of the most mesmerizing ever. While the film is not very gory by Italian Horror standards, it is completely uncompromising. I am not sure why Francesco Barilli regrettably has not directed many more films that were released in cinemas, a possible explanation could lie in the lack of gory and spectacular murders in comparison to the films other Italian Horror/Giallo masters. Overall, "Pensione Paura" is a must-see for anyone interested in Eurohorror, Giallo and Cult-Cinema. Very Highly Recommended!