Review: The Cold Blooded Beast
The setting is a mental health facility for mostly hot
young women, though it’s fashioned out of a medieval-looking castle. The
assorted medieval weaponry stashed inside the castle provides the tools of the
trade for a killer on the loose, hacking away at the beautiful women one by
one. Rosalba Neri plays the resident nymphomaniac, Jane Garret (in her only
film role to date) plays a lesbian who gets a massage (and more) from a nurse
played by Monica Strebel, whilst Klaus Kinski and John Karlsen are the
creepy-looking male authority figures on hand.
Somewhat controversial 1971 mixture of sex and
giallo/slasher violence from director Fernardo Di Leo (“Hired to Kill”, “The
Boss”, “Naked Violence”) and co-writer Nino Latino (“Naked
Violence”), is actually a pretty damn solid film for what it is. I’m not
sure why it’s alternatively titled “Slaughter Hotel” when it clearly
takes place in a mental health retreat facility, but I was on board with this
one pretty quickly. A mental health retreat where Klaus Kinski is on staff and
the frequently naked female patients all look like models? Yeah, I was gonna
have a good time with this one, which played more like a Jess Franco film than
a giallo film, actually. It’s super kinky and sleazy in the best manner
possible, with a few rather risqué vaginal close-ups from very obvious body
doubles (Rosalba Neri has a scar that is noticeably missing from her
masturbation scene) that probably contributed greatly to this film’s reputation
of-sorts.
I gotta say, doubles or not, this is one hot film. In
a film full of pretty hot chicks, Margaret Lee and the terrific Rosalba Neri
are especially easy on the eye. There’s a nice 70s music score by Silvano
Spadaccino (the director’s “Naked Violence”) and it’s an immediately
stunning-looking film as shot by Franco Villa (“Kill Rommel!” and a
bucket-load of spaghetti westerns). Villa even offers up some Bava-esque
colourful visual touches from time to time. Meanwhile, I particularly liked
that the killer was using an array of old-style weaponry for the kills instead
of your standard knife or machete. It gives the film a little bit of a
difference from most other giallo. Acting-wise, the underrated Rosalba Neri
steals it, though Kiwi-born John Karlsen (he’s the guy who sent Bill and Ted to
‘The Iron Maiden’) is jolly good too. Kinski is Kinski, forever skulking about
looking deranged and brooding. The question is whether he’s the killer or just
a red herring.
Plenty of sex, nudity, and violence in this Bava meets
Franco horror/mystery flick. It looks and sounds great and it has an all-out
gory climax. The mystery resolution is a bit of a bust, but I’d had enough fun
by then not to be too upset. Really solid, and for a certain sleazy audience, a
must-see film. If you do decide to take the journey, I’d advise you to track
down one of the lengthier cuts of the film.
Rating: B-
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