Una vela para el diablo

I couldn't help but think of Hostel, Frontière(s) and Vacancy after watching this film. It's not that this film is a rip-off or anything, how could it be? It was made 30 years before all of them, but it just inspires thoughts towards those similar titles because I saw them first, even though Frontière(s) and Vacancy were way better.

It Happened At Nightmare Inn was overall a very satisfying and fun film. It's about two sisters who run a family inn and they are secretly murdering everybody who they believe to be bad influences and or just bad people because of their religious beliefs, the sisters' beliefs, I mean. It's not the most profound plot, but who really cares about that with this kind of movie? The movie keeps you interested and it definitely entertains. The characters were good, plot was decent, acting was perfectly fine and the movie's atmosphere gave it that creepy, yet corny B-Movie touch that I felt comfortable with because I had felt this atmosphere before. This movie is pretty good for a low budget slasher and as a movie itself it is very enjoyable. Watch it when you get the chance, though don't be expecting too much and don't be too harsh on it if you have seen other, better, similar films.

Though obviously inspired by PSYCHO, this truly deranged Spanish shocker features several gruesome sequences which makes the film way ahead of its time. The atmosphere is quite sinister and very threatening. Judy Geeson(of TO SIR, WITH LOVE fame) does well in her role as the pretty blonde heroine, and Aurora Batista and Esperanza Roy are indeed the most menacing inn-keepers since Mr. Norman Bates. In fact, the film's only real drawback is the poor dubbing that makes it resemble one of those cheesy Euro-Hercules flicks. Available on video for the longest time only in an old edited television version, the missing footage has finally been restored to home video. The video title of the film is: IT HAPPENED AT NIGHTMARE INN.

I have no idea where the English title comes in and the movie is a little heavy handed and obvious but so very enjoyable. Moves at a good pace and if Geeson is a bit weak, the same could not be said of the killers or the kills. Set in a small Spanish village two sisters run modest hotel and take exception to the influx of mini skirted and hot panted 'dollies' from England. Murder seems a bit of a harsh reaction but with God on your side and the Catholic church much can be justified. Excellent performances by the mature sisters who seem harmless enough initially but then we learn one has secret liaisons with a youngish boy and the other takes to spying on boys bathing in the nude. So carried away does the most villainous sister get watching the kids splashing about that when she finally begins her return to the hotel there is an amazing scene where she is caught running through rough vegetation and she becomes almost ecstatic under the self imposed flagellation. Excellent stuff with time for shots of locals seemingly truly amazed at the scantily dressed invaders.

Aurora Bautista and Esperanza Roy play two sisters running an inn in Spain. Young, foreign girls come to visit but end up staying permanently. British actress Judy Geeson plays the sister of one of the girls who begins to put the pieces together of the horrors that have been going on at the inn. Director Eugenio Martin does quite an effective job with this film. It seems that the oldest sister Bautista was jilted on her wedding day by a young, pretty girl of a loose nature. Now, she is out to do God's work and rid the world of girls with loose morals and inappropriate attire. Both actresses playing the crazy sisters do stellar jobs playing off-key, psychotic women of very different natures. Bautista in particular gives a very commanding performance and is indeed very menacing. She also adds some pathos to her role. Martin builds suspense nicely and does several things very well. The use of religion as a tool of sexual repression was a thematic thread throughout. One scene has a girl die by accidentally falling in a pane of stained glass - a religious subject. When the body is removed a piece sticking in her has a bloody sword from the window stand in tact as to say this is the work of God. There are many other religious scenes and references used as well. The film is not particularly gory but there are some scenes that I found quite chilling. One with a baby as witness and then another of Geeson getting to know wine vats. The performers all do fine jobs, the direction is taut, and the script is convincing given the aforementioned two credits toward its credibility. The film does indeed have that European film from the 60's or 70's quality, but I truly am surprised that I had not heard much about this film beforehand. It is one of those minor gems you sometime are lucky enough to come across every now and then.

Just finished watching IT HAPPENED AT NIGHTMARE INN, and though I'm thinking I saw one of the heavily cut versions--this distributed by Cheezy Video--I still thoroughly enjoyed this film. Judy Geeson's character was smarter than usual for these sorts of films, the sisters were truly frightening, and the small town hypocrisy added dimensions to the narrative that I was not expecting.

I'm not sure where or when I'll find a near-definitive version of this film, but I'll certainly be on the look out for one. Good to see Geeson in this film, too. She was believable and sympathetic. And now I'm just blathering on to meet the idiotic, arbitrary IMDb 10 line review requirement, but I do recommend this film. Great for Saturday night viewing.