Uma Vela para o Diabo

Two Spanish sisters run a hostel which they use to knock off the promiscuous (and, interestingly enough, mostly English)female tourists that come to stay there. The older sister is a truly deranged religious fanatic while the younger is simply very weak-willed (and, unbeknownst to her sister is herself carrying on with a man in town). The "star", English actress Judy Geeson is the one who finally solves the mystery of the missing boarders (although it should have been pretty obvious to anybody), but she is, curiously enough, relegated to the status of pretty minor character.

This is perhaps a very clever movie about the reactionary and conservative nature of rural Spain at the time, fed by Catholic idolatry and rural small-mindedness. Juxtaposing these two Spanish sisters against all these promiscuous English tourists might also be some kind of comment on hedonistic Swinging London (although most people today don't associate the English with loose behavior and free-wheeling sexual attitudes). I didn't know quite what to make of the ending though which is either intentionally very ambiguous (possibly suggesting the whole town is in on what the sisters are doing) or is merely incompetent. Given the impressive track effort of director Eugenio Martin ("La Ultima Senora Anderson", "Horror Express")I suspect the former, but this is a kind of cheap effort and perhaps not up to the standards of the director's other films.

Apparently, there are also some heavily edited versions floating around. The one I saw had A LOT of nudity and violence, including the disturbing murder of the mother of a young baby (who the sisters mistakenly believe was born out of wedlock). I would find this longer version (about 95 minutes)if you want to see this, but I would also be interested in just seeing this again in a better-looking DVD version. It may be an unappreciated gem in the Euro-horror genre, but it's kind of hard to tell.

This is a grisly, superbly amusing Gothic horror story with vivid performances from the mature ladies, they are admirably enigmatic and mysterious . It's a Spanish classic of the chilly grotesque with awesome duo, a convincingly gruesome twosome as spinsters, Aurora Bautista and Esperanza Roy as the weird house keepers. The sisters living together in a gloomy boarding house hire rooms to tourists and develop an awful habit only murder them. They portray fanatic aging sisters , when the demented Aurora learns of sexpot boarders she kill them. Meanwhile Judy Geeson takes a room in hopes of solving the mystery of disappearing her sister, Loreta Tovar as the murder victim at the start. Bautista plays her part to the hilt, unafraid of Eugenio Martin's unsympathetic camera and the viciousness of her character .

The picture packs atmospheric blending of eerie thrills and creepy chills combined with a terrific finale. It displays lots of guts and blood but it seems pretty mild compared to today's gore feasts. It's an unrelenting shock-feast laced with nice acting by the two Spanish stars that deserves its cult status. Watch for Aurora Bautista who makes an indelible mark on the movie as the deranged and religious keeper. Judy Geeson, too, is excellent as tourist investigating the strange events in the gloomy mansion. Lively secondary cast is frankly cool, formed by Spanish support casting, as Fernando Hilbeck, Vic Winner , Lone Fleming and Blanca Estrada , both taking early film roles. Bone-chilling musical score by Antonio Perez Olea. Passable photography with juicy atmosphere by Jose Aguayo, but unfortunately turns too much murky in some video print . The picture belongs to sub-genre about killings committed by aging spinsters women such as the classic ¨What ever happened to Baby Jane ? (1962) ¨by Robert Aldrich with Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, ¨Huss, Huss, sweet Charlotte (1965)¨ by Aldrich with Bette Davis and Olivia De Havilland and ¨Whatever happened to aunt Alice ? (1969)¨by Lee H Katzin with Geraldine Page and Ruth Gordon, among others.

The motion picture is professionally directed by Eugenio Martin or Gene Martin. He's a horror movies expert(Hypnosis, A candle for the devil, The fourth Mrs Anderson) and Spaghetti Western(Pancho Villa, Bounty hunter, Bad man's river). Rating : Acceptable horror movie, well worth watching. This macabre movie thriller that commits viewers to sit chewing their fingernails for more than ninety minutes will appeal to Euro-horror fans.

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.

Every movie is made up of a series of edits to what the filmmaker originally shot. This can turn a good film to bad and vice versa. The most famous is the very different versions that exist of Orson Welles' "Touch Of Evil". "Night And The City" and "Mad Wednseday"/"The Sin Of Harld Diddlebock" exist in two different version of the same source material. That is also true with "It Happened At Nightmare Inn" and "A Candle For the Devil". It is sad that IMDb does not see the difference in these very, very different cuts of the same source material. But the versions are all different from their counterparts.

"It Happened At Nightmare Inn" is not very good. The more sexually charged "A Candle For The Devil" is far more interesting. In 1973, "Candle" probably could not be shown in the U.S. The theme of sexual repression caused by religious fervor is very different from a couple of crazy ladies who like to kill young women.

Pass on "It Happened At Nightmare Inn". "A Candle For The Devil" is worth a look.

Back in my youth, I was a big fan of late night horror flicks, particularly from back in the late 1960's to early 1970's. Judy Geeson was something of a regular in them and again gives a credible performance. So I caught this on a very late Friday or Saturday night, and rather enjoyed it. It was nothing great, and the dubbing wasn't good, but it was watchable and moderately scary. It's about this old hotel in Spain whose owners prosper from foreign tourists, but who are also offended by many of the tourists' morals. The actresses playing the two sisters/inn keepers gave performances worth watching. Aurora Bautista was genuinely frightening as the more fanatical and violent one, and Esperanza Roy was alternately scary and moving as her younger sister, who is conflicted about their crimes. It also delivers a convincing atmosphere of an old Spanish village which is torn between its seemingly simple past and the free-wheeling modern amorality. I say it's worthwhile for ardent fans of this kind of entertainment.