Play Motel

Before all our genitals shrivelled up using the internet, iphones, and other gadgets, people used to pass the time having sex. This is their story.

After a hilariously upbeat theme tune introduction, a middle aged man goes to the Hotel of the title and hooks up with a woman in the bar. The seemingly knowing guy on reception gives them the key to Room 3, a blood red room that contains all manner of kinky equipment and costumes. Plus a two-way mirror so that someone can take pictures and blackmail the clients later. You see that guy dressed up as the devil and unnervingly chewing on that actresses chin - he's a high flying businessman, and that lady dressed as a nun - that's not his wife.

One threatening letter and several kinky blackmail pictures later, and this guy is approaching his lawyer in the first of many scenes that don't make any sense in hindsight. The lawyer is dubbed with one of the funniest voices I've heard in a long time, for the record, so it's good when this guy shows up throughout the film. The blackmailed guy's wife gets wind of the whole deal and goes to the police, where cop Antony Steffen gets involved. Some black-gloved killer also gets involved, as the nun lady gets murdered and the wife soon follows suit while investigating the hotel.

This all sounds like a great set-up for a slash-a-thon, doesn't it? It's a pity that the investigation of the blackmail plot takes precedence, interlaced with endless nudity and liaisons in Room 3. Ray Lovelock and his missus get involved as newlyweds that witness some dodgy happenings and agree to help the police, resulting in his missus tracking down a photographer and taking part in a lengthy nude photo session that's followed by another nude photo session, then a third nude photo session until we get to another naked session in Room 3 involving a bottle of champagne that had me laughing out loud. At this point I was thinking that the killer might be some grudgeful cleaner fed up trying to wash filthy man-fat out of those sheets.

To be honest, although the film does contain about as much nudity as a copy of Razzle, it's not that filthy. My stomach did turn at some of the over-zealous snogging by Marino Mase mind you. Judging by the cheeseball look on Marino's face when he dresses up as a Bishop, I'm pretty sure none of this was intended to be taken as a serious artistic statement. Rather, it's just a parade of naked ladies for you to knock one out to.

"Play Motel" is a very sleazy giallo – a good thriller with generous doses of sex.

"Play Motel" is the name of a motel located in Rome. There's a complex web of deceit and blackmail linked to this motel. People belonging to the upper levels of society are attracted to the Play Motel and are photographed while they are engaged in their "games". Suddenly things get out of control and mainly "models", somehow linked to the blackmail scheme, begin to get murdered.

The investigations are led by Detective Inspector de Sanctis (Anthony Steffen), and he's aided by a couple, Roberto (Ray Lovelock) and Patrizia (Anna Maria Rizzoli).

The film is not just sleazy (featuring even some hardcore scenes), but funny and thrilling as well, featuring the always acid Italian humor. There are many pretty women and the sex scenes are very good (and funny too!). I also like the soundtrack (and in particular the film's theme song – "Play Motel").

Stop by the "Play Motel" and have a lot of fun!

Play Motel is something of a cross between Giallo and your standard sleaze film; as the common Giallo theme of sex is revved up, while the other staple of the genre; namely, murder mystery, is pretty much forgotten about in favour of showing as much skin as possible. As you might expect given that premise, the sleaze factor is amazingly high, and director Mario Gariazzo appears to be trying to imitate the likes of Jess Franco with his sex-heavy plot line. The way that the actual plot is lost under all the skin is actually quite comical, as it's clearly there just to take advantage of the (at the time) popular Giallo sub-genre. But then again, you've got to expect that sort of thing from Italian filmmakers! The plot focuses on a place called 'Play Motel'. Sexual activity is rife there, but unfortunately for the guests; Play Motel has a peeping tom on the premises, and he enjoys snapping pictures of love making couples and then blackmailing the wealthy victims with the threat of making the photographs public. We follow a half-assed investigation into the crimes...

The film has something of a reputation among cult fans for being raunchy, but actually the sex is rather soft considering what can be viewed in similar films. That being said, the film is quite a long way away from being clean; and we still get to see various taboos being broken. The music is what really makes this film what it is, as Play Motel features some of the most ridiculous sounds ever to grace a Giallo. The title song is hardly 'Hotel California', and the way some corny music comes on every time two people are about to get it on works well. Despite being trash, Play Motel actually features a rather decent cult cast. Ray Lovelock is the biggest name with regards to the actors, and he receives decent support from Antonio De Teffè, as well as buxom females such as Enzo Fisichella ('Big Alligator River'), Patrizia Webley (The Bloodsucker Leads the Dance) and Marina Hedman (Images in a Convent). The blackmail plot gets resolved at the end, although it's completely uninteresting. However, this film is really all about smut and sleaze; and on that front, Play Motel certainly delivers!

You hear that? That's the sound of the giallo scraping the bottom. Actually, this is part of what had become a general trend in the giallo genre by the late 1970's--rampant softcore (and in some versions, hardcore) sex in the place of the traditional thriller or mystery elements. Gialli always had a lot of sex in them, of course, and as early as "Slaughter Hotel" in 1971 some of them had pretty much crossed into softcore porn territory, but by this time the genre had pretty much passed the point of no return and eventually would be come indistinguishable from the dismal "erotic thriller" genre that is still with us today in Italy and America.

That being said, this movie still has a few things going for it. It does have a genuine plot(even if it's brought to a dead halt periodically for a long sex scene or nude modelling scene). The action centers around the titular "Play Motel" where wealthy customers are being secretly photographed during their rendevouzs and blackmailed, which of course, as it always does, leads to murder. After a body is dumped in the trunk of their car while they're enjoying some "afternoon delight" in the motel, an attractive young couple (Ray Lovelock and Anna-Maria Rizzoli) decide to go undercover and investigate (with the active encouragement of the police--I guess they do things differently in Italy). We thereby get to witness such perverted spectacles as a guy dressed as devil giving it to a prostitute dressed as a nun, and a guy dressed as a priest getting it on with the voluptuous Patrizia Webley (from "Malabimba"). The hardcore version also features Maria Franjese aka Marina Lotar doing what she does best. The plot does hold together surprisingly well, however, given all the momentum-killing sex scenes. This is a better movie than the the similar "Sister of Ursula", released the same year (although, for better or worse, it does lack the tasteless "death by dildo" plot). It's certainly better than the vast majority modern-day erotic thrillers even if it's pretty damn lame for a giallo.

This is probably Ray Lovelock's worst movie, but it is a rare chance for non-Italians to see Anna-Maria Rizzoli, who otherwise appeared only in obscure Italian sex comedies that never made it out of Italy. She has a great body,of course, but also is genuinely pretty--more in the class of Edwige Fenech or Femi Benussi than that of her sexy but skanky co-stars Webley and Lotar. The movie is definitely sleazy, but not THAT sleazy, which might be good or bad depending on what you're looking for.

Down in the bottom of the barrel of Italian exploitation cinema is the subgenre of shocks and pornography. "Play Motel" aint filled with clumsy inserts of the Joe D'amato school, the actors 'perform' their deeds quite nicely both verbally and otherwise. And the cinematography is top notch. It's really a simple murder/revenge story but pretty well made, I might add. The hardcore scenes are thrown at you within 4 min. but the pace goes down in the last hour...still, a must for jaded fans of Italo smut!! Get the uncut version.

P.S. If anybody read DELIRIUM: Guide to Italian Exploitation Cinema 1974-79, the backphoto of the book (the red devil with horns & a whip + the naked nun) is from "Play Motel".