Director: Eugenio Martin
Year: 1973
Country: Spain
Alternate Titles: Una vela para el diablo; It Happened at Nightmare Inn; Dread Stop at Nightmare Inn; Nightmare Hotel
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Working at a hotel together, a pair of sisters find themselves believing that they've been divinely bound to dispatch the undesirable sinners who stay there and begin killing them off in gruesome ways, while the police investigate the missing people centered around the hotel.
Review:
This was quite a fun Spanish horror effort. One of the better aspects of this one is the fact that it really manages to get plenty of mileage out of its central premise, ensuring that the sisters are just that off-center in their beliefs. This one accurately paints them as being so old-fashioned in their religious teachings that they've become brainwashed into the school of being the morally sound viewpoint against the modern world and committing far more dangerous transgressions than what their victims are accused of, which makes this fall right in line with the vast majority of such films from that time period, as their actions take this into a fun route.
Their relentless pursuit against those that defy their viewpoint of righteousness allows for plenty of manic raving about their convictions, which are put to use in several rather fun confrontations made all the better for being based on this backwards thinking, from the first encounter in the stairwell to the dealings with the town prostitute and finally the fine brawl that erupts from the battle in the basement with the single mother. The way these develop from their psychosis makes for quite a fun time overall here, and with the film picking up considerably in the action stakes for the final half, with the race to bring them to justice leading to plenty of chasing around the property, which gives this the kind of high-energy and enjoyable finale. Added together with some nice sleaze and a solid, engaging storyline, there's plenty to like here.
There are a couple of flaws holding it down. Among the film's few flaws is the fact that, despite it being quite a strong offering of their mental problems, there's just not a whole lot of action in this one. It's quite a while here before anything actually happens as the vast majority of the first half consists of the two debating about their ethical quandary killing off people and what they're doing, which makes this one really drag out and feel really endless as they're attempting to get their stories straight while also managing to feature them engaging in the same type of behavior with her boyfriend so it's not only bland but also hypocritical.
That makes it hard to get into this one for quite a while due to this, and when the film spends the majority of the time not featuring many of these action scenes overall, it really stands out with a dragged- out pace. The only other flaw here is the other storyline involving the missing woman's sister journeying around the town trying to find out what's happening to their utter cluelessness, which is quite strange with their desire to keep their crimes hidden and her noticeably poking around in their business being left to deal with until the very end, which is quite a troubling effort. That really makes it hold itself back for the most part.
Overview: ***.5/5
A rather enjoyable if somewhat flawed effort, there's enough to like here that it manages to be a somewhat decent enough feature that holds it up against some slight issues that hold it down. Those with an interest in this style, who enjoy this era of genre fare, or who are intrigued by the concept will have the most to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.
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