Mondo Macabro Releasing Hotel Fear

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Coming early 2022.

HOTEL FEAR (PENSIONE PAURA)
Hotel Fear, directed by Francesco Barilli (Perfume of the Lady in Black), is a unique combination of gothic fairy tale, violent giallo, and twisted psychodrama.
The film is set in rural Italy towards the end of World War 2. A young girl (played by Leonora Fani) and her mother are running a hotel. When her mother dies suddenly, the girl finds herself at the mercy of the hotel's sex crazed guests, in particular Rodolfo, played by Luc Merenda. The girl longs for her father to return from the war and save her. But what finally happens is entirely unexpected.
(New cover art by Gilles Vranckx!)

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

MARCH PRE-ORDER ANNOUNCEMENT #1

Going on sale Thursday, March 24th, at 9 AM Pacific Time, only at mondomacabro.bigcartel.com!

HOTEL FEAR aka PENSIONE PAURA (Italy/Spain, 1976)

The story takes place in Italy towards the end of World War Two, in a run-down hotel on the shore of a large lake. A strange assortment of guests are staying there. They seem to be either suffering from mental illness, involved in scams of one sort or another, or hiding from something in their past.
Rosa, a teenage girl played by Lenora Fani, works with her mother, Marta, trying to keep the hotel functioning. Due to the war and the frequent bombing raids that take place, the hotel is on its last legs and even finding food for the guests is a major problem. Rosa writes letters to send to her father who is off fighting in the war.

Rosa’s mother dies unexpectedly, and suddenly the girl finds herself at the mercy of the sexually rapacious and insane hotel guests. After a vicious rape by two of the guests, Rosa despairs. She calls on her absent father to avenge her. And it seems her call is answered when the two guests die violently at the hands of a masked, gloved killer. But who really is this mystery assassin? And is Rosa losing her grip on reality?
This was director Francesco Barilli’s second feature film, after the highly regarded PERFUME OF THE LADY IN BLACK. Due to distribution problems the film has been hard to see. It has never been released in the US before and this is its world premiere on Blu-ray.

DISC FEATURES
Region free BD50
1080p presentation of a brand new 2K restoration of the original camera negative
Choice of Spanish and Italian language tracks with separate English subtitles for each
Brand new interview with director Francesco Barilli
Brand new interview with actor Luc Merenda
Archival interview with Francesco Barilli
Brand new audio commentary by Rachael Nisbit and Peter Jilmstad of the Fragments of Fear podcast
Alternate scenes
Trailer

LIMITED EDITION FEATURES
20-page booklet featuring brand new writing on the film by Italian film historian Roberto Curti
Set of lobby card reproductions
Reversible cover with new art by Gilles Vranckx on one side and original ad art on the other
1500 numbered copies in the usual red case

This LE blu will go on sale along with two others and will be available to buy both separately and as a part of a bundle with a slightly reduced price and shipping fee.

Shipping is tentatively planned to start in early to mid April. Please note that that all orders will not ship out at the same time. It will take two to three weeks in order to get them all out.

[Randy G Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Randy G]

Perfume of the Lady in Black was brilliant, if this is half as good it will be worth watching.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Standard edition coming in June.

[fatboyslim142 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close fatboyslim142]

Standard edition coming in June.

Has the LE sold out?

[mjeon Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mjeon]

Apparently all three of this batch of films are still available in Limited Edition form.

https://mondomacabro.bigcartel.com/

[mjeon Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mjeon]

Has anyone else had a chance to see this? It was mediocre until the ending, which was simply stupid. Maybe my expectations were too high.

[Marshall Crist Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Marshall Crist]

That's how I felt about the guy's other film.

[Randy G Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Randy G]

Got the retail version on preorder. I loved Perfume so I expect this to appeal to me regardless if it is a slow burn.

[Weirdlingwolf Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Weirdlingwolf]

This long neglected, erotically charged Gothic-singed Giallo from Francesco Barilli is not only entirely undeserving of such ignominious treatment, its recent HD restoration was long overdue, and richly deserved! In addition, I have noticed that Luc Merenda is frequently given short shrift as an actor, which is an opinion I resolutely do not share, but even his harshest sceptics might need to momentarily retract their claws, as devilishly handsome, charismatic Merenda nastily manifests a strikingly sordid performance as the unleavened sleazebag Lothario Rodolfo, a super-skeezer abuser, rakishly replete with a slimline scumbag 'tash and oily, slick-backed barnet! Much of Barilli's deliciously voyeuristic, sin-suffused chiller's oppressive atmosphere is optimised by the fantastic score, maestro Adolfo Waitzman creates a subtle sense of unease that complements the increasingly debased activities within this benighted locale. I adore Francesco Barilli's stylish, darkly degenerated, enjoyably off-kilter thriller 'Pensione Paura', and I am quite sure that this needlessly obscure Italian thriller will soon find a great number of fresh admirers, especially since it towers above much of the tepidly recycled terror tedium produced today.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Mr. Werewolf, again, PLEASE search for existing threads before starting new ones.

Also, if you need help figuring out the image upload, DM me, because I'm having to go in and clean up a lot of duplicate images, some of which are super huge and going to be taxing on the server.

[fatboyslim142 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close fatboyslim142]

Standard edition coming in June.

I assume the LE has sold out?

[f.ramses Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close f.ramses]

Looks like Mondo Macabro still has some on their site. https://mondomacabro.bigcartel.com/p...d-case-edition

[Matt H. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Matt H.]

This was a really interesting mystery that has a silly, pretentious ending. The film reminded me of Polanski (particularly WHAT?) with a dash of French new wave and a shitload of sleazy characters. I wouldn't really call it a horror film. It's technically top-notch and the hotel is a wonderfully atmospheric location. Solid flick.

[Spaghetti Monkey Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Spaghetti Monkey]

Sold.