Cold Blooded Beast, often referred to as Slaughter Hotel in the US, is basically a female masturbation video disguised as a trashy, incoherent Giallo. This could be a good or bad thing depending upon your level interest in the former and your level of patience for the latter.

 

 

The film is stripped (pun intended) of all but the most obvious Giallo archetypes, replacing most of the Standards and Signatures with extended scenes of nudity and sex. The atmosphere is brooding and gothic thanks to the completely inappropriate armor and medieval torture devices that line the maze-like corridors within the female mental rehabilitation clinic where nearly all of the film's events take place.

 

 

The female characters are interchangeable and are never developed beyond the surface of their attractiveness and mental instability. The male characters, highlighted by a forgettable performance by Klaus Kinski, really only serve to support the transitions between sex and kill scenes. 

 

 

There is no detective (amateur or otherwise) in this film simply because no one finds out about the murderer until 85 minutes in. By then most of the damage has been done and the police are called in to set up the sting which eventually lures the murderer into a trap.

 

 

With all this in mind, the armchair sleuth will be twiddling his thumbs through most of the movie. Which is why I highly recommend abandoning all hope for a semi-coherent plot and reveling in the film's ridiculousness (with the help of your favorite inebriant). Only then will you discover the redeeming qualities of psychopath Ruth who tries to thwart her therapy by attempting to run her own car off the road... or nympho Anne who escapes the asylum in her bare midriff cocktail dress to rape the gardener... or the hypnotic tribal bath-towel-and-underwear dance party between Mara and Nurse Helen. 

 

 

And if all that wasn't enough, lets not forget about the jaw-dropping chase scene through just about every hallway and room in the facility, culminating with the mass-murder of all the nurses using a one-handed flail and eventual capture of the killer by a barrage of bullets!

 

 

Yup, it's safe to say that this movie is downright stupid. But I wouldn't discourage fans of the genre to avoid it. While most Gialli walk the tightrope between intriguing and trashy, Cold Blooded Beast makes no attempts at this balancing act and prefers to stay on the ground with the clowns.