Set during World War II, a hotel, once a spa, on the shores of a lake near the Italian-Swiss border. Miss Rosa (Leonora Fani) , daughter of the hotel owners, helps her mother (Lidia Biondi) with daily assignments. Teenage Rosa and her mother run a hotel in the Italian countryside, the mother mourning over the allegedly death of the dead father, but the daughter thinks he'll back. When the mother dies under mysterious circumstances, Rosa finds herself at mercy of her sex-crazed, sleaze guests, but not before a hooded assailant, lurking in the shadows of the hotel, starts killing off each and everyone that tries to harm Rosa. There are few clients and the work is not excessive, a circumstance that Julia takes advantage of to study. There's a braggart and trickster gigolo called Rodolfo (Luc Merenda) and his mature lover, a pimp and his two hookers, a coarse and cowardly man (Francisco Rabal) living hidden in an attic of the hotel, hiding from his colleagues, whom he betrayed when he was still captain of the Italian air force. And a man (José Maria Prada) traumatized by the death of his family who along with the playboy named Rodolfo harass the attractive Rosa on a daily basis. An older woman who loves Rodolfo also lives there. He agrees to sleep with her because he hopes to get her jewelry, while she feels sickly jealous of Rosa. Likewise, a couple of revelers and two prostitute sisters are part of the clientele. The main question of the film is to find out if the young girl's father will return to save his daughter and take revenge on unscrupulous guests.
A strange and somewhat claustrophobic film with a lot of sleaziness and nudism, mainly set in the pension of the title, thus the original title was 'Pensione Paura'. First of all, it should be noted that this is not a horror film or a giallo per se. The film contains thrills, chills, drama, plot twists and a lot of murders. The film develops itself little by little with a large and varied cast of strange characters whom we meet successively, but the majority of them are crazy, abnormal or sordid roles. Stars the teen Leonora Fani who isn't bad actress, she was one of the precocious actresses who played teenage roles that were usually tempted by older seducers, she belonged to a large group among which were Jenny Tamburi, Eleonora Giorgi, Silvia Dionisio, Gloria Guida, Lilli Carati Ely Galleani, Debra Berger, all of whom were usually regulars in the 'Sex Comedy' genre and in some sordid horror films. So Leonora Fani interpreted various films of these genres, such as: Nené, Bestialidad, Diabla, La desvergonzada, Born for Hell, Calde labbra. The film packs some nude scenes where it is possible to appreciate the beautiful body of the protagonist, played by Leonora Fani - who would later participate in the creepy, gory and quite explicit "Giallo a Venezia" (Mario Landi, 1979). Here she's an usettling adolescent named Rosa (or Julia in the Spanish version), the prototypical "girl in trouble." Leonora Fani was already 23 years old during the filming of "Pensione paura", but by retaining her characteristic fragile adolescent appearance she is ideal for her role. Luc Merenda, who plays the abuser playboy Rodolfo, also strips naked for the cameras. Merenda, who on this occasion is somewhat difficult to recognize because of his mustache and hairstyle, was a regular actor in polizzieschi of the time such as "Kidnap Syndicate" (1975), "Il polizziotto é marcio" (1974) - both by Fernando di Leo - or "Il conto é chiuso" (Stelvio Massi, 1976), Giallo as Torso - Violencia carnal (Sergio Martino, 1973) and Spaghetti Western as They Still Call Me Amen (Alfio Catabiano, 1973) . Being an Italian/Spanish here appears actors regularly in Italy cinema: Luc Merenda, Lidia Biondi and Spain actors such as Francisco Rabal, Maximo Valverde or José Maria Prada. The motion pictue was regular but professionally directed by Francesco Barilli who made a few films (Il profumo della signora in nero (1974)) with no much success. Rating: 5.5/10. Passable and acceptable, though some tiring and boring .
A strange and somewhat claustrophobic film with a lot of sleaziness and nudism, mainly set in the pension of the title, thus the original title was 'Pensione Paura'. First of all, it should be noted that this is not a horror film or a giallo per se. The film contains thrills, chills, drama, plot twists and a lot of murders. The film develops itself little by little with a large and varied cast of strange characters whom we meet successively, but the majority of them are crazy, abnormal or sordid roles. Stars the teen Leonora Fani who isn't bad actress, she was one of the precocious actresses who played teenage roles that were usually tempted by older seducers, she belonged to a large group among which were Jenny Tamburi, Eleonora Giorgi, Silvia Dionisio, Gloria Guida, Lilli Carati Ely Galleani, Debra Berger, all of whom were usually regulars in the 'Sex Comedy' genre and in some sordid horror films. So Leonora Fani interpreted various films of these genres, such as: Nené, Bestialidad, Diabla, La desvergonzada, Born for Hell, Calde labbra. The film packs some nude scenes where it is possible to appreciate the beautiful body of the protagonist, played by Leonora Fani - who would later participate in the creepy, gory and quite explicit "Giallo a Venezia" (Mario Landi, 1979). Here she's an usettling adolescent named Rosa (or Julia in the Spanish version), the prototypical "girl in trouble." Leonora Fani was already 23 years old during the filming of "Pensione paura", but by retaining her characteristic fragile adolescent appearance she is ideal for her role. Luc Merenda, who plays the abuser playboy Rodolfo, also strips naked for the cameras. Merenda, who on this occasion is somewhat difficult to recognize because of his mustache and hairstyle, was a regular actor in polizzieschi of the time such as "Kidnap Syndicate" (1975), "Il polizziotto é marcio" (1974) - both by Fernando di Leo - or "Il conto é chiuso" (Stelvio Massi, 1976), Giallo as Torso - Violencia carnal (Sergio Martino, 1973) and Spaghetti Western as They Still Call Me Amen (Alfio Catabiano, 1973) . Being an Italian/Spanish here appears actors regularly in Italy cinema: Luc Merenda, Lidia Biondi and Spain actors such as Francisco Rabal, Maximo Valverde or José Maria Prada. The motion pictue was regular but professionally directed by Francesco Barilli who made a few films (Il profumo della signora in nero (1974)) with no much success. Rating: 5.5/10. Passable and acceptable, though some tiring and boring .