A retreat for rich women who suffer from ailments, let us not call it an institute for the mentally unbalanced. A masked figure stalks the rooms looking at the the naked bodies as they sleep. They are not writhing with sexual repression, let us not say that. The doctors unable to cure these women as they are issue far more deep rooted than simply the diagnosis might predict. Let us not say that Dr Keller (Klaus Kinski) is worried that this will spill over into sexual violence and that he knows this desire is making the symptoms far worse. Murder is the logical step now. Let us tell you that murders of nurses, patients and staff bring the fears to ahead and the truth to the surface. However, Let us not say that they were warned and that this was to be expected. Oh no…

Cold Blooded Beast (known more as Slaughter Hotel, though not set in a hotel…) comes at you like a train which is lossed on a track. It never holds back, never slows and always leaves you wanting to see more. This is a rare treat for any film fan and one that is even more compelling because it has been out of circulation in the UK for so long. Genre come and go. Films also but some live and others leave a legacy. This left a legacy and one that must not be downplayed.  A delicious Giallo from the Politizi film master Fernando Di Leo. In fact his only Giallo and to be fair, one of the best to grace the scene. It is filled with those little touches we expect, if we know the genre and we know the motivations.  We start with 40s mystery films that have the headache of war and the hangover of desire, rooted deep inside them. Here seen in the diagnosis of each patient. Women of worth wanting to be treat and be taken to delights.We mix in that the 50s repressive society of everything is ok. This is the exterior palace and its surrounds. They are home to subversion but hide it as well as any place of nightmares can.

Add a touch of 60s sexual liberation, with the women masturbating and moaning, delighting in the body and the freedom of expression. They love their bodies and also use them to seek gratification. Finally we have the 70s violence in full soaked joy. This is the violent decade becoming marked as the time when you fought and you stood up. You also died for your stance and sometimes your sins… Never forget that Giallo is always about the collision of all of this. However add to this the Hitchcock flair in visual style, that of the phantom ride of stalk and voyeur and the homage to the master Bava and you have CBB. It is a film that will lead you along a quite sublime, sexual feast that maybe outside of your zone of comfort. It is about the secrets we desire and it is very good at playing with the form of the genre. Yes, it has sex in it. Yes it has murder in it. It also has the wonderful Kinski, the extremely beautiful Margaret Lee and the sexy Rosalba Neri. More than that however, it has the sheer force of all these touches to mark it out…

So the 88 treatment. Well that looks like the tender lover has met a very sadistic friend. The clean up has returned it to heights previously missed. It has also added some of the sex back. That is to say, you now see what the voyeur saw. Warts and hair and all… The interview with Rosalba comes across as a very lite exchange. Mondo commentary is very good indeed. So good in truth it is worth the disc price.