With Spain beginning to enjoy the benefits of modern tourism for the first time, some areas still find it hard to deal with the liberalism and sexual freedom of those who travel there. Among such people are Marta (Aurora Bautista) and Veronica (Esperanza Roy), two rather unattractive spinster sisters who run a guest-house in a conservative and religious town in the Ronda valley. Marta's guest-house earns her a very steady income, her restaurant has never been so busy, but she would trade it all for quieter times, if the clientèle were of like mind to her. One day while preparing a meal, Veronica and Marta hear a commotion outside, they rush upstairs to find a gang of excited local youths taunting one of their female guests who is sunbathing topless on the roof, this is the final straw for an irate Marta, she physically pushes the girl towards the door, unfortunately the girl falls down the stairs, her head crashes through a stained glass window and her throat is slit by a large shard of glass, Veronica wants to call the police, but Marta studies the shard intently, it is that of a religious sword. Marta takes this as a sign from God, that she has done right in her quest for a greater morality in society, so her death goes unreported.
Within minutes of the girls death, another girl comes calling at the guest-house, she introduces herself as Laura Barkley (Judy Geeson), the sister of the girl who now lies in a bloody mess upstairs, both sisters tell Laura that her sister left earlier that morning without giving a forwarding address. Laura finds this odd as she was meant to meet her sister there, she decides to wait around. As the days go by, Laura notices other strange goings on at the guest-house, she decides to investigate further the disappearance of her sister, as it would seem her disappearance is not the only one. Both puritan sisters hide a darker side, Veronica is scared of Marta, but it doesn't stop her from stealing some of the takings for her secret amour, she sneaks off most days to enjoy her lustful afternoons with him. Marta, who had been ditched by her husband to be on her wedding day, from which she has never quite recovered, is also shown to have secret lustful thoughts, a trait she despises in her guests, the murder of the girl seems to have triggered greater more evil thoughts in her head, but will she act on them?
Eugenio Martin's film captures rather well the troublesome transition of a society from a puritanical one with no money to an affluent one which has thoughts of compromising its own morals and standards to attain previously only dreamed of financial rewards. Geeson (Fear in the Night)who has claims to being the star is rather underused, mainly as she's off somewhere looking for her sister, but its Roy(Return of the Blind Dead) and Bautista who take the acting plaudits, both give solid performances, Roy convinces as the the sister with a heart, whose heart isn't really in the killings, Bautista is both sinister and rather scary as the overly fanatical elder sister. but its all rather ironic that at first they are both rather unattractive on the eye, seeming older than their years, but as both give in to their carnal and murderous urges they become more attractive and younger on the outside, but colder, more evil on the inside. The rest of the cast are on the whole rather forgettable, Martin's direction is OK, not up to the standards of his Horror Express,but here he builds up a nice atmosphere, with dead bloody carcasses of animals littering the kitchen, a furnace where evidence is routinely burned and a wine cellar where more gruesome things happen adding to the overall affect. the killings though are slow and the gruesomeness is more implied than seen, but thats the way i like these films so its not really a negative for me. The killings could of course have been stopped if someone had just called in the police, but hey we wouldn't have a film then, so i'll forgive this oversight. The ending is rather odd as villagers who have acted on a piece of cannibalistic evidence, lead the police in slow motion to the hostelry, just in time to save our heroine...well maybe? So if you like low budget Spanish horror from this era, this is certainly for you.
Within minutes of the girls death, another girl comes calling at the guest-house, she introduces herself as Laura Barkley (Judy Geeson), the sister of the girl who now lies in a bloody mess upstairs, both sisters tell Laura that her sister left earlier that morning without giving a forwarding address. Laura finds this odd as she was meant to meet her sister there, she decides to wait around. As the days go by, Laura notices other strange goings on at the guest-house, she decides to investigate further the disappearance of her sister, as it would seem her disappearance is not the only one. Both puritan sisters hide a darker side, Veronica is scared of Marta, but it doesn't stop her from stealing some of the takings for her secret amour, she sneaks off most days to enjoy her lustful afternoons with him. Marta, who had been ditched by her husband to be on her wedding day, from which she has never quite recovered, is also shown to have secret lustful thoughts, a trait she despises in her guests, the murder of the girl seems to have triggered greater more evil thoughts in her head, but will she act on them?
Eugenio Martin's film captures rather well the troublesome transition of a society from a puritanical one with no money to an affluent one which has thoughts of compromising its own morals and standards to attain previously only dreamed of financial rewards. Geeson (Fear in the Night)who has claims to being the star is rather underused, mainly as she's off somewhere looking for her sister, but its Roy(Return of the Blind Dead) and Bautista who take the acting plaudits, both give solid performances, Roy convinces as the the sister with a heart, whose heart isn't really in the killings, Bautista is both sinister and rather scary as the overly fanatical elder sister. but its all rather ironic that at first they are both rather unattractive on the eye, seeming older than their years, but as both give in to their carnal and murderous urges they become more attractive and younger on the outside, but colder, more evil on the inside. The rest of the cast are on the whole rather forgettable, Martin's direction is OK, not up to the standards of his Horror Express,but here he builds up a nice atmosphere, with dead bloody carcasses of animals littering the kitchen, a furnace where evidence is routinely burned and a wine cellar where more gruesome things happen adding to the overall affect. the killings though are slow and the gruesomeness is more implied than seen, but thats the way i like these films so its not really a negative for me. The killings could of course have been stopped if someone had just called in the police, but hey we wouldn't have a film then, so i'll forgive this oversight. The ending is rather odd as villagers who have acted on a piece of cannibalistic evidence, lead the police in slow motion to the hostelry, just in time to save our heroine...well maybe? So if you like low budget Spanish horror from this era, this is certainly for you.