In 1974 director Francesco Barilli grabbed actress Mimsy Farmer, and created the delirious giallo masterpiece the “Perfume of the Lady in Black”, 3 years later he would return the giallo genre with an oft-neglected film that would combine elements of gothic horror and sleaze into the giallo formula to create something truly bizarre, delirious, and quite entertaining in the form of “Hotel Fear”, getting a Blu-ray release this month from the always reliable Mondo Macabro.

Hotel Fear stars Leonora Fani as Rosa, a young woman who runs a hotel during World War II with her Mother. When Mom dies she is left to run the place on her own, and with a barrage of sleazy guests. Into this comes a literal man in black who dispatches those come on to Rosa. This all ends in a delirious final act that truly is up there with Barilli’s Perfume… for a sense of heightened reality.

Hotel Fear I’ll just state outright is the definition of a slowburn, with much of the running time detailing the interaction between Rosa and the not-so-charming clientele, but this makes things a bit more interesting when things do go south. The overall look of the film is gorgeous, and creepy overall, with amazing surrealist flourishes that really add to it.

Mondo Macabro does a wonderful job restoring Hotel Fear with a 1:66:1 1080p transfer that is well detailed, with excellent colors. Audio is Spanish/Italian with English subs, and comes across crisp and clear. Extras include an interview with the director, and also actor Luc Merenda. There is also an interesting commentary by Rachel Nisbet and Peter Jilmstad, alternate scenes, a trailer, and an archival interview with the director. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.