IT HAPPENED AT NIGHTMARE INN a/k/a A CANDLE FOR THE DEVIL (1973)

In the Spanish countryside, sisters Marta and Veronica run a small hotel. They also murder any guest who doesn't live up to their strict, fundamentalist moral code. Because God. Didn't he also say something about not killing? Well, whatever.

This film is available in different versions, running between 67 and 120 minutes. I have the 67-minute version, and boy does it feel cut! Scenes just stop, characters react to nothing, there's no blood and gore to speak of…. And what's left is rather dull and not at all original: the murdered guests end up on the hotel's menu, their remains are stashed in wine vats in the cellar, and one of the obnoxiously religious sisters is sexually involved with the hotel's handsome young caretaker. Certain characters' motives and actions are never explained either, though that may be due to the chainsaw-like editing job.

Though marketed as a horror film, it's neither scary nor suspenseful. There's nothing to keep us guessing, as we know from the start exactly who is killing those young women. The acting is passable but, as often happens with these low-budget productions, the dubbing stinks.

Unlike the most watchable Eurotrash, this film is nowhere near sleazy or exploitative enough to hold a viewer's interest. I'm glad I only subjected myself to 67 minutes of this bullshit.