p 　　Another brilliant giallo thriller from director Francesco Barilli, whose THE PERFUME OF THE LADY IN BLACK was one of the genre 三九 s most haunting and original films This Italian-Spanish follow-up is a bit muddled, but no less engrossing br 　　Set in a family hotel in Northern Italy in 一九四五, the film concerns Rosa Leonora Fani , who helps her mother run the hotel while awaiting her soldier father 三九 s return from the front In a Barilli film, nothing is as it seems, and before long Mom who is sleeping with a traitor she 三九 s hidden in the attic is murdered Then poor Rosa is raped by two of the guests, who also are murdered, and while she 三九 s hiding the bodies she is forced into an orgy by all of the other guests But before the guests get to far a mysterious man enters all shots the guests Who is this mysterious man and what are his intentions for Rosa br 　　Like all the best gialli, Pensione Paura completely dispenses with logic early on, elevating weirdness to nearly operatic levels while absorbing the viewer in a thick and spellbinding atmosphere of mounting dread Francisco Rabal co-stars with Luc Merenda, Lidia Biondi, and Jose Maria Prada p