La casa della paura (1973)

User Rating:

4.8/10   

Director:

William Rose

Writer:

William Rose (writer)

Release Date:

July 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Now you can see it...

Plot:

A sadistic killer cult kidnaps and sacrifices beautiful women. A young girl, just paroled from prison, moves into a strange house and appears to be the cult's next victim. |

Plot Keywords:

Cult | Sadistic | Occult | Ghost | Perverse

Cast

Daniela Giordano	...	Margaret Bradley
Raf Vallone	...	Mr. Dreese
John Scanlon
Angelo Infanti	...	Frank Grant
Karin Schubert	...	Maria
Rosalba Neri	...	Alicia Songbird
Brad Harris	...	Charlie
Frank Latimore
Giovanna Galletti	...	Mrs. Grant (as Giovanna Galetti)
Nuccia Cardinali	...	Mrs. Craig (as Nuccia Cardinale)
Dada Gallotti		(as Dada Galotti)
Marian Fulop
Annamaria Liberati
James Saturno
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Salvatore Billa	...	Mr. Dreese's chief henchman
Carla Mancini	...	One of the chained-up girls

Also Known As:

The Girl in 2A (USA)
The Girl in Room 2a

Runtime:

USA:90 min

Country:

Italy

Language:

Italian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:R

Company:

Euro Italian Film Production

Movie Connections:

Featured in Dusk to Dawn Drive-In Trash-o-Rama Show Vol. 1 (1996) (V)

the dud in Room 2a

Casa della paura, La aka The Girl in Room 2a, (1973) William L. Rose A sadistic cult that preys on vulnerable women, uses a local women's prison as a place to get these unfortunates into their lodging house, where they commence mind games while using hallucinogens to prepare their victims for their fate. Margaret Bradley is one such girl just released penniless from her imprisonment,so she takes up an offer to stay at the Grant's lodging house where she can stay for free until she finds some finance, almost immediately though she becomes suspicious of her hosts strange behaviour and the nocturnal events that keep her awake. She finds a friend in a stranger who is looking into the disappearance of his sister who also stayed at the Grants house, together they commit to finding out the truth.

The film starts promisingly with a kidnap and torture of a young girl who is then impaled on a spike by a crimson hooded killer, who does show up on occasion throughout the film, but there is very little in the way of spectacular giallo killings after that, the story kept me interested, but overall its not a Giallo I'd recommend, the visuals are uninspired, the score is at times laughably unsuitable but the biggest crime of all is the under use of Rosalba Neri who is restricted to about 3 minutes screen time, the identity of the Hooded killer is also rather obvious. 5/10