A Candle for the Devil 4K 1973

By the 1970s, Spain had developed a prolific horror school, producing many directors and other creative minds who would go on to make some of the most memorable horror films of the decade. Among these figures was Eugenio Martín, whose two films became classics of the genre: ‘The Train of Terror’ and this film, ‘The Hotel of Nightmares’, also known as ‘A Candle for the Devil’.

At the time, following the success of Hitchcock's Psycho, films set in hotels were very popular. Against this backdrop, A Candle for the Devil is a surprisingly thoughtful and measured film, as well as an excellent example of the significant difference between Spanish and Italian horror films of the 1970s: while Italian films were harsher on the viewer and more extravagantly designed, Spanish horror films tried their best to be realistic, and therefore told simpler stories with better ideas and more complex relationships between characters.

Indeed, it is quite rare to find a horror film with a truly well-thought-out, believable pair of brothers and sisters as the main characters. A good example is Jeepers Creepers. And here? Sisters Marta and Veronica run a dilapidated hotel in an old Spanish resort town, and their strict religious fervor, which can get in the way of young women on the side of the sexual revolution, truly immerses the viewer in the atmosphere and depth of the film. There is quite a lot about the secret sins of the two sisters, such as the younger sister's affair with a local resident and the older sister's habit of peeping at young men bathing naked, and all this could amuse the viewer, but unfortunately, the hypocrisy of the decrepit, perverted minds of these two “holy women” and their insistence on maintaining a superficial propriety are resolved by monstrous crimes.