FilmsPlay MotelLike this

Films like Play Motel.

Play Motel (1979) reads as Sombre, steady, measured giallo / blackmail, grounded in texture. Nihilistic, intimate, cold. Every film below is ranked by distance across the same twelve hand-scored axes — with what it keeps, and where it walks away. Not a genre dump.

Death Steps in the Dark (1977) poster
1. Death Steps in the Dark1977

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Death Carries a Cane (1973) poster
2. Death Carries a Cane1973

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Smile Before Death (1972) poster
3. Smile Before Death1972

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Eyeball (1975) poster
4. Eyeball1975

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Naked Girl Killed in the Park (1972) poster
5. Naked Girl Killed in the Park1972

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Strip Nude for Your Killer (1975) poster
6. Strip Nude for Your Killer1975

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the bone-dry seriousness — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Nine Guests for a Crime (1977) poster
7. Nine Guests for a Crime1977

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

Terror Train (1980) poster
8. Terror Train1980

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire (1971) poster
9. The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire1971

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

The Dead Are Alive (1972) poster
10. The Dead Are Alive1972

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

The Weapon, the Hour, the Motive (1972) poster
11. The Weapon, the Hour, the Motive1972

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

A Dragonfly for Each Corpse (1975) poster
12. A Dragonfly for Each Corpse1975

Keeps the cold, bleak undertow and the patient, unhurried pace — one of the nearest reads in the catalogue.

These are Play Motel’s neighbours — where are yours?

Rate five posters and the same twelve axes read you — then tonight’s pick comes from your own centre of taste.

Find my film for tonight — 60 sec →