Inn of the Damned (1975)

Alex Cord is Cal Kincaid, a bounty hunter on the trail of a killer named Biscayne in 1896 Australia.

Trooper Moore (Tony Bonner) joins the hunt, which takes the men to a remote area where Biscayne was last seen in the company of a well-off assayer named Cummings.

Kincaid gets his man, but no one can seem to locate Cummings, who was supposedly dropped off at an inn in the area.

Moore goes looking for the assayer. But hwen Kincaid returns from delivering Biscayne’s body to authorities, the trooper is no where to be found.

Kincaid decides there might be something suspicious about the inn, which is run by an elderly couple.

Turns out Caroline Straulle (Judith Anderson) and her husband Lazar (Joseph Furst) lost their children in a tragedy years earlier.

Now they run an inn where you don’t dare go to sleep or stay overnight.

Alex Cord as Cal Kincaid, lying in wait for a suspected killer in Inn of the Damned (1975)

Judith Anderson as Caroline Straulle, checking out a photo of a missing man in Inn of the Damned (1975)

Review:

Alex Cord and Judith Anderson in a Western horror film set in Australia? Sounds intriguing, right?

It isn’t. Instead, it’s a muddled mess with more scenes featuring gratuitous nudity than scenes that elicit any sort of fright.

Oh, there are some interesting ideas, like a bed capable of crushing its victims.

There are also unnecssary tangents, a hard-to-follow back story and the chase for Biscayne, which seems to be the focus of the film’s first 45 minutes.

It’s almost as though the filmmakers forgot what type of film they were making. They clearly didn’t have the skill — or the cast — to pull it off.

Joseph Furst as Lazar Straulle, operating the bed that crushes its occupants in Inn of the Damned (1975)

Tony Bonner as Trooper Moore, searching for a missing assayer in Inn of the Damned (1975)

Directed by:
Terry Bourke

Cast:
Judith Anderson … Caroline Straulle
Alex Cord … Cal Kincaid
Michael Craig … Paul Melford
Joseph Furst … Lazar Staulle
Tony Bonner … Trooper Moore
John Meillon … George Parr
John Morris … Martin Cummings
Robert Quilter … Biscayne
Diane Dangerfield … Mrs. Millington
Carla Hoogeveen … Beverley
Don Barkham … Sgt. Malone
John Nash … The colonel
Phillip Avalon … Alfred

Runtime: 94 min.

Robert Quilter as Biscayne, the murderer bounty man Cal Kincaid is chasing in Inn of the Damned (1975)

Michael Craig as Paul Melford, the Straulle’s wary neighbor in Inn of the Damned (1975)

Memorable lines:

Cal Kincaid to George Parr: “It’s not nice to steal a little boy’s dog.”

Cal Kincard to George Parr; “If you run off, I’ll blow a hole in you big enough for a dingo to jump through.”

Officer, checking Biscayne’s body: “You cannon, Kincaid, it makes a mess.”

Undertake, upon learning Biscayne has no relatives: “Who’s gonna pay? Who’s gonna take care of the service?”
Cal Kincaid: “Service? Just dump him on a trash heap and let the flies eat him up.”

Alex Cord as Cal Kincaid, finding more trouble than he bargained for in Inn of the Damned (1975)

Alex Cord as Cal Kincaid and his companions, at the graves of the Straulle’s children in Inn of the Damned (1975)