BA_Harrison Daniela Giordano plays recently released jailbird Margaret Bradley, whose parole officer Alicia (Rosalba Neri) sends her to the house of Mrs. Grant (Giovanna Galletti). Soon after moving in, Margaret becomes convinced that something strange is afoot, and her suspicions are compounded when she is approached by Jack Whitman (John Scanlon), who is investigating the disappearance of his sister, a previous guest at the house.The Girl in Room 2A kicks off in fine giallo style, with the bloody murder of a topless woman during the opening credits, the victim impaled, her body thrown over the edge of a cliff; however, giallo fans are bound to be disappointed by director William Rose's lack of style (all of his previous films were pure sexploitation; I'm thinking he should have stuck with what he knew best), the low body count and a plot that strays a long way from the conventions of the genre.Regular bouts of female nudity and some gratuitous sleaze (girls are tied up and flogged by a maniac in a red hood and cape) help prevent the viewer from dozing off, but remaining invested in the film is a struggle, the pedestrian direction, lack of gore, and dreary pace all taking their toll. The film ends with the revelation that the women are being killed by a sect who seek to 'cleanse' the wicked, and shows the masked killer to be none other than... well, that would be telling, but suffice to say it's suitably silly.5 out of 10, minus one point for the inexplicable scene that shows a machine pumping blood through the floorboards of Margaret's room - what the hell was that all about?

Coventry There basically only exist 3 groups of people in this world. The first group considers "The Girl in Room 2A" to be a giallo and the second group doesn't. The third group has never even heard about "The Girl in Room 2A" and thus couldn't care less whether it's a giallo or not. This last group covers about 99,5% of the world's population, but of course we'll completely disregard them in this review. Yours truly homes in the second group. Somehow, the American born smut director William Rose (previously responsible for duds like "Rent-A-Girl" and "50,000 B.C.") found some financers and collaborators in Italy. Good for him, but just because a film is released in 1974 and the title contains keywords like "casa" and "paura", it doesn't necessarily make it a giallo. Admittedly, certain trademarks are present, like beautiful and innocent young women being slaughtered by a masked assailant, the boarding house type of setting and the brother of a former victim independently investigating the case. But it's made clear rather early in the film that the girls are being targeted by a perverse satanic cult rather than by a perverse lone killer and, moreover, "The Girl in Room 2A" doesn't feature any stylistic giallo trademark like imaginative camerawork or a dazzling soundtrack. Margaret Bradley is a young woman just released from prison and, just like many girls before her, the friendly and caring parole officer Alice Songbird sends her to the boarding house of the elderly Mrs. Grant where she can quietly build up her life again. During the pre-opening credits scene (basically the only good part of the entire film) we already witnessed how the tenants of this house are kidnapped, tortured, killed and thrown off a cliff. After some strange occurrences, Margaret hooks up with a handsome young stranger who's looking for his sister that went missing. The biggest default of "The Girl in Room 2A" is the miserable script. Everything that happens seems so random and meaningless. Who are these cult members? Why and to whom are they sacrificing the girls? The answers are quite simple, in fact: William Rose is a completely untalented writer/director and his entire repertoire proves that he isn't interested in atmosphere, tension-building or consistent storytelling. He likes to film young girls in various states of nakedness and suffering. And then still he's not very good at it, since ravishing cult sirens like Rosalba Neri and Karin Schubert are dramatically wasted. There are a few notably grisly death sequences, but (again) popping up randomly. Perhaps in the hands of a REAL contemporary Italian giallo-director, this could potentially have been a modest classic. In the hands of this guy, it's nothing but a daft and forgettable non-giallo.

Red-Barracuda Girls who stay in room 2A at a mysterious boarding house are being abducted, tortured and killed by masked assailants. The latest female tenant and the brother of the last victim begin investigating the mystery.Perhaps the most defining thing about this giallo is the fact that it was directed by an American. When I saw the name William Rose in the opening credits, I automatically assumed that this must be an Americanised Italian name for a director wishing to sell his product in the States. But no, it was in fact an American B-movie director working in Italy. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with the fact that The Girl in Room 2A is not exactly the most stylish giallo out there. Visually it is pretty pedestrian when set alongside other similar Italian productions, although, in fairness, this may be due to the quite limited settings. Quite a lot of the movie takes place within the confines of the boarding house and this may also account for the lack of good lighting. It's certainly a relatively restrained effort in terms of violence, except for the pre-credit sequence of course, which is very salacious. In fairness, the beginning promises more than the movie ultimately delivers. I wouldn't say it ever gets dull but it just doesn't necessarily live up to its potential.There are a few strange details such as the mysterious villain who looks very similar to the Crimson Executioner from Bloody Pit of Horror (1965). This one doesn't possess the sheer delirium of that crazy film though, this one is much more down-beat, while still being far from realistic. The casting is notable for a couple of the actresses. The lead girl is Daniela Giordano who made a very memorable and sexy turn in Mario Bava's comedy Four Times That Night. She isn't quite as well utilised in this feature, as Bava's playful movie was better suited to her. The other actress of note is Rosalba Neri who starred in many Italian genre pictures in the 70's, such as the excellent Amuck! Sadly she is very under-utilised in this film which is somewhat careless of the film-makers.This isn't a prime example of the genre. It isn't quite stylish enough, nor is the mystery interesting enough. Nevertheless, it does have enough strangeness to be worth a watch if you are a fan of Italian thrillers.

trashgang Still no proper release this is just one to hunt down for the geeks of Italian horror. It's made in the heydays of the giallo's but I won't say that this is a giallo. There's to much ,so-called, supernatural going on. Once Margaret Bradley (Daniela Giordano) is released from prison and stays at room 2A after her release she's seeing things that aren't for real like for example that's she is locked into a prison. Also strange is that William Rose, the director, made an Italian flick. He was better known for exploitation like Rent-A-Girl (1965). The Girl In Room 2A was the last one he directed. The direction was okay but what a weird editing it had. There were a lot of jumps made by editing towards the story. The flick itself started of rather nasty with a naked girl being impaled with a stick by a hooded killer. Even their the bad editing is shown were suddenly she's killed and next shot she's being thrown from a cliff. It never becomes really bloody it even becomes a bit dull after the opening credits. But still I kept watching what would happen. It's easy to see who the hooded killer is so there isn't that much mystery added to this flick. For the collectors it does have some value due the actors being involved like Brad Harris who went further to Hercules (1983) or our main lead Daniela Giordano who appeared one year later in Inquisicion directed by cult actor Paul Naschy. But most will be disappointed by the short role Rosalba Neri had here in this flick, she appeared in a lot of B-flicks (Lady Frankenstein 1971).Not exactly my cup of tea but somehow I kept watching this dull flick with not that much of blood and some cheesy torturing, of course being Italian, it do has a lot of overdubs and nudity.Gore 1/5 Nudity 1,5/5 Effects 1,5/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5