A Candle for the Devil

This special limited edition spot gloss and embossed slipcover (designed by Haunt Love) is limited to 2,000 units and is only available on our website and at select indie retailers. Absolutely no major retailers will be stocking them.

Bizarro is dedicated to unearthing the boldest, most original visions in Spanish cinema—films that are as daring, provocative, and offbeat as they are artistically distinctive. Whether restoring lost cult treasures or bringing overlooked gems to new audiences, Bizarro offers a curated selection for cinephiles craving the unexpected. In Spanish, “Bizarro” means both strange and brave, a name that reflects our commitment to cinema at its most unconventional. Proudly partnering with OCN Distribution, we invite viewers to discover the fearless and extraordinary from Spain’s cinematic underground—restored and celebrated for a new generation.

Beneath the relentless sun of a picturesque Spanish village, two sisters preside over a boarding house where religious and sexual repression, masked by fanatical morality, hide a chilling secret. Young, uninhibited foreign tourists arrive—displaying a nakedness and freedom at odds with the village’s rigid rules—and their presence ignites a slow-burning tension. When Laura Barkley (Judy Geeson) comes to the village searching for her missing sister, she is drawn into a web of suspicion and mounting dread. As guests begin to disappear, the sisters’ twisted sense of virtue unravels, exposing the darkness festering behind the village’s tranquil facade.

From horror-maestro Eugenio Martín (Horror Express), A Candle for the Devil (aka It Happened at Nightmare Inn, 1973) is a fascinating, feverish blend of Giallo-esque suspense and razor-sharp social critique, targeting the suffocating moral codes and authoritarian shadows cast by Franco’s Spain. Acclaimed by genre devotees as “an underseen gem” and “a must for any Euro-horror collection,” this cult favorite finally blazes onto 4K UHD—uncut and more stunning than ever, restored from the original camera negative for the very first time, and packed with a wealth of brand new and archival extras.

directed by: Eugenio Martin
starring: Judy Geeson, Aurora Bautista, Esperanza Roy, Víctor Barrera, Lone Fleming
1973 / 89 min / 1.85:1 / Spanish, English DTS-HD MA 1.0

Additional info:

• 2-disc Set: 4K Ultra HD / Region A Blu-ray
• Newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative
• Presented in both its original Spanish language soundtrack with newly translated subtitles and the English dub track
• The Spain That Wouldn’t Die: A new appreciation by Sitges Film Festival director Ángel Sala
• Courage Under Censorship: A new interview with actress and Eugenio Martín’s partner, Lone Fleming
• The Rider of Fantaterror: A retrospective interview with actor Vic Winner
• A Devil in Spain: An interview with actress Judy Geeson
• Alternate English-language titles
• Original Spanish and International trailers
• English subtitles