After refusing a demand for kinky sex from a frisky customer named Buck (Robert Englund), naive prostitute Clara Wood (Roberta Collins) is evicted from the town brothel by the Madame, Miss Hattie (Carolyn Jones). Clara makes her way to a decrepit hotel, called the Starlight Hotel, located deep in a swamp. There she encounters the middle-aged, demented, mentally disturbed proprietor, Judd (Neville Brand), and his pet Nile crocodile, who lives in the swamp beside the porch.
Some days later, a fractious couple, the outgoing Faye (Marilyn Burns) and the disturbed Roy (William Finley), arrive at the hotel, along with their young daughter, Angie (Kyle Richards), and Angie's inquisitive dog. Harvey Wood (Mel Ferrer) and his daughter, Libby (Crystin Sinclaire), also arrive at the hotel seeking information on Clara, who is Harvey's runaway daughter, but leave when Judd denies having seen her. Accompanied by Sheriff Martin (Stuart Whitman), Harvey and Libby question Miss Hattie, who also denies ever seeing Clara. Harvey returns to the creepy swamp hotel alone, while Libby goes for dinner and drinks with the Sheriff. Meanwhile, Buck and his girlfriend, Lynette (Janus Blythe), venture to the hotel, much to the annoyance of Judd. Later, Libby arrives back at the hotel.
Events at the remote, no-diamond-rated swamp hotel include fighting (with a firearm and farm tools), swamp chases (occasionally involving a harvesting implement), interrupted cleaning rituals, attempted sexual assaults, displays of amazing engineering in underground swamp architecture, human bondage, fortuitous revelations and discoveries, and, throughout, a well-fed crocodile.
Where was the decrepit hotel?
a swamp