Horror Hospital

Not only was Michael Gough in Sleepy Hollow, a film that boasted the tagline "Heads Will Roll," but Gough also stars in this early 70's horror film where decapitation is integral to the plot. So much for two heads are better than one. This film tells the story of some demented doctor that labotimizes young people so as to make them into his puppets. He is in a wheelchair, has a dwarf-servant, a car that has a blade pop out to slice heads off of people, a seemingly neverending supply of killers clad in biker outfits, and a penchant for cracking his metallic-sounding knuckles. Gough uses no restraint at all in his performance as the crazed physician. His rich aristocratic voice adds all the more to his crazed lack of restraint. Gough's performance is larger than life, not necessarily better. The rest of the cast is adequate. Dennis Price, not long before his death, gives a cameo as an effeminate travel agent. The setting in the film is truly nice, and the film has a good flow of action. Some lacking points are the huge holes in the script, the general editing done in the film, and some lacklustre performances in supporting roles. The film is bad, yet one of those bad ones that can be so enjoyable. Should be seen for Gough's over-the-top performance at the very least.

This is another film I remember from childhood, from the days of regular TV (free, broadcast, and adjust the "rabbit ears" for reception), as a crappy but atmospheric British monster picture.

Now, not only on cable, but on a premium service, I came across it again - and in letterbox format no less. Well, the film is still basically very flawed, but it really shows how much better crafted films once were.

While it remains a simplistic lots of onscreen gore effort, this picture is so much more beautiful to look at than many produced today. The cinematography is consistently superior, and well supported by excellent lighting and generally well scored music. And even though the special effects don't match up to todays films they retain some value in that they have more visual "weight" than some of the CGI crap routinely inserted in modern movies.

Unfortunately the wacky plot and mediocre (well, sometimes bad) acting show through in the end. It may be that the director was trying for a lot of humor at points but it only worked for me towards the end of the film when one of those fleeing the burning building stops for a snack in the kitchen.

As for the beheading car mentioned in another review: that particular element is worthy of Austin Powers' "Dr. Evil." I can see the good doctor in this movie also calling out "All I'm asking for is for some frickin' sharks with lasers on their heads."

If you've seen this before on broadcast TV, it may be worth a second look on video or DVD for the cinematography and for the sexual elements which explain the plot a little more. In the TV version I saw as a kid, the sexual theme was not at all evident, and so, the plot seemed even more outlandish than it actually is.

Still, if you happen by this big-time cable it may catch your interest, but all the way along you'll wonder why any premium channel could have chosen this film from their catalog. There are quite simply so many more old British shockers which are better than Horror Hospital."

-SCG

If Richard O'Brien, writer of the "Rocky Horror Picture Show", wasn't inspired to write his movie after seeing "Horror Hospital" I'd be very surprised. So many similar subjects: sexually active couple in old castle/mansion, leather clad bikers, gore, evil doctor, brain manipulated minions. Even the couple's arrival is almost a carbon copy of Brad and Janet's greeting by Riff Raff who is in this case a freaky dwarf (pc - little person). This movie was released in 73' which would have been just a year before he began the songs for his soon to be musical "Rock(y) Horror Show." This is a must see for any RHPS fans.

This of course is not a "great film", but its heart is in the right place and many of the characters really go with it, despite the preposterous plot.

Michael Gough, in particular, is great as the evil doctor, and Skip Martin has a lot of fun with the "igor" role, as does Dennis Price with his cameo. The main couple as also good - so much so that I was intrigued to see that Vanessa Shaw apparently never did another film. Robin Askwith of course went on to create a reputation of enduring fame.

What I found most evocative, strangely, were the scenes on and about the railway - it looked convincingly like Victoria and the Brighton Line, and the interior carriage scenes took me straight back to commuting to school on trains that looked exactly like that.

I didn't find it as funny as I think I was supposed to, but it must have worked very well as a late-night TV horror treat as a complement to the Hammer canon.

A worn out musician decides to take break and go a relaxing vacation. He chooses to stay at health farm located out in the country and on the way there, he meets a girl on the train going to the same place to see her aunty. The mysteriously mean, but crippled Dr. Storm, who's performing brain surgery on the holidaymakers and turning them into his obedient zombies, runs the resort. When the two teens find out about his insane experiments and learn that's their fate. They go out of their way to get away. But they not only have the doctor to face, but also his dwarf sidekick, an army of leather wearing zombies and that of a hideous monster.

Just wait a second, as I just pick up my jaw from the ground. Now, what was that all about!? "Horror Hospital" has got to be one of the most ridiculous and over-exaggerated horror films that I've ever came across, but you know what? I had a real ball with this blend of macabre and camp! That's high camp of a VERY demented type. The praise that I've given makes it sound great and I had a good old time with it. Although, don't be expecting anything particularly fresh and this deranged piece is one downright messy film that doesn't have any idea of the word coherence. So from that point it recycles the same old formula and leaves a lot of things up in the air. The clichés and predictability flows freely, without any sort of constraints. Also forget about logic in the script and story as that's thrown out of the window for absurd situations that don't make much sense. Actually the whole film doesn't make a whole a lot of sense, with the so many potholes and laziness. There's so much going on in the plot that there's such vagueness to everything and the problem is it tries to squeeze too much madness without explaining what happen before it and how it came to that situation. But all is forgiven because it's so abnormal and hugely enjoyable. So, just go with the flow because if you try to decipher what's going on, you'll receive a splitting headache for your troubles. The whole mysterious awe about what's going is just so hard to shake that I couldn't keep my eyes off it.

The actual story is no more then a melodrama disguised as a Gothic shocker, which spurts along some exploitation and black humour along the way. Actually, the whole thing turns into a black farce with everything being poked fun at and the blood splattering is pretty much in a comic book state. Because of that the violence isn't particularly gruesome and it doesn't make you squirm, but the gratuitous bloodletting and nudity does run freely. Damn those leather-clad zombies really do like to hand out a beating! The great thing about it is that everyone involved knows how stupid it really is and don't take the thing so seriously. The performances are plain awful and purely amateurish to say the least. But it's Michael Gough's hellishly campy performance that steals the lime light as the crazy Doctor and Skip Martin as Frederick the dwarf adds a cheeky vibe to the film. The dialogue joins it with its ineptness. But even though these things are terrible there's some energy amongst it and you can't go wrong with the tongue-in-cheek approach it takes. Another strong feature is that of the setting. The resort, which more looks like a castle on the inside, has an oppressive awe about it and the grand Gothic exterior makes it look larger and menacing than it really is. Being isolated in the countryside helps provide such a brood atmosphere too. Although, it's definitely hilariously bad, it still does have its eerie moments worked in. Also the robust score builds on the suspense and uneasiness greatly and the soundtrack is reasonably groovy. Well, what do expect from that era. Really, this is purely utter ham that breathes sadism and sleaze in a very cheap way.

No way can you call this a good film, because it's not. The aim of the flick is to entertain with it being heavily laced with bloody, sleazy and humorous context. Even if the production is pure rubbish, it does it effectively enough that I can see this becoming a guilty pleasure of mine. Only for people who really enjoy camp horror and if you do, you're in for one big treat.