Recensioni degli utenti

Wow - this movie is fun and bad all at the same time. I'm amazed at how many people rent "horror" movies expecting them to actually be good - good in a sense of a strong story, decent plot, top notch acting and true scary moments - don't they realize that for every truly good horror film (and they are rare) there are fifty bad ones? And out of those fifty bad ones, there are maybe ten that rise to a new level - ones that are so bad that they are entertaining for all the wrong reasons - ridiculous script, bad acting, lame music and horrible directing. DEATH SPA is one of those - they rip-off many other movies including CARRIE, The EXORCIST and actually another murder spree in a gym movie, KILLER WORKOUT. Now Killer Workout is actually more fun and more lame but Death Spa has some hilarious moments. DEfinitely worth checking out for you fans of cheesy and laughable horror movies.

Witch Bitch… For the (alternative) title alone this movie should be considered a "classic" in the industry of silly-n-cheesy 80's horror! "Death Spa" delivers everything you can derive from the title and cool DVD-cover (mine actually displays a girl's bare ass): rancid sleaze, a retarded plot and loads of gooey make-up effects. Recent widower Michael Evans runs the fancy and hi-tech Starbody Health Spa, where all the gym devices are computer-driven and sexy young girls become a member if only to get close to hunky Michael. Business is great until peculiar 'accidents' begin to take place. Michael's girlfriend Laura is the first victim when she gets heavily burned after using the spa. The next incidents are even worse, resulting in the death of several guests. Michael suspects his brother-in-law to sabotage the place, as he never got over his sister's tragic suicide, but it's more likely that Catherine's vengeful spirit returned from the grave herself. "Death Spa" is wacky nonsense, completely without tension or atmosphere, but the gory murders are tremendously fun to watch! Some of the cheese-highlights include a girl literally blown to pieces by an exploding mirror and another hottie melts down to the bones! An elderly guy (a cop investigating the case) even has his throat bitten open by a deep-frozen fish!!! How many times have you seen that before? Everything in this gym center is bewitched, even the cocktail blender and the bathroom tiles. The dialogs & acting performances are horrible, the typical 80's music is atrocious and all the characters are so dumb they really deserve to die. Ken Foree ('Dawn of the Dead') briefly appears as the gym center's caretaker, but his share in the plot is hardly worth mentioning. "Death Spa" is insignificant and brainless 80's trash, and I enjoyed it A LOT!

Judging by the movie poster, I expected a really bad, almost unwatchable B-Movie. Don't be fooled by the poster, though, 'Death Spa' was better than expected.

It is still a B-movie, we can't escape that fact. But the film featured better characters and a better story than expected. William Bumiller stars as Michael, the owner of an executive, high-tech health spa - and this man is so sexy! When club members start dying, the film becomes a murder mystery thriller - and a rather interesting one at that.

Michael's wife, Catherine, died a horrible death a few years ago and he is trying to move on. Only, Catherine won't allow him... Yup, there's a supernatural element here as well. The effects during the film's finale also weren't too shabby. In general I found 'Death Spa' surprisingly good, and it kept me glued from beginning to end. So many 80's horror movies are in fact horror comedies, but there's no humor here. I rather enjoyed it.

Would I watch it again? Yes.

After reading the glowing reviews for this film I had to seek it out, especially as it's been compared to Aerobicide (Killer Workout). However I found that Death Spa was not as good, despite the fact that there's more gore.

The plot to Death Spa is a bit muddled and I found it hard to follow to start with. It seemed to be about a mans dead wife who was coming back to haunt him, causing deaths at the spa. There are some nice scenes such as when the naked girls are showering and bits of glass fly at them. And there's the scene where the guys ribs split open. The thing is, the deaths are not quite as 'gory' as some reviewers here would have you believe (at least on the Witch Bitch VHS I saw). The best scenes are at the end when all the mayhem occurs. The highlight is the frozen fish death scene that many have mentioned, which is hilariously cheesy. There's plenty of naked breasts too if that's your sort of thing.

Overall, Death Spa is fairly good but not amazing. The frozen fish scene is priceless. If you liked Death Spa you may also like Killer Workout, which I personally think is much better.

Death Spa (1989)

*** (out of 4)

Michael (William Bumiller) runs a health club that's the biggest thing in the city thanks to new technology that allows a computer system to run things. However, things take a dark turn when a couple members are severely injured and after more deaths happen it appears there's something much darker at play.

If you rented videos back in the 80s or 90s then I'm sure you stumbled across this film in the horror section at some point. I must have passed the video by countless times, picked it up a few times but I never left the store with it. After all, it's a horror movie set in a health club, how good could that be? Now that I've finally caught up with the picture I can't help but be disappointed in myself for not giving it a shot back in the day.

Look, if you're wanting high art or some sort of hard-hitting drama then you're not going to find it here. DEATH SPA is basically a low-budget slasher movie that appears to have been directed by someone who knew what the people watching a film like this wanted to see. Director Michael Fischa and writers James Bartruff and Mitch Paradise all do a wonderful job because what you've basically got here are a bunch of gory murders and a bunch of hot ladies taking their clothes off. These are staples of the VHS-era and this film offers plenty of both.

I really liked the death scenes in the film as they were not only creative but we also got some extremely gory moments. There are several highlights among the death scenes but there's one where a woman gets some sort of acid on her and just gets eaten away. As for the nudity, yeah, there's the required shower sequence but with a twist. DEATH SPA certainly isn't a masterpiece and it really would have benefited by being ten-minutes shorter but at the same time this is exactly what a film should be like if it wants to be in that low-budget horror field.

Cheesy 80's horror co-starring genre favs Ken Foree and Rosalind Cash along with Brenda Bakke are some of the featured players in this tale about a haunted health club. Goofy dialogue and some nasty gore effects make this movie watchable. Not bad but no great shakes either.

Recommended for the bad dialogue and acting. B-movie fans only.

B

I watched the film Deathspa under the title Witchbitch in 1990 and i found it quite enjoyable, It is fairly difficult to find but worth it.

The following review contains *Spoilers*

This film is not your conventional slasher flick but more of a horror/mystery film that does not take itself too seriously. The story is about a health spa which has been cursed by the spirit of a woman named Catherine who dies shockingly and her husband and brother work there. Unexplainable accidents and even deaths occur in the health spa and while this happens two detectives try to unfold these unexplainable occurrences, could Catherine be responsible for all the mayhem going on at the Starbody Health Spa.

We are introduced to at least a couple of dozen characters of various stereotypes including two workers in the club who are con artists, bimbos and vain people that like nothing more than to look good.

This film also contains many classic death scenes including a woman who is killed with a food processor!It also has many celebrity cameo appearances from Karyn Parsons who played Hilary in the Fresh Prince Of Bel Air and Brenda Bakke from Demon Knight.

Recommended to horror fans who want to watch a film for enjoyment and have some fun 7 out of 10!

The stage curtains open ...

"Alright, b*tch! I'll show YOU fried chicken!"

Wow ... what a terrible film! LOL - then why did I still have fun with it? I don't know why. Even so, this one was just horrible. "Death Spa" feels exactly like a porn company assembled a bunch of hot young beauties and studs for a cast and then said, "Let's make a horror movie!" That is the level of acting and script writing in this movie.

The story starts out late one night with a girl alone inside of a Los Angeles spa, enjoying some quiet time in the sauna, when the chamber suddenly fills with chlorine gas, nearly burning her to death. The police show up to investigate, and while they are there, another mishap occurs when a diving board in the pool area dislodges and nearly lands on top of the diver. And things are only just getting started ... bodies start turning up as one by one, the clientele and employees of the spa are killed in various ways. Rumor has it that the owner of the spa's dead wife has come back to haunt him, while another theory is that he is purposely being sabotaged so that he will lose the spa to another potential buyer.

This one started out pretty good. I loved the spa itself, the culture and atmosphere surrounding spas that were prevalent during the 80's comes to the forefront giving off a nice vibe heading into the film's story. But, as the kills start mounting up, this movie got more and more ridiculous with some of the worst acting ever filmed in a horror film. And that's saying something since horror films aren't known for good acting in the first place. The story was lame and it moved along at too fast a pace. No tension is allowed to build. We simply just go from one death to the next - walk in the room, and then a split second later the blood is gushing.

I have to give this one a lowly 2 stars out of 10. It gets both stars because I did enjoy some of the sets and homes they used to film in. The song playing during the end credits was a tune titled, "Killer Groove" by a band called Squirt Gun. They couldn't even spell that right in the credits - LOL. It was spelled out as "Killer Grove". This one is an easy pass. Not really worth the time. If you have 90 minutes to kill, then sure ... why not? You might actually enjoy it.

I was in the mood for some good 80 schlock horror, and I stumbled onto this gem Amazon Prime. Somehow, I'd never seen it before, but I wasn't disappointed. It doesn't get any schlockier or anymore 80s than this.

Spandex? Check Gratuitous nudity? Check Aerobics? Check Pastels? Check Smoke machines? Check Melting faces? Check Exploding heads? Check Incredibly lame special effects? Check

Seriously, it's got it all.

It looks like they had three distinct ideas for how things would play out, and decided to go with all three at the same time, so they all kind of mash together. It's a confusing mess, but who cares. If you're looking for a plot, you're looking in the wrong place.

Just relax and enjoy it.

Holy crap, this was put on late at night in drunken good fun and somehow this is a late 80's camp gem. The colors, music, and cinematography are crazy good fun.

The premise is solidly ridiculous - a murder spree at an LA fitness club seemingly caused by a malfunctioning computer. There's a playfulness to the whole enterprise, from the lighting, cinematography and lighting, to the overall high camp feel of it all. It's slightly surreal but in an offhand kind of way. The opening scene is pretty spectacular - a long take set to some sweet 80's synth with a great title "card". And the kills ramp up nicely - ending with a head exploding in a gale force wind and some killer flying fish.

With a name like "Death Spa" one can't be too surprised what this 80's schlock-house feature will bring to the table – but that's not where my confusion was based. I was under the impression that Death Spa fell under the category of other boredom-inducing Slashers from the era, chalking it up to be another entry filled with dumb jocks, air-headed bimbos, and a gym setting…and while this film does encompass some of those elements, the direction it headed offered me a different approach to the usual kill-or-be-killed set up; a product made possible by relatively unknown Austrian director Michael Fischa – so devoid of any form of recognition that he's gone blind from residing so deep underground. A director's popularity is by no means a sure-fire way of distinguishing their movie-making talents but if I'm to be honest with my readers, there's no mistaking that Fischa should stay far, far away from the industry with a pitiful whopper like this embarrassing entry. Allow me to entertain you with a brief synopsis.

Michael Evans is a recent widower and owner of Star Body Health Spa (quite possibly the dumbest name imaginable); a state-of-the-art training facility that's run entirely by a computer. Michael's former brother-in-law David is the lead programmer and mastermind behind this sophisticated machine; his relationship with Michael remains strained after his sister's suicide. The film opens with a young woman by the name of Laura Danders. After a brief conversation with one of her trainers she finds herself alone in the building and before locking up for the night, ventures into the shower room. A freak mishap occurs when the shower head spouts forth a toxic chemical, causing Laura to receive severe burns in addition to a temporary loss of vision. The police are quick to investigate while several suspects appear suspicious: David, the brother-in-law, who remains in charge of the computer system and Priscilla, the general manager who was placed at the scene of the accident later that night. Who is behind these bizarre happenings? Is someone targeting Michael? Can there be saboteurs on the prowl?

If Death Spa's premise alone doesn't sound laughable enough to your liking, the story takes a turn for the worse about half-way in. Themes of the supernatural, sabotage, and demonic possession are all thrown into the melting pot and result in a convoluted telling. The only instance I can see this film gaining any notoriety for being a cult 80's hit is if it was voted into such a state by the same supporters who lobbied a release for Ghoulies IV on DVD…because surely no sane individual would promote such a waste of shelf space; even dust has a more important role than Death Spa does in our universe.

Far off into the future, when we eventually destroy ourselves, an alien race will travel forth to our solar system and subsequently land on our planet. Their mission: to delve deep into our sophisticated relics. A foreign and other-worldly hand would sift through all of the clutter and retrieve a pristine-looking copy of Death Spa on VHS; an item of unknown worth to the distant travelers. In the attempt to access our supposed "archives", their advanced research will procure a device to view the 7 3/8 x 4 1/6 plastic encasement. What ensues is unspeakable - these strange beings will be faced with an hour and 28 minutes of poorly written dialog, stupid-looking special effects, and an inconclusive screenplay that any grade-schooler could have been commissioned to write via Now & Laters. Top it off with an 80's hokey soundtrack that goes nowhere in a hurry. The extraterrestrials will surmise that our race was a rather forgettable one – all thanks to the pangs of curiosity and wonderful that Michael Fischer felt when he embarked on producing this terrible film, going a step further to shamelessly employ a well-known horror icon to boost the market value. Thanks for singlehandedly bringing our civilization to its knees, Mike! I really appreciate it!

Some horror fans might slide down the banister when they learn that Ken Foree plays the role of Marvin – a trainer who works at the fitness center. Foree is most certainly a horror icon as far as acting goes. His most famous role is from George A. Romero's Pennsylvania-based zombie classic, Dawn of the Dead from 1978 as "Peter". Foree also received another prominent role in 1986's From Beyond; an H.P Lovecraft short story, directed by Stuart Gordon and featured alongside fellow veteran Jeffrey Combs (Dr. Herbert West from '85's Re-Animator…another Stuart Gordon classic). For those of you unfamiliar with Ken's work from the past, you may even remember him as Charlie Altamont in The Devil's Rejects.

I'll be the first to admit that I love the idolization of horror actors and actresses…I feel that these individuals are in a league of their own. Unfortunately it's people like this that are slapped on a movie cover regardless of how big their part is in a film. I'm trying desperately not to derail the point I'm making here – Foree's part in Death Spa is a small one, and even if it was more significant, the movie is too pathetic for it to matter.

What would be the proper way to conclude a review for this heap of a film? Are there are any specific plot twists or incredible endings to speak of? No. The finale might strike some people as appealing but only for a split second; almost like catching a glimpse of something interesting and colorful out of the corner of your eye, only to learn that it's a beat-up cardboard box that a gaggle of vermin have been living in.

This might have been ok if the death scenes weren't so ridiculous. The acting is really bad, and the death and injury scenes are so corny that they are quite funny...but it's not a comedy.

It's a bit of a fun watch but not a great film.

It's a damn shame that this movie didn't end up better than it was. The premise isn't original, but it's a fun one for a horror movie even if it does sound silly: A computerized gym starts killing people. Who's behind it all?

Watch William Bumiller's character bully everyone he even slightly suspects is behind it all. Too much of the movie is this guy getting in everyone's faces. It would be funny if it didn't take up so much of the movie. If you don't recognize that actor's name, no one will blame you. He hasn't been in much else and this movie is probably the reason for that. If this was his big break he totally blew it.

The budget on this thing had to be decent. You can tell just by the lighting and how well shot it is. The effects aren't bad either. There are great, gory horror kills interspersed throughout the movie along with plenty of nudity, but without a story to tie it all together, it's infuriating to wait until the next ridiculous "good part." Although I gotta say they were stretching it thin towards the end with the blender and the fish, both hilarious if they hadn't gone on beyond the punchline of what had to be a joke.

This came out a year after Killer Workout, which is also a bad horror movie - but I highly recommend that one before this one because at least they tried to make a movie and didn't just string nonsense together and call it one. The thing is, this movie LOOKS way better than Killer Workout. It's a shame they didn't put just a little more effort into the final product.

This is really bad.

I have been waiting to find a copy of this movie since I saw a preview for it about 15 years ago. Finally, a few weeks ago I got a copy of the uncut version and I laughed my way through most of this movie. OK, most of the dialogue in this movie is just bad. Not even one of my personal favorite actors (Ken Foree) could save this bad script writing. But hey, this is a movie that takes place in a gym most of the time. How good could the dialogue be? The story line is decent enough to keep interest. Although, things do start to crumble near the end of the movie. But hey, that's OK because the end is the best part of the movie. And I can't forget the gore. This movie is rather graphically violent and I think that's where most of the laughs come in. Mainly, at times the gore takes you by surprise with certain scenes like peoples hands blowing to pieces or throats be impaled through. Yes, this movie is a lot of good fun and if you can stand bad dialogue and extremely bad eights music check it out, if you can find a copy.

I had never heard about this 1988 horror movie titled "Death Spa" prior to sitting down here in 2024 to watch it. I had the opportunity to watch it, and given my fascination with all things horror, of course I did so without hesitation. However, I virtually had no idea what I was in for.

The storyline in the movie, as written by James Bartruff and Mitch Paradise, was utter rubbish. It felt like the two writers were working independently of one another and not knowing what the other was working on. There was no particularly deeper red thread throughout the course of the movie, and it felt like a random scramble of incoherent footage. And I have to say that I found very, very little entertainment in the movie, and it was quite a struggle to sit through this ordeal.

Of the entire cast ensemble in the movie, I was only familiar with Ken Foree and Chelsea Field. And not even Ken Foree was able to salvage this train wreck of a movie. The acting performances in the movie were actually not too bad, but the actors and actresses virtually had nothing to work with in terms of script, character gallery and dialogue.

The movie has a couple of special effects throughout the course of its runtime, but it was hardly anything noteworthy, much less anything that spruced up the movie much.

If you enjoy horror movies, do yourself a favor and don't waste 88 minutes on this dumpster fire of a movie. It just simply isn't worth the effort.

My rating of director Michael Fischa's 1988 movie "Death Spa" lands on a generous two out of ten stars.

****SPOILERS**** Extremely gory movie about a health spa, The Starbody,haunted by the owners Michael Evens, William Bumiller, wife Catherine, Shari Shattuck, with some of the most gut turning scenes even put on film.

The movie starts out with what at first seems like a number of tragic accidents where Michael's girlfriend Laura,Brenda Bakke, gets blinded by what seems like a defective steam room. Later one of the costumers at the spa Darla, Chelsea Field, almost gets killed when the diving board that she was on gave way and broke. When another spa member Robert, Hank Cheyne,is torn to pieces working out on one of the exercise machines Michael as well as the police begin to suspect David, Merritt Butrich, who works in the control room which controls the exercise equipment in what's been happening to the people at the spa.

It turns out that David holds his ex-brother in-law Michael responsible for his sisters death. Catherine committed suicide by dousing herself with gasoline and setting herself on fire because she became crippled giving birth to Michael's child. Michael refused to let Catherine have an abortion which David feels would have prevented her from becoming crippled and thus driving her to kill herself. The movie moves to it's final and bloody conclusion with an horrific ending that ends up killing almost everyone in the spa.

Over-the-top special effects back then, 1987, that are as good as they are in any horror or slasher movie made now makes "Death Spa" rank right up there with slasher movies like "Halloween" made back in the 1970's and 80's. Some of the scenes in the movie were really terrifying as well as eye-popping and there was a number of times when I said to myself watching the movie "How did they do that?"

The plot of "Death Spa" was fairly routine with Catherine's spirit taking over her brother David's body and doing in her husband Michael's business, the health spa, and his friends. Especially Michael's girlfriend Laura who Catherine felt that Michael had an affair with while she was still alive. It's the really unbelievable special effects that makes the movie worth watching.

This movie started out on a nice pace but midway through it seem the director did not know how to finish this movie. The plot got lost in the fake gore and the actors seem to not care about the script midway through, as the acting seemed forced and was very bad. The special effect is another reason why this movie was so bad to the point you can tell the actors were holding up their props pretending to be killed. Anyone rating this movie above a two was probably in it themselves and wanted to start a small cult classic following. For me, this movie is a hard no on the enjoyment level which was time wasted.