I’m a simple man with simple pleasures; give me some boobs, some blood, and some creative decapitations and I’m a happy camper. Lucky for me, Horror Hospital delivers all of those in spades.
Michael Gough, better known as to many as Alfred the butler from the Batman movies from the ’90s, stars in this bloody horror comedy as Dr. Storm, a graduate of the Josef Mengele School of Medicine. Storm uses the “health hotel” he runs as his own private playground for his depraved medical experiments. Assisted by the Nurse Diesel-esque Aunt Harris, and the dwarf Frederick, life seems pretty sweet for the bad doctor until a burnt-out rocker and his new girlfriend (who just happens to be the niece of Aunt Harris) decide to stay at the hotel for a few days for some r&r. What they find there is anything but restful and relaxing.
There’s something great about horror movies made in the ’70s. Most of them approached the subject in a straightforward manner; without the winks to the camera and “gee, isn’t this silly” moments of self-consciousness, or the over-inflated sense of self that seem to plague many of today’s horror flicks. Horror Hospital is fun, funny, and at times genuinely creepy. The special effects are all completely cosmetic—that is, they’re created through makeup and prosthetics—no CGI to be found, for obvious reasons, and it really makes your skin crawl. It’s funny, because many of the special effects are obvious, and, at times, overdone, but there’s something about the heavy-handedness that adds an extra level of grotesque to the scenes that works very well.
The movie’s also very funny, in that kind of over-the-top, I-can’t-believe-they-did-that sort of way. My favorite part of the movie is the mechanism the doctor uses to decapitate people. He’ll drive up beside somebody on their right side, and just before the car reaches that person, a machete blade and a butterfly net pop out from the side of the car, neatly lopping off the victim’s head and catching it in one smooth motion. No matter how many times they did it, I still got a kick out of the process. It’s so Rube Goldbergian that it’s absurd.
Enjoying this movie really depends on how dark your sense of humor is. Obviously, mine’s fairly black, so I got a kick out of it. This is a fun movie full of nudity, death, blood, and depravity. It straddles that fine line between horror and comedy, and often muddles the two so that you’re not sure whether it’s all right to laugh or not. Your mileage may vary, but I had a lot of fun with this one.
The movie is presented in 16×9 anamorphic widescreen with the audio in Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono. There is only an English language track and English subtitles are provided for the hearing impaired. Although this movie is from the 1970s, they did a good job in cleaning it up, so the transfer here is very good.
I’m not crazy about DVD extras, so keep that in mind when I say that these really didn’t thrill me much. Some of the reminiscing on the commentary track was interesting, but I wouldn’t have listened to it all the way through if I wasn’t required, and the stills gallery just seems like a waste of digital space to me.
Feature-length Commentary with Producer Richard Gordon, moderated by Tom Weaver
Still Gallery
If you like a little comedy with your horror (or a little horror with your comedy) then this is the movie for you. It turns from funny to disturbing without warning and keeps you on edge, which is something that good horror and good comedy should do. It’s not Shakespeare by any means, but it’s great fun. Recommended.
Dark Sky Films presents Horror Hospital. Directed by Antony Balch. Starring Michael Gough, Robin Askwith, Vanessa Shaw, Ellen Pollock, Skip Martin, and Dennis Price. Written by Antony Balch and Alan Watson. Running time: 90 minutes. Rated NR. Released on DVD: June 15, 2010. Available at Amazon.
