This obscure 1973 British black comedy certainly has cult appeal. This film caters to the gore mongers, the biker crowd, British gothic horror fans, 70’s era rock n rollers, and especially people into black humor. Because the film manages to successfully combine these elements, the film earns its place in cult filmdom. The film stars British horror veteran Michael Gough as the demented head surgeon, Dr. Storm. Gough has starred in such varied genre offerings as HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM, KONGA, and SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW, but is most familiar to mainstream audiences as Alfred the butler in all four BATMAN movies. The lead actor is Robin Askwith who has also appeared in other genre films from the same period such as TOWER OF EVIL and THE FLESH AND BLOOD SHOW. Ellen (THE WICKED LADY) Pollock plays Aunt Harris, Dr. Storm’s diabolical assistant and aunt to Vanessa Shaw’s character. Kurt (FRAGMENT OF FEAR) Christian portrays Abraham, the young man who comes to the hospital searching for his missing girlfriend who went there for a holiday (and never returned).

As the film begins, the sinister Dr. Storm and his dwarfish assistant Frederick (Skip Martin) are in a black sedan chasing bloodied hospital escapees. As the vehicle drives by the fleeing patients, a large machete pops out of the sedan’s exterior and beheads the two runaways. Dr. Storm gleefully takes the heads back to the hospital. Cut to an acid rock club in London. Young musician Jason is pissed off at the performing band (called the Mystics) for stealing his songs and his performance ideas. The band leader responds by punching Jason in the nose, sending the stressed out rocker complaining to his friends in the club. But instead of helping him, his friends suggest he’s burnt out and that he needs to take a vacation and get away from London for a while. Jason notices flyers around the streets of London for a health spa, and decides to book a solo trip there to rejuvenate himself.

On the train trip to the suburban hospital, Jason meets up with Judy (Vanessa Shaw), a depressed young woman who is heading to the same health spa to visit her only relative (whom she hasn’t seen since she was a child), Aunt Harris. So Jason and Judy share the train and travel to the spa. They are greeted by two silent motorcyclists wearing leather jackets and helmets. The motorcyclists take the young couple to the spa, and they are shocked to discover that the "spa" resembles a creepy old insane asylum! Aunt Harris greets them at the door and is not too happy to see her niece. Frederick the dwarf (who acts like Peter Lorre) takes them to their room, and invites them to dinner to meet the others and their host, Dr. Storm. Later, at the dining table, the other hospital residents are pale white (to the point of resembling zombies) and appear to be lobotomized. Dr. Storm enters in his wheel chair and informs the puzzled Jason and Judy that these people are part of his radical new health treatment.

The couple decide that they are not hungry and return to their room. They suspect something is up, and plan to sneak out that evening. But Jason insists on taking a look around first (mistake #1). This of course leaves Judy alone, and sure enough, a disfigured human creature with no facial features leaps out of the darkness and captures Judy. Jason’s snooping is cut short when he runs into Dr. Storm and his leather-clad biker henchmen. Dr. Storm insists on showing Jason the hospital layout, and while doing so reveals his plan to lobotomize his patients in order to make them his slaves. Jason realizes Storm is batty and tries to escape the hospital grounds, but Storm warns him escape is futile, and has his biker squad retrieve the fleeing Jason.

The doctor keeps Jason in isolation while preparing Judy for surgery. Aunt Harris, who normally assists the doctor in his ghastly operations, reveals that she is backing out and leaving before the authorities catch on, and that she wants to take Judy with her. Suddenly, the intruder alarm goes off. A young man named Abraham (Christian) arrives at the hospital to look for his missing girlfriend. The motorcyclists quickly capture Abraham and throw him into the same containment cell as Jason. Mysteriously, the disfigured faceless creature appears and does away with Aunt Harris, and the mad doctor is about to begin brain surgery on Judy. How will Jason and Abraham escape from their containment, overpower the motorcycle gang, save Judy, and escape the horror hospital alive? And what is the secret of the disfigured, faceless creature?

There are a lot of scenes of graphic mayhem:

The black sedan decapitates numerous individuals throughout the movie in bloody fashion.

A motorcyclist drowns in a pool of quicksand.

A bathroom tap drips blood instead of water.

Dr. Storm’s "patients" all have large scars on their craniums.

A motorcyclist is split with an ax.

Dr. Storm is shown performing surgery while carrying on conversations with his demented staff!

 

As grim as it all sounds, there is a thick layer of black humor to the whole thing. For instance in one scene, the masked motorcyclists are chasing the young heroes through the hospital kitchen, and one of them stops to eat some of the food, then runs again. Frederick the dwarf is also a centerpiece of humor, as most midgets are in these films. The seventies haircuts, sideburns, bellbottoms, and post flower child clothing are pretty riotous as well (even though these things are all "in" again, just put on MTV and see!)

The movie does have a few flaws. There are problems that plague most low budget horror films, like acting quality, pacing problems, and story structure. One other problem is numerous fight scenes between our group of young heroes and the masked motorcyclists. These fight scenes are ridiculously staged, though to be honest its not the fault of the stuntmen playing the silent cyclists. In fact, it seems the more of these leather-clad baddies they dispose of, the more jump out to take their place. It’s like, how many security guys does the crazy Doctor Storm have?

The special effects work is somewhat primitive by today’s standards of course, but they still look believable. The surgery scenes themselves are surprisingly tame, with most of it left to the imagination, with the exception of Dr. Storm removing what appears to be an occasional vein. The faceless creature is particularly hideous, while not going overboard in the makeup. Rather, the director lets him linger in the darkness for most of the movie, for a more mysterious effect.

Director Anthony Balch does a good job of photographing the film. He uses some angled camerawork and sharp zooms to give the film some urgency and pacing. Balch does a lot in the sense that he makes the most of the film’s low budget. Though the movie has some problems with structure, pacing, and narrative, the film’s overall visual look is impressive. The filmmakers manage to compensate for the scripts faults by applying a level of detail and authenticity to the film’s look and tone.

SIGHT

Elite presents HORROR HOSPITAL is it’s original aspect ratio of 1.85.1. Considering the age of this low budget film, Elite has done a superior job with the transfer. The image is razor sharp. Colors are vibrantly bright, with the exception of the exterior scenes of the smoky moors and British hillsides. Contrast and brightness are excellent and with good shadow detail. What really makes the difference on this transfer are the deep blacks, since the film displays many shades of black which help create that authentic, dreary British atmosphere. The numerous blacks also help to separate the vibrant colors, such as the crimson blood. Flesh tones are a little pale, but there are always clouds over there (no one has a tan). There is a scratch here and there on the print but it’s nothing to worry about. Grain is visible, but not distracting; you really have to look for it hard just to detect it. The eerie looking hospital and the surrounding landscape including the high walls, the gates, and the architecture all look excellent. The detail level here is tremendous, and really contributes to the grim vibe of the film. The interior scenes of the hospital are just as finely detailed and look exquisite. David McDonald’s cinematography is to be commended, as is Elite who did Mr. McDonald’s visuals justice with this transfer.

SOUND

Elite serves up a strong Dolby Digital Mono 1.0 soundtrack. The mono track has a good range and is not flat at all like most mono mixes. The highs are crisp and clear, although the lows are almost nonexistent. The score, the sound effects, and the dialog are well synchronized and combined make for a good sound mix to support the visuals. I also enjoyed the driving score. There are also some acid rock themes throughout, but they are never overpowering. The only negative thing I can say about the audio is that throughout the first two minutes, some background hissing can be heard (but then goes away). But that is not going to stop horror fans from picking this one up.

FEATURES

The only extra is the theatrical trailer (1:02, widescreen 1.85.1, mono) which really only shows one scene from the movie! The trailer states that the film is being released on a double bill with THE CORPSE GRINDERS.

CONCLUSION

This quirky low budget horror/black comedy may have some flaws, but the positives outweigh the negatives. I usually don’t enjoy movies that are considered horror comedies, but this one is an exception. Horror fans who are sick of today’s generic teen horror films like the I KNOW WHAT YOU DID crap and the SCREAM wannabe’s should check out this nasty little film. And Elite does some tremendous work here restoring the visuals to near mint quality. I always have liked and supported Elite’s recent DVD efforts, and seeing how they just announced they are going to be doing 16x9 enhanced transfers, they will get only better! The only weak spot on this DVD are the extras, but it must be nearly impossible to dig up material for a film as obscure as this one. But chew on this: if an overlooked cult film turns up on DVD, then it is no longer obscure.

 HORROR HOSPITAL is available at DVDEmpire

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