Bloodbath at the House of Death is set in rural Endland where a team of scientists arrive at Headstone House to investigate strange radioactive paranormal activity. In charge is Dr. Lukas Mandeville (Kenny Everett) aided by his young assistant Dr. Barbara Coyle (Pamela Stephenson), after an awkward encounter with the locals in a nearby village Mandeville & Coyle arrive at Headstone House & find the rest of the team waiting there. As the night passes the scientists start to experience strange phenomenon, eventually they are killed off one by one & replaced by replica Devil worshipping aliens.
This British production was co-written, co-produced & directed by Ray Cameron & is generally disliked as an unfunny horror comedy spoof with zero plot & who am I to disagree with such an accurate appraisal? Made at the time when both horror & leading man Kenny Ecerett were popular it probably seemed like a good idea at the time to combine the two, quite why Everett agreed to be in this crap is a mystery to be honest. With virtually no story to speak of it's left to the loosely connected little comedy sketches that try to spoof & mock various horror films including The Haunting (1963), Carrie (1976), Alien (1979), The Shining (1980), An Emerican Werewolf in London (1981), The Entity (1982), E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), all the teen slashers that were big business back then & even references Star Wars (1977) with little success is has to be said. The main problem for me was that Bloodbath at the House of Death is just painfully unfunny, sure it comes down to personal preference but I thought the humour, jokes & gags were just lame. At just under 90 minutes long there is very little story here & none of it makes sense one bit as things happening for no apparent reason with no apparent consequence. Why is Everett given a false leg? Why not kill the scientists rather than try to scare them away?Bloodbath at the House of Death really does feel like a five minute comedy show sketch drawn out to feature film length, not one of British horror's finest moments.
The film is reasonably well made & spoofs various scenes in films like the pub scene in An American Werewolf in London, the chest-burster scene in Alien, the rape scene in The Entity & even has a character decapitated by a Stars Wars style Light Saber. The special effects are variable, the E.T. spoof at the end looks awful for instance. There's some blood splatter & a couple of decapitations but not much gore.
Filmed in Hertfordshire here in the UK I suspect this had a fairly low budget & again I don't really understand why TV comedian & radio DJ Kenny Everett agreed to do it, surely he didn't think it would be his big break in films? The acting is all over the place with some terrible performances & other's who just go for it. Horror legend Vincent Price is wasted in what turned out to be his last British horror film.
Bloodbath at the House of Death make the Scary Movie series seem like classics, I'm sorry but I just didn't find any of it funny & it ended up disappointing as both a horror film & a comedy. A waste of some good talent & a waste of potential.
This British production was co-written, co-produced & directed by Ray Cameron & is generally disliked as an unfunny horror comedy spoof with zero plot & who am I to disagree with such an accurate appraisal? Made at the time when both horror & leading man Kenny Ecerett were popular it probably seemed like a good idea at the time to combine the two, quite why Everett agreed to be in this crap is a mystery to be honest. With virtually no story to speak of it's left to the loosely connected little comedy sketches that try to spoof & mock various horror films including The Haunting (1963), Carrie (1976), Alien (1979), The Shining (1980), An Emerican Werewolf in London (1981), The Entity (1982), E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), all the teen slashers that were big business back then & even references Star Wars (1977) with little success is has to be said. The main problem for me was that Bloodbath at the House of Death is just painfully unfunny, sure it comes down to personal preference but I thought the humour, jokes & gags were just lame. At just under 90 minutes long there is very little story here & none of it makes sense one bit as things happening for no apparent reason with no apparent consequence. Why is Everett given a false leg? Why not kill the scientists rather than try to scare them away?Bloodbath at the House of Death really does feel like a five minute comedy show sketch drawn out to feature film length, not one of British horror's finest moments.
The film is reasonably well made & spoofs various scenes in films like the pub scene in An American Werewolf in London, the chest-burster scene in Alien, the rape scene in The Entity & even has a character decapitated by a Stars Wars style Light Saber. The special effects are variable, the E.T. spoof at the end looks awful for instance. There's some blood splatter & a couple of decapitations but not much gore.
Filmed in Hertfordshire here in the UK I suspect this had a fairly low budget & again I don't really understand why TV comedian & radio DJ Kenny Everett agreed to do it, surely he didn't think it would be his big break in films? The acting is all over the place with some terrible performances & other's who just go for it. Horror legend Vincent Price is wasted in what turned out to be his last British horror film.
Bloodbath at the House of Death make the Scary Movie series seem like classics, I'm sorry but I just didn't find any of it funny & it ended up disappointing as both a horror film & a comedy. A waste of some good talent & a waste of potential.