This silly, stupid, crass and juvenile British comedy was the star vehicle for the much loved comedian and former DJ Kenny Everett but away from the confines of his television shows and the sketch format he has difficulty in sustaining a feature length movie and is largely let down by long time collaborators writer Barry Cryer and director Ray Cameron with a weak, lazy and unimaginative script and at times poor execution. It's a shame Everett didn't have a hand in the writing because despite the potential what we have here is a disappointment and a mess of a movie.
A group of scientists led by Everett come together to investigate supernatural goings on at Headstone Manor where 18 people were previously murdered. There are occasional moments of laugh out loud humour amongst the blood spattering and severed limbs but these are few and far between. Everett is a likeable personality but the script often resorts to cheap gags involving bodily functions and takes side swipes at some genre movies of the day like Alien, Carrie, The Shining, The Entity and E. T. One of the best gags though derives from the playing of the Jaws theme.
Kenny is surrounded by familiar faces from British television such as Pamela Stephenson, Sheila Steafel, Gareth Hunt, John Fortune and regular sidekick Cleo Rocos. The major coup here was getting legendary horror icon Vincent Price on board who does a nice comedic turn but is otherwise underused.
If you are a fan of Kenny Everett this is a nice companion piece to his much loved TV shows with this being his only foray into feature films from a talented and influential comedian who left us way too soon.
A group of scientists led by Everett come together to investigate supernatural goings on at Headstone Manor where 18 people were previously murdered. There are occasional moments of laugh out loud humour amongst the blood spattering and severed limbs but these are few and far between. Everett is a likeable personality but the script often resorts to cheap gags involving bodily functions and takes side swipes at some genre movies of the day like Alien, Carrie, The Shining, The Entity and E. T. One of the best gags though derives from the playing of the Jaws theme.
Kenny is surrounded by familiar faces from British television such as Pamela Stephenson, Sheila Steafel, Gareth Hunt, John Fortune and regular sidekick Cleo Rocos. The major coup here was getting legendary horror icon Vincent Price on board who does a nice comedic turn but is otherwise underused.
If you are a fan of Kenny Everett this is a nice companion piece to his much loved TV shows with this being his only foray into feature films from a talented and influential comedian who left us way too soon.