Sam Panico I like going to the gym. It's something I would have hated as a geeky kid, being surrounded by people working out, but today, I really find myself looking forward to doing cardio or situps and even lifting weights. I may hate that my gym serves pizza or that so many people text while they should be doing sets, but at least a demonic woman has never taken my gym over and tried to kill everyone. That happens? Well, have you seen Death Spa?Also known as Witch Bitch, this feels like the most 80's movie ever. However, it came out in 1989, which means it feels instantly dated. But hey, Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead) is in it!Michael Evans owns the titular spa. He's just lost his wife, who had a pregnancy gone wrong and became paraplegic, so she set herself on fire in a field. As you do. Now, she is possessing the Starbody Health Spa. From turning a shower murderous to overloading a computerized Universal style machine to tear a man apart, this is one gym that demands that you spray down the machines and use proper etiquette. There's also a possessed blender and a freezer with murderous fish, which look like no seafood I've ever seen before.If you're coming looking for nudity, this movie is packed with it. Oh the late 80's, when the internet was just a dream and kids found porn in the woods and rented movies like this.The film also features Merritt Butrick in his last role. He played Captain Kirk's son in the Star Trek movies and was Richie in Fright Night Part II. And hey! That's Rosalind Cash from The Omega Man as a police officer!There's also a love scene involving asparagus if you're into that.

AllNewSux If someone asked me to define 80s horror there's a lot of obvious films to select from, but this would be one of my choices. Between the body obsessed people, the slasher elements, the nudity and the blood, this kind of says it all about your typical 1980s horror film. What's cool about this one though is it's no ordinary slasher. There are your typical red herrings and very inventive kills, but there's also a great supernatural element that at first seems fake but then turns out to be very real and changes the whole dynamic of Death Spa. The movie does seem a bit more brutal than your standard fare as far as it's tortuous ways of killing people and all the bloody/boiled corpses it is willing to show us. That's perfect for those of us who enjoy some dirtier grindhouse elements in our horror movies. I assure you, as typical as this film may feel at first stick with it because whether you enjoy Friday The 13th, The Exorcist or Jungle Holocaust this should appeal to you in some way.

BA_Harrison In Death Spa's title sequence, director Michael Fischa guides his camera slowly towards the entrance of the Star Body Health Spa as an electrical storm rages on the horizon; suddenly, lightning strikes the building, knocking out some of the letters on its neon sign to reveal the title of the film. The camera then continues to glide through the doorway, as the spa's staff prepare to leave for the night; lights are switched off one-by-one, and the foyer is slowly plunged into darkness...It's a promising start and one which proves that director Michael Fischa has a keen visual sense, which makes it all the more disappointing when the film quickly slips into mundane murder/mystery mode and threatens to stay there for the rest of its running time.The film's plot sees a series of suspicious 'accidents' occurring at the high-tech, computer-controlled spa owned by widower Michael Evans (William Bumiller), whose wife Catherine (Shari Shattuck) committed suicide following the death of their child. Could Catherine's embittered brother David (Merritt Butrick), creator of the spa's advanced computer system, be behind the bizarre mishaps? Does anyone else have reason to see Michael's business fail? Or are the accidents the work of a malevolent supernatural force?Thankfully, despite this rather cheesy 'whodunnit'-style narrative, which sees a pair of useless cops assisting Michael in solving the mystery, Fischa manages to keep things interesting through the inclusion of plenty of nudity (the spa is a haven for busty babes and hard-bodied hotties), a few enjoyably crap 80s Flashdance-inspired aerobics scenes, some inventive deaths, and a bit of fun hokum involving a parapsychologist.And then, as the film enters its final act, everything goes completely nuts...It is revealed that David has been possessed by the spirit of his sister Catherine, who wants Michael to die so that they can be together in the afterlife. At a Mardi Gras party, being held at the spa, the possessed David kidnaps Michael's squeeze Laura (Brenda Bakke) and tries to kill her by frying her under a sunbed. Meanwhile, lots of other people die in a variety of entertaining and bloody ways: wood panelling from a sauna room shoots through one guy's head, spilling his brains everywhere; a girl has her arm removed by a food blender; the policeman has his throat torn open by a frozen fish (I kid you not!); and an exploding mirror leaves one poor woman a mess of bloody pieces scattered all over the floor!This totally unpredictable and gory ending is loads of fun, and it's well worth suffering through Death Spa's more tedious moments in order to fully savour the complete and utter madness of the film's final moments.

The_Void Ah, a lot of trash was released in the eighties, and this is a good example of that. I say 'good example' because, as eighties trash goes; Death Spa actually is quite good! I saw this film under the more appealing title, 'Witch Bitch'; but given the plot, 'Death Spa' seems to make more sense. The film is tongue in cheek throughout, and it's always obvious that things aren't meant to be taken seriously; although that being said, this film is rather gory and that is sure to delight anyone with an inclination to see it! As the title suggests, the film is about several 'accidents' that occur at a local health spa. All of manner of things, from people being ripped apart on a weight lifter to people being scalded alive in a sauna feature, and despite the fact that it's all a little bit silly - the daft plot actually works quite well. Technophobia features in the film too, as it appears that the spa's unique selling point - a computer that runs all the various devices in the building is to blame for the murders. However, the owner of the spa had a girlfriend who apparently committed suicide...For a cheapo eighties flick, the production values aren't bad at all. The central location is well used, and director Michael Fischa delights the audience with a load of shots showing plenty of female flesh. The special effects look cheap, but they're imaginatively used, and the scene where the weight-lifter dies is surprisingly realistic, and actually quite painful to watch. The plot lacks credibility, especially as the health spa continues taking customers after several people have been brutally killed. The acting is rather rubbish overall, and William Bumiller doesn't impress in the lead role. It is nice to see Dawn of the Dead star Ken Foree get a role, however, as the charismatic actor tends to elevate any silly film he stars in. The music is typically eighties, much like the rest of the film and serves only in making the film feel trashier. Death Spa is not as lurid as its alternate title 'Witch Bitch' suggests it is, and there's very little in the way of credibility anywhere in the film. Still, it's a fun time and although I certainly won't be seeing this again; I'm sure eighties horror fans will be pleased.