Leofwine_draca A classic example of the British exploitation film from the 1970s (which is, incidentally, the finest period for British exploitation), HORROR HOSPITAL can be classed along with similar offerings such as THE MUTATIONS and TOWER OF EVIL as both the finest and tackiest offerings from the decade. These films all have invariably low budgets but are infinitely entertaining and, more to the point, hugely enjoyable. For a change, Robin Askwith (CONFESSIONS OF A WINDOW CLEANER) is the young hero caught up in the sinister events, and as to be expected takes his clothes off a lot too.Dennis Price has a small role and the opportunity to make some sinisterly homosexual jokes. Vanessa Shaw is the screaming heroine who is more than happy to shower in the nude or lose her kit at various points in the film. Kurt Christian is an ever-cool '70s guy with big hair, flares, and probably a medallion tucked underneath his shirt. He's the coolest of the cool! Michael Gough is on top icy form as the finger-cracking Doctor Storm, probably the most evil and hammiest role of his entire career. Skip Martin is also good value as a wise-cracking dwarf and he gets a wonderful bit of vaudeville when trying to unlock a door.With plot elements being taken from MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM (Gough as the masked, scarred perpetrator of the crimes) and heavy lashings of sex and plenty of crimson gore (headless corpses, blood everywhere), lots of action and fight scenes between the guards and the heroes, and a building burning down at the end, HORROR HOSPITAL is a cheap and cheerful affair which contains everything you could ever want from a '70s slice of British horror. Brilliant!

Uriah43 The first thing I would like to say is that I fully understand that this was a low-budget horror movie costing only about £50,000 to produce. So I suppose it's unrealistic to expect too much from it. That said I was perfectly willing to make allowances here and there. Surprisingly, unlike many low-budget features the acting in this particular movie was pretty good with both Robin Askwith (as "Jason Jones") and Vanessa Shaw ("Judy Peters") certainly holding their own. Unfortunately, I must also add that there were quite a few dull scenes here and there and it was difficult for me to maintain interest past the first 30 minutes or so. Not only that but it also seemed like the scenario where Jason was caught, beaten and put into a cell was played out one time too many. Same thing with Judy being sedated. In any case, I suppose it's a border-line "Pre-Romero" type of zombie film and just marginally worth adding to any zombie enthusiast's collection. Not great by any means--but not terribly bad either. Accordingly, I rate it as only slightly below average.

Lee Eisenberg The first thing that intrigued me about "Horror Hospital" (also titled "Doctor Bloodbath") is that Michael Gough plays the lead role. Gough is best known as Alfred in the 1989-97 Batman movies (he also co-starred in "Horror of Dracula", "The Horse's Mouth" and "The Boys from Brazil", and even provided a voice in Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland"). Here he plays a doctor who performs a lot of unnecessary experiments on people.What I noticed while watching the movie was that the secondary character (Robin Askwith) was named Jason Jones. Jason Jones is one of the correspondents on "The Daily Show" (or was up to a point; I don't know if he's still on the show).Anyway, the movie isn't anything particularly special, but it's entertaining enough, with a scene or two that probably gave boys their first carnal experience. You'll probably enjoy it.

Redcitykev In Britain between the rise of Hammer Horror films, sometime around 1958 and the release of their version of 'Dracula', and the early/mid 1970's there were scores of cheep horror films released. These can, I believe, be placed into one of three categories, Low Budget Classic (ie the aforementioned 'Dracula', its stablemate of the same period 'Frankenstein', 'The Pit and The Pendulum' etc), Cult Films like 'Circus of Horrors', 'Scream and Scream Again' etc, and the outright awful! Guess which category I would place 'Horror Hospital'?! This film is simply ludicrous, far too illogical, even within the world it has created for itself, and so poorly put together that it gets nowhere near being a LBC, and falls so short of being a Cult that it is laughable.I am aware that it is difficult to view any horror film of any age by modern day standards, the genre has moved on so rapidly, and become so much more graphic, but even by comparing this film to its contemporaries it falls well short of any real horror and scares. Today it is about as scary as a wet weekend in Weston-Super-Mare (for non-Brits that is a seaside town in the west of England that is mainly populated by the over 60's!, a British equivalent of, say, Atlantic City!). The concept of a Health Farm - not even a proper hospital note! (the makers had to squeeze in a line of dialogue to justify the title!) - being used for experimentation on the feckless youth of the day - young people who, of course, no one will notice have gone missing (don't these kids have parents?) and turned into "zombies" (although as "zombies" I would have thought that Dr Storm would have found better things to use them for beyond that of acrobatics!) is beyond belief. To go into all the plot holes would take all day, but I have one question, why do all the thugs wear leathers and crash helmets all the time, even when in doors? (Apart, of course, to disguise the fact that at least one is a woman! When was the last time you saw a male thug clearly wearing lipstick?!) The one really big question about this mess of a film is this, just how did talented people like Michael Gough, Ellen Pollock and, most notably, Dennis Price, became embroiled in such rubbish? Wait... I have thought of one redeeming feature, albeit a personal one! Over the past few years I have become friends with a Mr Robert Dearberg. Guess who was the editor on this mess? Yep, my old mate Bob Dearberg, the one and same person! We spend a lot of time discussing the merits of this film, that movie etc, and often disagree. The next time Bob slags off a film I have enjoyed I can look him in the eyes and say just two words.. "Horror Hospital"...!