Bloodbath at the House of Death
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| Bloodbath at the House of Death | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Ray Cameron |
| Produced by | Laurence Myers, John Downes, Ray Cameron |
| Written by | Ray Cameron, Barry Cryer |
| Starring | Kenny Everett, Pamela Stephenson, Vincent Price, Gareth Hunt |
| Music by | Mark London, Mike Moran |
| Cinematography | Dusty Miller, Brian West |
| Editing by | Brian Tagg |
| Distributed by | Media Home Entertainment (video) |
| Release date(s) | 1984 |
| Running time | 88 min |
| Country |  UK |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Bloodbath at the House of Death is a comedy horror film produced in 1983 by the late British comedian, Kenny Everett, and starred Vincent Price.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The film opens in 1975, at a place called Headstone Manor, being used at the beginning of the film as a "Businessmans' Weekend Retreat and Girls' Summer Camp". A few minutes into the film, a group of satanic monks enter the House and kill 18 occupants in the house (the 19th, Cleo Rocos, being the sole survivor). The murders of the 18 are as follows:
- 2 were axed to death
- 2 had their throats slit
- 1 man was hanged
- 2 girls were struck by lightning
- 1 man watching underwent spontaneous combustion and blew up
- 4 were stabbed to death
- 6 were frozen to death in the Manor's freezer
Several years later, in 1983, Doctor Lucas Mandeville (Kenny Everett) and Doctor Barbara Coyle (Pamela Stephenson Connolly) are sent to investigate radioactive readings in the area that have been traced to Headstone Manor, now being known by locals as the House of Death.
Along with several other scientists, Mandeville and Coyle set up their equipment in the House, while the Sinister Man (Vincent Price), a 700-year-old Satanic priest, prepares a rite in the nearby woods to purge the house of its unwanted guests.
During this time, Mandeville reveals that he was once a successful German surgeon named Ludwig Manheim, who was reduced to "smart-arse paranormal research crap" after a humiliation in times past. Coyle also encounters a poltergeist, and the two engage in sexual intercourse together.
By this time, several satanic clones of Mandeville, Coyle and the other scientists have entered the house, and begin killing off the originals and taking their place. By the time Coyle is about to be killed, she is rescued by the poltergeist and saved. The satanic monks then take off in a spaceship, revealing that these monks are aliens using the House for their activities on Earth. The film ends with the spaceship zooming into the skies, with an E.T. voice groaning: "Oh, s***! Not again!"
[edit] Release
The film was believed to be so disgusting upon its release that it was released straight to video in the United Kingdom via Thorn EMI, and later in Australia in 1991. So far, there have been no sales of the film to the United States.
[edit] Novelisation
Shortly after the film's release, a novel of the film was released, with more jokes added that would've been impossible to convert into visual jokes. The book also names Marcel Wave (One of Kenny Everetts' TV characters) as the resident who underwent spontaneous combustion.
[edit] References to other films
Bloodbath at the House of Death pays tribute to a number of horror and science-fiction films:
- Most of the dark settings and the ominous music seems to be a tribute to the old Hammer Horror films from the 1960s', whilst the amount of blood used in the film seems to parody the slasher films around at the time
- When Mandeville is playing the Double Bass in the toilet, he is playing the theme from Jaws.
- When blood flows from practically every corner in the bathroom sequence, it seems reminiscent of the film Carrie.
- The idea of the House taking on a mind of its own seems reminiscent of the Overlook Hotel featured in The Shining by Stephen King.
- The ending sequences all parody the film E.T.
