Horror Hospital

Directed byAnthony Balch

Starring Michael Gough, Robin Askwith, Vanessa Shaw, Ellen Pollock, Skip martin

A black limousine sits amidst the foliage of a forested lot, it's occupants waiting with anticipation. A black gloved gentleman, Dr. Storm ( Gough ) and a little man christened Frederick ( Martin ) occupy the rear seats. The chauffeur up front waiting for instructions. Enter two runners, a male and a female . Their heads swathed in bloodied bandages, their clothes torn and tattered looking very much like they just put up some sort of a struggle. The driver having received his instructions now follow the two as they pick up their pace. In a calm and distinctive voice Dr. Storm orders " Make a clean job of it;after all, we just washed the car. Frederick pulls a lever and a machete type blade pops out from the vehicle and lops their heads clean off into a basket also protruding from the car.

Elsewhere at a small pub, with a live band supplying the music, Jason Jones ( Askwith ) a hippie type or is it a mod? This does take place in England. Jason is pissed, he has just been thrown out of the band,not been compensated for the song he wrote and to make matters worse he has just been beaten up by a transvestite. The actor who plays the part of Jason Jones, Robin Askwith reminded me very much of a young Mick Jagger of the rock group The Rolling Stones. With a brochure in hands, Hairy Holidays, Jason's friends suggest that he could use a holiday.

Arriving at the travel agent, Jason is greeted by a very feminine older gentleman, who seems to be more interested in staring at Jason's crotch and asking him out for a date than the travel arrangements. Jason decides to vacation at a health farm to get" straightened out " he says.

On the way to Brittlehouse manor, Jason meets Judy Peters ( Shaw ) on the train and discovers that two are headed for the same destination. Departing at their train depot and finding it deserted except for Carter the station manager, the two decide to walk to the manor. Shortly after Carter makes a phone call the newly found friends are greeted by a pair of leather clad ,white helmeted motorcyclists. Each bike, with a plaque reading Storm 1 and Storm 2. At the hotel they are greeted by the receptionist Dr. Storm's wife who turns out to be Judy's estranged aunt Harris. Before the war ( WWII ) Aunt Harris was the madame of a whore house. As Jason and Judy are led to their rooms by the little man,Jason comments on how the hotel looks more like a hospital than a health farm when they pass a room with the bed covered in blood. When the new guests are called down for dinner, they are welcomed to join a table occupied by expressionless, zombie looking young men and women. Each with a strange scar on their foreheads and clad in white apparel, Aunt Harris dressed in red sits at the head of the table. With the mentioning of Dr. Storm one young woman screams hysterically and is removed violently from the table by two of the leather clad , helmeted guards. These guards donned black leather pants and jackets. A white motorcycle helmet with goggles complete the uniform. Showing no expression, this small army Dr. Storm has gathered reminded me of the Stormtroopers Hitler commanded or the Stormtroopers from Star Wars.

An image that sticks out in my mind is one where Judy not feeling well is taken back to their room by Jason. Wetting a wash cloth for her forehead, the tap is left on as a wheel chaired Dr. Storm ( he is confined to a wheel chair ) the little man and Aunt Harris enter the room and the water flowing from the tap turns to blood, a chilling moment. Jason and Judy now realize they must escape, looking for a way off the grounds, Jason returns to the room to find Judy missing. Dr. Storm leads Jason on a tour of the facilities, his underground laboratory, where he is experimenting on the youth. Wanting to turn them into his slaves, puppets to obey his commands whenever he pulls the strings. I took this as a metaphor for the generation gap that developed in the late sixties and early seventies. The younger generation growing their hair long, smoking their pot, grooving to that crazy rock and roll music. Basically rebelling against the man ( society ). And now Dr. Storm ( a Nazi militia man) look up storm in the dictionary , is determined to put an end to it.

Jason escapes and is quickly pursued by Dr. Storm's troopers, only to be captured. This is one thing I found to be tedious with this picture, there is lots of escaping and recapturing to the point of being redundant. Abraham, looking for his missing ex girlfriend Millie,is also captured and thrown into a locked room with Jason. With Frederick's help the two are released, and try to save the girl friends. Mean while a mysterious humanoid creature with the skin of a grilled cheese sandwich turned inside out is making an appearance in the hotel.Rescuing Judy from her future operation , but arriving too late to save Millie from Mr. Grilled Cheese, the melted blob of goo escapes to the outdoors. Destroying Dr. Storm's equipment and machinery causes a fire to break out. Trying to make their way from the manor to the big black limo, the trio have to fend off zombies, stormtroopers and the blazing fire that is engulfing the old hotel. In a British style of humour, our heroes are making their escape and run through the kitchen. Jason makes a stop and gobbles down as much food as possible before continuing with his escape. Finally making their way to the limousine, they make good use of it's on board weapons and end the wrath of the walking goo. The torso falling into a swampy section of the forest and is sucked down into the quick sand. Abraham retrieves the head from the basket and tosses the bloody pulp towards the bog to be reunited with it's body once again.

At the train depot, Carter the station manager asks for tickets as they board the train. A melted hand is seen slowly rising from the marsh, perhaps to give one final command to one of it's minions. Back at the station , we see Carter sprawled out along the rails, covered in blood.

My Thoughts: This is a fun little horror film, with some memorable images thanks to director Anthony Balch. It was interesting to see Michael Gough, you may remember him better as Alfred from the Tim Burton Batman films, fun to watch , perhaps for his performance alone. I thought some of the fight scenes were rather weak.

My Rating: 3.5 Go Go Girls out of 5( There is some most welcomed female nudity here, but we have to pay the price. A guy's wiener is briefly shown )