Horror Hospital – 1973 | 100 mins | Horror | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Blood-soaked, deadpan and grotty, Horror Hospital was a potentially interesting and biting satire of horror pictures like Circus of Horrors but with such a slapdash approach and plot inconsistencies it’s no surprise the film is regarded as a cult classic rather than a true landmark in the horror genre. The acting is unilaterally bad; the once-imposing Michael Gough is hammy and outrageously overacts;Dennis Price is opaque in a cameo as a gay travel agent; Robin Askwith makes an unappealing hero; Vanessa Shaw is a staggeringly wooden ingénue and Skip Martin features as an incredibly irritating dwarf.

Horror Hospital opens in the countryside where two blood-splattered youths are pursued and decapitated by a Boadicea chariot of a Rolls-Royce.Meanwhile, aspiring pop songwriter Jason Jones (Robin Askwith) is persuaded he needs to take a break and spots an advertisement for ‘Hairy Holidays’ offering sun and fun for the under-thirties. He visits travel agent Pollack (Dennis Price) who offers him a week’s rest at the charming Brittlehouse Manor ‘Health Hotel’ health farm.  En-route to the country, Jason meets Judy Peters (Vanessa Shaw) on the train; a relative of the health farm owners.

The retreat is run by mad Pavlovian scientist Dr.Storm (Michael Gough), who is assisted by a dwarf (Skip Martin) and an ex-brothel madam (Ellen Pollock), as well as a number of motorcycle thugs. Dr. Storm invites Jason to see his laboratory where the mad scientist confesses to performing experimental lobotomies – and that the young pop star will be a future subject. Storm reveals that his body is a hulk of third-degree burnt tissue and the operations are the only way to persuade beautiful ladies to have sex with him.