Review of Bloodbath at the House of Death

British horror comedy about a team of scientists who assemble at a large, creepy country house and research 18 grisly deaths that occurred there to see if there was a paranormal explanation. Kenny Everett leads the team, this man was pure TV comedy genius, I can still watch repeats of his old shows and be reduced to tears of laughter. Sadly though his brilliance doesn't work on the big screen, the same can be send for fellow comedian Pamela Stephenson, she was great in the TV series "Not the Nine O'Clock News" but again her comical performance doesn't really work here. The other big name here is horror legend Vincent Price who plays a character simply called Sinister Man and is the head of a Satanic coven. He tries to ham it up as usual but this has to be one of the worst films that he's appeared in, listening to him swearing just sounded wrong too. The somewhat silly plot combines horror and science fiction, the ending is a let down. However, all is not lost. Bloodbath successfully parodies classic horror and science fiction films sixteen years before Scary Movie, these include An American Werewolf in London (the pub scene), Jaws, The Shining, The Invisible Man, even Star Wars! My favourites were Carrie, which featured a brilliant decapitation by tin opener, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the latter being rather creepy. It also stars Everett's side-kick Cleo Rocos, a beautiful woman and always a delight to behold. English Comedian Michael McIntyre has an uncredited role as ET, in fact his father Ray Cameron was the director. I'm not a fan of McIntyre but I found this bit of trivia mildly interesting.

Considering the comedy talent involved, both in front of and behind the camera, this is something of a disappointment, however it's not the dire mess that some claim, and I prefer it to Scary Movie (2000) any day of the week.