Horror Hospital

In his last directorial effort, experimental filmmaker Antony Balch fully expressed his love of trash and low culture, which he had previously vented as the owner of a distribution company and two cinemas with a dramaturgically distinctive programme. Horror Hospital is thus an entertaining intermingling of the style of classic British horror movies with the aesthetics and attitude of swinging London at the time. The formulaic premise of a mad scientist is thus transformed into a whirlwind of exaggerated attractions and caricatured clichés bound together by stoner logic. This is not a parody, but rather an utterly distinctive blend of two seemingly contradictory styles, as foreshadowed a year earlier by Hammer Film Productions’ Dracula A.D. 1972. Whereas that film was based entirely on the contrast of a classic monster and a modern setting, Horror Hospital offers an entertainingly delirious conglomeration of both styles. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that the film has the purely anti-establishment premise of a sanatorium where a mad scientist turns intractable young people into absolutely obedient lobotomised zombies, as well as experimentally rendered psychedelic sequences and characters such as the duo of biker henchmen, who come across as a demonic version of Daft Punk, a twisted and unpredictable midget next to whom even the guy from Game of Thrones pales and, of equal importance, the brilliant central villain, who comes across as a clone of Ian McKellen and Bella Lugosi (and is played by the late Alfred the Butler from the 1990s Batman films). As a result, the film as a whole doesn’t seem incoherent, but rather radiates creativity and the impish charm with which it approaches classic horror clichés. (10/05/2015)