"Bloodbath at the House of Death" – every horror fan will undeniably fall in love with the title alone already – is a slapstick horror comedy/spoof starring the BBC radio presenter Kenny Everett and the legendary horror acting legend Vincent Price. Now, I'm not really familiar with the works of Kenny Everett, but I am a self-proclaimed expert when it comes to Vincent and the name of his character here pretty much summarizes his entire rich and highly respectable career. He is the "Sinister Man" and appears in the film, albeit less extendedly as I hoped, as some sort of deranged cult leader. The rest of the story is relatively simple: a random group of international scientists and paranormal investigators gather together at Headstone Manor, also known as the House of Death, to research the truth behind the legend of allegedly 18 people being slain at the place. "Bloodbath at the House of Death" is far from brilliant, sometimes hardly even funny, but I would definitely say this is an underrated attempt that understandably got overlooked in the massive horror/comedy offer of the early 80's. The script, co-written by director Ray Cameron, makes fun of great and obvious classics such as "Alien", "E.T.", "Poltergeist", Carrie" and "The Shining", but also holds more subtle jokes and references in store to reward the attentive horror freaks. Something I couldn't help noticing, though, is that quite a few jokes in the more recent "Scary Movie 2" were directly lifted from this film. Okay, admittedly, both film were basically influenced by the same haunted house classics (like "The Legend of Hell House", "The Entity" and "House on Haunted Hill") but still it's quite suspicious that the Wayans Brothers supposedly thought up the exact same jokes, like for example the ghost rape turning into a kinky sex game. Other than the movie-related jokes and situations, there certainly also isn't a shortage of textbook slapstick stuff like a blind character constantly running into trees and a crippled guy repeatedly falling flat on his face. It may not be politically correct, but it sure as hell is funny. Perhaps the main reason why I – and surely many genre fanatics with me – appreciate the film so much is the gore. In spite of the comical and non-horror friendly atmosphere, there are quite a few gross killings on display. The devilish house always repeats the same macabre methods of elimination, namely stabbing, hanging, struck by lightening, drowning, slit throats, etc. Some of the illustrations of murder here are a lot nastier than the case in many contemporary slasher flicks.

Starring horror icon Vincent Price & comedy legend Kenny Everett this camp British horror comedy is a hugely mixed bag.

It tells the story of a group of scientists and experts in their field who investigate the mysterious Blood House where 18 people were savagely murdered in one night.

When the jokes are on point the movie is really enjoyable, sadly too many jokes fall flat and leave the movie more of a bust than it should have been. With Price & Everett this should have by all rights been a cult classic.

To it's credit the film has a lot of imagination, from original death scenes to some fantastic satirical humour!

However for every laugh there are three or four poor jokes ranging from silly to cringe inducing.

A harmless effort and ahead of it's time, but comes across a bit rushed.

The Good:

Price and Everett are excellent

Very inventive kills

Some great gags

Well scored

The Bad:

Not as funny as it should have been

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Kenny Everett should have broke Hollywood