Hospital Massacre (1981)

A frantic and over heated slasher movie that borders on parody, Hospital Massacre (1981) is, at least, never dull, packing a lot of gore and mayhem into its running time.  Most of which can be seen in the above trailer for its German Blu Ray release, (under one of its alternative titles, X-Ray), in another case of a trailer giving away most of the best bits.  As can also be told from the trailer, the film has an overly insistent and loud musical score that telegraphs every upcoming shock sequence with its emphatic cues.  The film's script plays it strictly by the numbers as Barbi Benton gets stalked around a hospital by a maniac in a surgical mask, who spends a lot of time gorily dispatching other characters instead of his main target in order to keep his plot against her moving.  Indeed, it is amazing just how many people he has to kill before he gets to her, to the point where you are left wondering just how many murders he can get away with in one night in one hospital before anyone starts wondering where all the medical staff have gone.  

Obviously, a hospital provides all manner of opportunities to mete out death with a variety of surgical instruments including scalpels, saws and the like.  When the killer has run through all those, he takes up an axe instead.  The film takes the game of keeping the audience guessing as to who is behind that surgical mask to ridiculous lengths with red herrings and misdirections proliferating.  Is it that shifty looking janitor, is it Hal the creepy patient who spies on naked female patients in examination rooms, could it be that humourless and stern faced surgeon who is treating Benton, or is it her ex husband who keeps mysteriously vanishing, leaving their young daughter on her own and, even when he is at home, is always playing with knives?  Hardly a moment goes by without some random character in medical gear staring menacingly in Benton's direction, wielding a sharp medical instrument or just acting generally weird.  Of course, as with many slasher films, the killer's motivation all goes back to a childhood trauma involving the heroine, (in this case, she tore up his Valentine's card when they were ten - he responds by killing her boyfriend and is presumably institutionalised).  

It has to be said that Hospital Massacre is actually pretty well made, with decent production values, good lighting and editing and keeps up a decent pace.  Enough pace, in fact, to make you forget about all of the plot implausibilities while it is running.  As a horror movie it certainly delivers, with plenty of gore, inventive murders and a constant supply of scare sequences, which it forcefully shoves in your face, accompanied by strident music.. It even includes a bit of brief nudity - if you've ever had a yen to see former Hee Haw regular Benton's bare breasts, then this is the film for you.  The acting performances are generally passable from a largely low profile cast, (apart from Benton, the only actor I recognised was Elizabeth Hoy as her younger self, who was a popular child actress in the eighties, most memorably as the psychopathic little girl in Bloody Birthday (1981)). The film contains some nice incidental touches, like the trio of elderly female patients sharing Benton's ward,for instance,  who come on like the withes in Macbeth.  It never seems to take itself too seriously, with director Boaz Davidson (who tended to specialise in comedy dramas) seemingly having his tongue firmly in his cheek.  Overall, it is surprisingly good for a Cannon movie.