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	~~{{Short description\|1973 British film by Antony Balch}}~~
	~~{{Use British English\|date=December 2014}}~~
	~~{{More citations needed\|date=February 2010}}~~
	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	\| name = Horror Hospital		\| name = Horror Hospital
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	==Production==		==Production==
	~~{{unreferenced section\|date=February 2020}}~~
	===Background===		===Background===
	After the success of his feature film debut ''[[Secrets of Sex]]'' (1969), an anthology sex film that flirted with horror themes, [[Antony Balch]] envisioned his second film as an out-and-out horror film and one with a continuous narrative. Location filming was undertaken in and around [[Knebworth House]] near [[Stevenage]], [[Hertfordshire]].		After the success of his feature film debut ''[[Secrets of Sex]]'' (1969), an anthology sex film that flirted with horror themes, [[Antony Balch]] envisioned his second film as an out-and-out horror film and one with a continuous narrative. Location filming was undertaken in and around [[Knebworth House]] near [[Stevenage]], [[Hertfordshire]].
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	==External links==		==External links==
	*{{IMDb title\|id=0070190\|title=Horror Hospital}}		*{{IMDb title\|id=0070190\|title=Horror Hospital}}

	~~{{Use dmy dates\|date=August 2019}}~~

	[[Category:1973 films]]		[[Category:1973 films]]

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{{Short description|1973 British film by Antony Balch}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2014}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2010}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Horror Hospital
| director = [[Antony Balch]]
| image = Horror Hospital FilmPoster.jpeg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| producer = [[Richard Gordon (film producer)|Richard Gordon]]
| writer = [[Antony Balch]]<br />Alan Watson
| starring = [[Robin Askwith]]<br />[[Michael Gough]]
| cinematography = David McDonald
| editing = [[Robert Dearberg]]
| music = [[De Wolfe Music|De Wolfe]]
| studio = Noteworthy Films
| distributor = [[Antony Balch]]
| released = {{Film date|1973|||[[United Kingdom|UK]]}}
| runtime = 90 mins
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
}}

'''''Horror Hospital''''' (also known as '''''Computer Killers''''') is a 1973 British [[science-fiction]] [[comedy-horror]] film directed by [[Antony Balch]] and starring [[Robin Askwith]], [[Michael Gough]], [[Dennis Price]] and Skip Martin.<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=Horror Hospital |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150036936 |access-date=3 January 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref>

A failed [[songwriter]] decides to take a vacation at a [[health farm]]. His hosts actually want to [[lobotomize]] him, in order to turn him into an obedient [[zombie]] [[slave]].

==Plot==
When attempts to break into the pop business leave him with nothing but a bloody nose, songwriter Jason Jones decides to take a break with 'Hairy Holidays', an outfit run by shifty, gay travel agent Pollack. After failing to chat Jason up, Pollack sends him to pseudo-health farm Brittlehurst Manor.

On the train journey there, Jason meets Judy who is travelling to the same destination to meet her long-lost aunt. Both are unaware that the health farm (i.e. "Horror Hospital") is a front for Dr. Storm and his [[lobotomy]] experiments that turn wayward [[hippies]] into his mindless [[zombie]] slaves.

The wheelchair-using doctor surrounds himself with an entourage that includes Judy's aunt, erstwhile brothel madam Olga, dwarf Frederick and numerous zombie biker thugs. Dr. Storm also has a [[Austin Princess|Princess]] car, fitted with a giant blade that decapitates escapees and interfering parties. Abraham arrives at the Horror Hospital "looking for his chick" and is promptly whacked around the head by the motorcycle zombies. Frederick, fed up at literally being Storm's whipping boy, helps the kids escape as paving the way for the 1970s youth to put the final spanner/wrench in the works to Storm's scheme.

==Cast==
* [[Michael Gough]] as Dr. Christian Storm
* [[Robin Askwith]] as Jason Jones
* [[Vanessa Shaw]] as Judy Peters
* [[Ellen Pollock]] as Aunt Harris
* [[Dennis Price]] as Mr. Pollack
* [[Skip Martin (actor)|Skip Martin]] as Frederick
* [[Kurt Christian]] as Abraham Warren
* [[Barbara Wendy]] as Millie
* [[Kenneth Benda]] as Carter
* [[Martin Grace]] as bike boy
* [[Colin Skeaping|Colin Skeaping as]] bike boy
* [[George Herbert (actor)|George Herbert]] as laboratory assistant
* [[Susan Murphy (actress)|Susan Murphy]] as lobotomy victim number 1.
* [[James Boris IV]] as "Mystic" band member (as James IV Boris)
* [[Alan Laurence Hudson]] as "Mystic" band member (as Allan "The River" Hudson)
* [[Simon Lust]] as "Mystic" band member
* [[Alan Watson (actor)|Alan Watson]] as transvestite in club (uncredited)
* [[Antony Balch]] as bearded man in club/bike boy (uncredited)
* [[Ray Corbett]] as hunting man (uncredited)
* [[Richard Gordon (film producer)|Richard Gordon]] as man in club (uncredited)

==Production==
{{unreferenced section|date=February 2020}}
===Background===
After the success of his feature film debut ''[[Secrets of Sex]]'' (1969), an anthology sex film that flirted with horror themes, [[Antony Balch]] envisioned his second film as an out-and-out horror film and one with a continuous narrative. Location filming was undertaken in and around [[Knebworth House]] near [[Stevenage]], [[Hertfordshire]].

===Writing===
The script was written by Balch and his friend Alan Watson during the 1972 [[Cannes Film Festival]], although the film's title was thought up before the plot. Among Watson's ideas for the ''Horror Hospital'' script was the lethal Rolls-Royce, with its giant blade that decapitated people as it drove by.

===Filming===
The film was shot during a four-week schedule beginning on 16 October 1972. Shooting was done at [[Merton Park]] (mainly the pop group scene), [[Battersea Arts Centre|Battersea Town Hall]] (which provided the interiors of Brittlehurst Manor) and [[Knebworth House]].

The film's last night party on 11 November was compromised when Phoebe Shaw served cake that was laced with drugs. In his autobiography, Askwith wrote "I don’t know what she put in the cake but I ended up with a twenty stone electrician Roy, sitting on my lap telling me he thought he was in love with me." Only producer [[Richard Gordon (film producer)|Richard Gordon]] managed to avoid eating the cake.

===Casting===
Robin Askwith's role was specially written for him after he appeared in Gordon's previous 1972 production ''[[Tower of Evil]]''. Balch asked Michael Gough to base his performance on [[Bela Lugosi]], screening him a 16mm print of ''[[The Devil Bat]]'', in which Lugosi plays a mad, perfume manufacturer.

The female lead was taken by Phoebe Shaw, who had previously appeared in several TV commercials, and was renamed 'Vanessa Shaw' for the film. During filming, Shaw and Askwith briefly became lovers. Her only other known roles were an uncredited bit part in a 1969 American TV adaptation of ''[[David Copperfield (1969 film)|David Copperfield]]'' and brief roles as a boutique assistant in ''[[Say Hello to Yesterday]]'' (1970) and a police cadet in ''[[Ooh… You Are Awful]] ''(1972).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britishhorrorfilms.co.uk/horrorhospital.shtml|title=Horror Hospital - 1973|work=britishhorrorfilms.co.uk|access-date=11 November 2007|archive-date=17 October 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071017032330/http://www.britishhorrorfilms.co.uk/horrorhospital.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref> '[[Dwarfism|Dwarf]]' actor Skip Martin (who ran a tobacconist's shop in between acting assignments) and veteran character actor [[Dennis Price]] also appeared in the film, as well as Kurt Christian as whose full title was Baron Kurt Christian von Siengenberg, and who left the country not long after the film was released. His ambition at the time, according to ''[[Films and Filming]]'' magazine, was to "play a role that does not involve killing somebody".

[[Nicky Henson]] was originally considered for Christian's role.

===Music===
''Horror Hospital'' also contains a pop music number, "Mark of Death", composed by Jason DeHavilland and performed by the group Mystic (James IV Boris, Alan "The River" Hudson, Simon Lust).

==Home media==
The film was originally released on DVD in the US by Elite Entertainment on 2 November 1999. A new remastered DVD with a new commentary from producer Richard Gordon was released by Dark Sky Films on 15 June 2010. The DVD release is set for 15 June 2010 by MPI Media Group.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dreadcentral.com/news/36921/seventies-shocker-horror-hospital-coming-dvd|title=Seventies Shocker Horror Hospital Coming to DVD|work=Dread Central|date=30 August 2012 }}</ref>

The film was re-released on DVD and released for the first time on Blu-ray in the UK from Odeon on 10 August 2015.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Horror-Hospital-Blu-ray-Michael-Gough/dp/B00UAZIUO8/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1451794137&sr=1-1&keywords=horror+hospital| title=Horror Hotel (Blu-ray)| date=17 August 2015| publisher=[[Amazon.co.uk]]| accessdate=3 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Horror-Hospital-Digitally-Remastered-DVD/dp/B00UAZIUQG/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1451794137&sr=1-2&keywords=horror+hospital| title=Horror Hospital - Digitally Remastered [DVD]| date=10 August 2015| publisher=[[Amazon.co.uk]]| accessdate=3 January 2016}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|id=0070190|title=Horror Hospital}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}

[[Category:1973 films]]
[[Category:1973 comedy horror films]]
[[Category:1973 LGBT-related films]]
[[Category:1970s science fiction comedy films]]
[[Category:1970s science fiction horror films]]
[[Category:British comedy horror films]]
[[Category:British zombie comedy films]]
[[Category:1970s English-language films]]
[[Category:1970s British films]]
[[Category:Films about music and musicians]]
[[Category:Hippie films]]
[[Category:Films about slavery]]
[[Category:Films shot in Hertfordshire]]
[[Category:British LGBT-related films]]
[[Category:1973 science fiction films]]
[[Category:1973 comedy-drama films]]

Horror Hospital - Revision history

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