Bloodbath at the House of Death (1984)

When I was a child I always wanted my parents to rent Mera Blod i Baljan Boys, which is the Swedish title for Bloodbath at the House of Death. Vincent Price was in it, and finally there was a movie that combined horror and comedy in a way that I really liked. Well, it never happen. It took me until today, maybe 25 years later for me to finally see it. Was it worth the wait? Sure, but I'm more happy to finally experienced Kenny Everett. I need more of this guy.

A team of scientists arrive to the Headstone Manor, to investigate the alleged supernatural occurences there. They are lead by Dr. Lukas Mandeville (Kenny Everett) and his assistant Dr. Barbara Coyle (Pamela Stephenson), both total idiots. Many years before this, 18 people was brutally killed by unknown intruders, but we of course know that these where bloodthirsty killer-monks who wants the cleanse the house from guest so their friend Satan can return to earth - and now it's happening again! Will the scientist survive? Will they face their demons? Will they be able to have sex with each other? Who knows... unless us who seen the movie!

This is such a mixed bag of jokes, because it's pure comedy of course. Some of the funny stuff just falls flat and never recovers, while a few of them (for example the Bat-joke) is laugh-out funny). There's winks to a lot of movies, like Jaws (quite funny, but predictable joke too), Alien, Hammer-movies, slashers, ET, The Entity, Poltergeist and a few more in between. But still, it's a British comedy with dry British humor. Nothing bad with that, I like it, but it's very uneven. Kenny Everett is the high-point of the movie, and delivers the lines and hams up the acting in a proper way. He resembles Robert Englund to in an eerie way, so much that my boyfriend actually looked up from his computer and asked me if it was Robert Englund! Gareth Hunt and Don Warrington is great as the very British gay couple, and manages to do it with some class. Gareth was also in the terrible Swedish action-horror The Forgotten Wells a couple of years later. Poor man. Vincent Price has an extended cameo and is funny, but seem a bit out of place. Like he's not understanding the comedy. 

One reason to see this movie is the superb DVD from Nucleus Films. The movie simply looks stunning, like it's never been watched before. There's a ton of extras too, but I haven't got the time yet to check them out - but I'm sure their top-notch.

Bloodbath at the House of Death is sometimes a very funny movie, with one of the funnies decapitations I've ever seen - and a few other scenes of quite gruesome violence - but it's mostly the slapstick, the bad word jokes and the sexual innuendos that's the main selling point. And if you like that kinda of comedy, and a nice atmosphere - like me - this is a movie well worth purchasing.