View source for Bloodbath at the House of Death

{{Infobox film
| name           = Bloodbath at the House of Death
| image          = Bloodbath poster.jpg
| caption        = Film poster, featuring [[Kenny Everett]]
| director       = Ray Cameron
| producer       = {{ubl|Laurence Myers|John Downes|Ray Cameron}}
| writer         = Ray Cameron<br>[[Barry Cryer]]
| starring       = {{ubl|[[Kenny Everett]]|[[Pamela Stephenson]]|[[Vincent Price]]|[[Gareth Hunt]]}}
| music          = [[Mark London]]<br>[[Mike Moran (music producer)|Mike Moran]]
| cinematography = Dusty Miller<br>Brian West
| editing        = Brian Tagg
| distributor    = [[Columbia Pictures|Columbia]]-[[EMI Films|EMI]]-[[Warner Bros.|Warner Distributors]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Bloodbath at the House of Death (1984)|website=[[BBFC]]|access-date=18 December 2021|url=https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/bloodbath-at-the-house-of-death-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zmza4mdg}}</ref>
| released       = {{Film date|1984|03}}
| runtime        = 88 minutes
| country        = United Kingdom
| language       = English
}}
'''''Bloodbath at the House of Death''''' is a 1984 British [[comedy horror]] film directed by Ray Cameron and starring [[Kenny Everett]], [[Pamela Stephenson]] and [[Vincent Price]].<ref name="imdb">{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086981/|title=Bloodbath at the House of Death (1984)|work=[[Internet Movie Database]]|accessdate=12 August 2010}}</ref> It is an over-the-top spoof loosely inspired by ''[[The Amityville Horror (1979 film)|The Amityville Horror]]'' and other horror films of the era, including ''[[Alien (1979 film)|Alien]]'', ''[[The Exorcist]]'' and ''[[Poltergeist (1982 film)|Poltergeist]]'', among others, concerning the investigation by a pair of scientists of a [[manor house]] under the control of [[Satanism|Satanist]] monks.

== Plot ==
The film opens in 1975 at a place called Headstone Manor, which is being used as a "businessman's weekend retreat and girls' summer camp". A few minutes into the film, a group of [[satan]]ic [[monk]]s enter the house and kill 18 of its occupants.

In 1983, Doctor Lukas Mandeville ([[Kenny Everett]]) and Doctor Barbara Coyle ([[Pamela Stephenson]]) are sent to investigate [[radioactive decay|radioactive]] readings in the area that have been traced to Headstone Manor, now known by locals as the House of Death. Along with several other scientists, Mandeville and Coyle set up their equipment in the house, while the Sinister Man ([[Vincent Price]]), a 700-year-old [[Satanism|Satanic]] priest, prepares a rite in the nearby woods to purge the house of its unwanted guests.

During this time, Mandeville reveals that he was once a successful [[Germany|German]] [[surgeon]] named Ludwig Manheim, who was reduced to "smart-arse [[paranormal]] research crap" after a humiliation in the past. Coyle also encounters a [[poltergeist]], and the two engage in [[sexual intercourse]].

Several satanic clones of Mandeville, Coyle and the other scientists enter the house, and begin killing off the originals and taking their place. When Coyle is about to be killed, she is abducted by the poltergeist but also cloned. The satanic monks then take off in a spaceship, revealing that these monks are [[extraterrestrials|aliens]] using the house for their activities on Earth. The film ends with the spaceship soaring into the skies.

== Cast ==
* [[Kenny Everett]] as Dr. Lukas Mandeville
* [[Pamela Stephenson]] as Dr. Barbara Coyle
* [[Vincent Price]] as Sinister Man
* [[Gareth Hunt]] as Elliot Broome
* [[Don Warrington]] as Stephen Wilson
* [[John Fortune]] as John Harrison
* [[Sheila Steafel]] as Sheila Finch
* [[John Stephen Hill]] as Henry Noland
* [[Cleo Rocos]] as Deborah Kedding
* [[Graham Stark]] as The Blind Man
* [[Pat Ashton]] as Barmaid
* [[David Lodge (actor)|David Lodge]] as Inspector Goule
* [[Debbie Linden]] as Attractive Girl
* [[Tim Barrett (actor)|Tim Barrett]] as Doctor
* [[Barry Cryer]] as Police Inspector
* [[Anna Dawson]] as Nurse
* [[Gordon Rollings]] as Man at bar

== Production ==
[[File:Bloodbathhousedeath.jpg|right|thumb|150px|[[Vincent Price]] plays the Sinister Man in the film; VHS box cover]]

''Bloodbath at the House of Death'' was written by Ray Cameron and Barry Cryer, who had previously co-written the 1978 to 1981 Thames Television comedy series ''[[The Kenny Everett Video Show]]''. Laurence Myers agreed to produce the film when the makers almost lost their financing.<ref name=Guardian>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/aug/22/comedy | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Phelim | last=O'Neill | title=Phelim O'Neill on lost British films and the saving of Kenny Everett's horror movie | date=22 August 2008}}</ref> The film was shot entirely on location at the town of [[Potters Bar]] in [[Hertfordshire]], [[England]].<ref>[http://www.britmovie.co.uk/genres/horror/filmography/053.html Bloodbath at the House of Death (1984)<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070216234607/http://www.britmovie.co.uk/genres/horror/filmography/053.html |date=February 16, 2007 }}</ref> [[Michael McIntyre]] (the son of director Ray Cameron) reveals in his autobiography that he was the voice of E.T.<ref>{{cite book|last=McIntyre|first=Michael|title=Life & Laughing: My Story|year=2010|publisher=Michael Joseph Ltd|isbn=978-0-7181-5581-0|page=57|authorlink=Michael McIntyre}}<!--|accessdate=9 January 2011--></ref> Myers recalls that the film did not make sense; he screened the film for censor  [[James Ferman]], who enjoyed the film, but believed that the reels were played in the wrong order.<ref name="Guardian" />

== Release ==
[[File:Bloodbath book.jpg|right|thumb|150px|The book based on the film]]
The film was released in the [[United Kingdom]] by [[Thorn EMI]]. It was produced in the aftermath of Kenny Everett's outburst at the [[Young Conservatives (UK)|Young Conservatives]] conference in which he called for the bombing of Russia; as a result, the media frequently referenced the film in negative context in relation to the outburst during the production, and film critics reviewed the film harshly.<ref name=Guardian/> Film critic Martyn Auty wrote: "Presumably intended as high camp; looks like low-grade [[Carry On films|''Carry On'']]."<ref>Halliwell's Film Guide.</ref> It was given an [[18 (British Board of Film Classification)|18 certificate]] in the United Kingdom.

The film was released on [[DVD]] in the United Kingdom in July 2008, with a re-rating to a [[British Board of Film Classification|15 certificate]].<ref>[http://www.britmovie.co.uk/forums/latest-dvd-releases/13321-bloodbath-house-death-1983-a.html Bloodbath at the House of Death (1983) – Britmovie – British Film Forum<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515213829/http://www.britmovie.co.uk/forums/latest-dvd-releases/13321-bloodbath-house-death-1983-a.html |date=2008-05-15 }}</ref> A novelization of the film was also published, which named Marcel Wave (one of Kenny Everett's TV characters) as the resident who underwent [[spontaneous combustion]].

== References ==
<references />

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200415045634/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b69564ade Bloodbath at the House of Death] at the [[British Film Institute]]
* {{IMDb title| 0086981 }}
* {{BritMovie title| Bloodbath-at-the-House-of-Death_1984 }}
* [https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/aug/22/comedy The films that were buried alive], ''[[The Guardian]]'', August 22, 2008

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloodbath At The House Of Death}}
[[Category:1984 films]]
[[Category:1984 comedy horror films]]
[[Category:1980s parody films]]
[[Category:1980s ghost films]]
[[Category:British haunted house films]]
[[Category:British parody films]]
[[Category:British comedy horror films]]
[[Category:Parodies of horror]]
[[Category:Films set in 1975]]
[[Category:Films set in 1983]]
[[Category:Films set in country houses]]
[[Category:Films shot in Hertfordshire]]
[[Category:1984 English-language films]]
[[Category:1984 British films]]
[[Category:Films about Satanism]]
[[Category:Films about cloning]]
[[Category:Films about alien visitations]]
[[Category:British religious horror films]]
[[Category:English-language comedy horror films]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=Bloodbath at the House of Death|access_date=2026-02-27}}