Bloodbath At The House Of Death is a forgotten horror parody that also marked the only film appearance of famed British comedian Kenny Everett. While movie parodies existed well before the 1980s – as seen by the likes of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, 1967’s Casino Royale or Blazing Saddles – that was the decade the genre seemed to really kick off. This is partly down to the success of Airplane!, the hilariously straight-faced disaster movie set aboard a plane. Its creative team would follow up with the likes of Top Secret! and The Naked Gun: From The Files Of Police Squad!
Parody movies don’t have the best critical reputation, however, as a lot of them simply miss the target with obvious gags. This is especially true of horror parodies, and while the original Scary Movie – a sendup of Scream and its assorted imitators – is still somewhat well-liked, its many sequels received terrible reviews. Other misfires include 1994’s The Silence Of The Hams, The Bogus Witch Project and The Walking Deceased.
That’s not to say there haven’t been some great ones, including the likes of Shaun Of The Dead. One movie that’s been largely forgotten is Bloodbath At The House Of Death. This 1984 comedy was a sendup of just about every popular horror film of its era, including The Amityville Horror and The Shining. It starred Kenny Everett, who at the time was a popular DJ and comedian in the UK.
Bloodbath At The House Of Death also featured horror legend Vincent Price (The Fly) as villain Sinister Man, and it was his face that largely adorned posters and VHS covers for the film overseas. Bloodbath At The House Of Death can be quite scattered in its comic approach, throwing in everything from parodies of slasher fare like Friday The 13th to jabs at Hammer Horror movies, but it still delivers some chuckle-worthy gags. The cast are also giving it their best with Vincent Price, in particular, seeming to have a great time.
Bloodbath At The House Of Death is a fun curio for genre fans, but it largely disappeared following its original release. This is partly down to controversy that surrounded a Kenny Everett speech at a Young Conservatives conference in the UK before its release, which saw the film greeted with a scathing response and quickly disappearing from cinemas. It took until 2008 for the film to reappear on DVD in the UK too, with the original negative proving hard to track down.