"Bloodbath at the House of Death" is a "Horror" "Comedy" film that was released in 1984. It features and advertises Vincent Price, but he is barely in the movie.
The film runs for 1 hour and 31 minutes, which is way too long for how much it drags on. The movie starts off interesting at first, a bit silly, and has some gags you'd expect of British humor, but it starts to get old quickly, within the first 30 minutes. In fact, one of the best jokes in the movie is within the first half hour, where the group at the pub create a song in the same note as "The Twelve Days of Christmas", when trying to remember how many victims were killed at the murder house back in 1975.
The plot of the film, or idea to it, is that in 1975, on or around August 12th, 18 people were killed at a house. In present day, presumably 1984, a group of scientists go to the house to try and explain or understand what could have happened.
Very little is explained, and the movie relies too much on gags that are generally unfunny, to carry the film, instead of having a decent enough plot to carry the film. You would think that the plot of the film would drive the movie, but instead, it seems that the plot is based around the gags instead.
Of course, over 40 years later, not every joke stands the test of time, but I don't think they were very funny to begin with.
The movie references multiple other horror films from the era, such as "Carrie", "Star Wars", "Poltergeist", and "Alien", but the gags usually left me saying, "huh.". Other films known to be referenced include, "The Exorcist", "E.T.", and "The Amityville Horror".
I don't think that every film referenced has been noted, and I think some of the more underground/lesser known ones have been overlooked.
For example, it seems that in the bloody bathroom scene, this might be a reference to another Vincent Price film, "The Tingler". In that movie, one of the characters is scared to death in her bathroom, after the tub and sink run red with blood.
There doesn't seem to be any official note anywhere, but it seems that the movie might reference "The Devil's Rain". Of course, this is because of the Satanic Cult and cultists wearing their robes. Though I couldn't completely tell if the movie referenced this, or was just referencing/spoofing Anton LaVey.
Despite advertising Vincent Price as being in this film, he's barely in it at all. His last scene in the film is of him being burned by one his cultists. I thought this was a stupid move, as he was the main reason anyone would watch this film.
Looking through the newspaper archives, it appears that many people didn't care for this film when it came out either. It was called "unfunny" multiple times, in multiple papers. Only one said that it was in good taste. The movie isn't terrible", but I don't think anyone would seriously watch this for a laugh. I think anyone who comes across this film would be like me, wanting to see the parts with Vincent Price.
Personally, I didn't care for this film, and couldn't see myself watching it again. I gave this half a star on letterboxd.
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