cycle had already churned out its share of silly (and often very 
troubled) parodies like Student Bodies, Pandemonium, and Wacko. At the same time, Britain turned out its own goofy gore spoof, the aptly-titled Bloodbath at the House of Death, which barely made a blip in theaters but earned a decent cult following on home video. American horror kids in particular were drawn in by the promotion of Vincent Price (who basically has a glorified cameo) on the cover of the old Media VHS tape, which became a mainstay in mom-and-pop video shops for years. Thankfully time has been kind to the film, which veers from one target to the next with head-spinning speed but scores a surprising number of hits along the way. It also features some hilariously over-the-top gore, which is always a good thing.
the last scene that won't be ruined here, but Peter Jackson must have been more than a tad inspired by this before making Bad Taste.
making Bloodbath one of the few happy exceptions. Some of the jokes are still a little too inside to work for many modern viewers, but the tried-and-true horror gags (especially a wild, gory flashback involving a surgery gone horribly wrong) still make this a top-notch cult item. Everett's hit-and-miss performance is a rather iffy way to ground a film, but fortunately he's carried along by a stellar supporting cast including the always-funny Pamela Stephenson (another TV comedy vet best known to US viewers as one of the few good things in Superman III) and The New Avengers' Gareth Hunt, who plays one-half of a gay paranormal-investigating couple. The effects are surprisingly good for the most part, ranging from some Savini-worthy blood gags to ambitious visuals involving a feisty poltergeist, and the imaginative music score by Mike Moran and songwriter Mark London is dead-on brilliant. Of course, the biggest ace in the hole here is the presence of Price as "the Sinister Man," making the most of his limited screen time with some delicious speeches and wonderful nudgings at his classic AIP horror days. The whole thing's more than a bit disjointed and will never be mistaken for high art, but as a late night party selection, it fits the bill just fine. 
packaging touts this as the 
predecessor to Scary Movie, though in the end it's more of an inspiration to more modern and better-regarded British TV horror spoofs like Dr. Terrible's House of Horrible and especially the brilliant Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. Australia later got the film on DVD from Via Vision packed into a 7-disc(!) Kenny Everett collection featuring the complete series of The Kenny Everett Video Show. VINEGAR SYNDROME (BLU-RAY)
