Nobody likes a hospital. Vessels of disease and doom, they seldom contain good news unless a wee one is on the way. That built-in brutal ambience suits horror well; you don’t see nearly as many mad podiatrists as you do physicians, and the setting offers up untold instruments of pain (and more than a little bloodletting). This brings us to the giddy Horror Hospital (1973), a British production very much in the droll vein of Theatre of Blood and The Abominable Dr. Phibes.
To be fair, Horror Hospital takes place in a gothic manor that doubles as a relaxation facility/lobotomy factory, so it isn’t like a licensed clinic or anything, and yet their success rate is quite impressive. Released by Antony Balch Films in its native UK, the film slowly rolled out to the rest of the world, landing in the Us in April of ’75. Initially seen as just another low-budget,...
To be fair, Horror Hospital takes place in a gothic manor that doubles as a relaxation facility/lobotomy factory, so it isn’t like a licensed clinic or anything, and yet their success rate is quite impressive. Released by Antony Balch Films in its native UK, the film slowly rolled out to the rest of the world, landing in the Us in April of ’75. Initially seen as just another low-budget,...
- 10/19/2019
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
Kevin Macdonald’s How I Live Now will close the festival, which has assembled it largest programme to date.
The 33rd Cambridge Film Festival (Sept 19-29) has unveiled its 2013 line-up, comprising 150 titles from 40 countries.
As previously announced, Professor Stephen Hawking will attend the opening night gala of documentary Hawking, which will be broadcast live to more than 60 screens across the UK.
The festival will close with Kevin Macdonald’s How I Live Now, an Orwellian vision of a post-apocalyptic future starring Saoirse Ronan and George MacKay.
Alongside Hawking, other special guests to the festival will include directors Lucy Walker (The Crash Reel), Roland Klick (Deadlock), Mark Levinson (Particle Fever), Julien Temple (Oil City Confidential), Ramon Zürcher (The Strange Little Cat), Małgośka Szumowska (In The Name Of), Marzin Malaszczak (Sieniawka), Matt Hulse (Dummy Jim) and Andrew Mudge (The Forgotten Kingdom), Bob Stanley, John Pearse and actress Stephanie Stremler (Dust On Our Heart).
Strands include Young Americans, aimed at showcasing...
The 33rd Cambridge Film Festival (Sept 19-29) has unveiled its 2013 line-up, comprising 150 titles from 40 countries.
As previously announced, Professor Stephen Hawking will attend the opening night gala of documentary Hawking, which will be broadcast live to more than 60 screens across the UK.
The festival will close with Kevin Macdonald’s How I Live Now, an Orwellian vision of a post-apocalyptic future starring Saoirse Ronan and George MacKay.
Alongside Hawking, other special guests to the festival will include directors Lucy Walker (The Crash Reel), Roland Klick (Deadlock), Mark Levinson (Particle Fever), Julien Temple (Oil City Confidential), Ramon Zürcher (The Strange Little Cat), Małgośka Szumowska (In The Name Of), Marzin Malaszczak (Sieniawka), Matt Hulse (Dummy Jim) and Andrew Mudge (The Forgotten Kingdom), Bob Stanley, John Pearse and actress Stephanie Stremler (Dust On Our Heart).
Strands include Young Americans, aimed at showcasing...
- 8/21/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The 7th annual Wndx Festival of Moving Image, in addition to the fest’s usually fantastic lineup of new experimental film and video, is presenting a virtual smorgasbord of special events. So, be on the look out for them as they completely take over the city of Winnipeg on Sept. 26-30.
The fun kicks off on Sept. 26 with the debut of “Situated Cinema,” a roving microcinema created by Thomas Evans and Craig Rodmore that will screen at different venues throughout the entire festival. The opening night will take place at Raw Gallery and feature five films curated by Solomon Nagler that will connect viewers with their environment. The filmmakers presenting work at this unique screening experience are Heidi Phillips, Alexandre Larose, Caroline Monnet, Izabella Pruska-Oldenhof and Alex MacKenzie.
Another fantastic multi-part special event at Wndx will be hosted by underground film historian Jack Sargeant, the world’s foremost authority on Beat Cinema.
The fun kicks off on Sept. 26 with the debut of “Situated Cinema,” a roving microcinema created by Thomas Evans and Craig Rodmore that will screen at different venues throughout the entire festival. The opening night will take place at Raw Gallery and feature five films curated by Solomon Nagler that will connect viewers with their environment. The filmmakers presenting work at this unique screening experience are Heidi Phillips, Alexandre Larose, Caroline Monnet, Izabella Pruska-Oldenhof and Alex MacKenzie.
Another fantastic multi-part special event at Wndx will be hosted by underground film historian Jack Sargeant, the world’s foremost authority on Beat Cinema.
- 9/24/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Canny film producer known for his horror and sci-fi classics
The producer Richard Gordon, who has died aged 85, was involved with several offbeat classics of horror and science-fiction cinema. These included Arthur Crabtree's Fiend Without a Face (1958), which climaxes with a still-astonishing siege of a power station by disembodied, tentacled, malicious human brains, and Antony Balch's Horror Hospital (1973), a lively and perverse mad-scientist satire featuring Michael Gough and Robin Askwith.
It may be that Gordon and his brother, Alex, so closely associated that many reference sources mistakenly say they were twins, were the first people to take the now-common route from movie-crazed kid to industry professional, later the path of film-makers as different as Jean-Luc Godard and Steven Spielberg. As schoolboys, the Gordons founded a film society, then wrote for fan magazines and performed menial roles on low-budget productions, always motivated by a boundless enthusiasm for the films...
The producer Richard Gordon, who has died aged 85, was involved with several offbeat classics of horror and science-fiction cinema. These included Arthur Crabtree's Fiend Without a Face (1958), which climaxes with a still-astonishing siege of a power station by disembodied, tentacled, malicious human brains, and Antony Balch's Horror Hospital (1973), a lively and perverse mad-scientist satire featuring Michael Gough and Robin Askwith.
It may be that Gordon and his brother, Alex, so closely associated that many reference sources mistakenly say they were twins, were the first people to take the now-common route from movie-crazed kid to industry professional, later the path of film-makers as different as Jean-Luc Godard and Steven Spielberg. As schoolboys, the Gordons founded a film society, then wrote for fan magazines and performed menial roles on low-budget productions, always motivated by a boundless enthusiasm for the films...
- 11/8/2011
- by Kim Newman
- The Guardian - Film News
You can now watch live theatre, pop, opera and more online – but is it ever a match for the real thing? Leo Benedictus spends a week on his sofa in a bid to find out
To get the most from any show, apparently, you have to be there. No technology can transmit the sound of a real orchestra or the immediacy of theatre, can it? If you haven't shared a room with your favourite band, you can't really call yourself a fan. Even giant plasma screens and Blu-ray players cannot properly display those films that, everyone agrees, "you have to see in the cinema".
And everyone is probably right. But they overrate some aspects of the live experience, too. Having spent money going out, we all want to believe we had a good time, if only so we don't resent the journey home. A certain cachet attaches itself to the...
To get the most from any show, apparently, you have to be there. No technology can transmit the sound of a real orchestra or the immediacy of theatre, can it? If you haven't shared a room with your favourite band, you can't really call yourself a fan. Even giant plasma screens and Blu-ray players cannot properly display those films that, everyone agrees, "you have to see in the cinema".
And everyone is probably right. But they overrate some aspects of the live experience, too. Having spent money going out, we all want to believe we had a good time, if only so we don't resent the journey home. A certain cachet attaches itself to the...
- 7/26/2010
- by Leo Benedictus
- The Guardian - Film News
This video experiment, first posted by realitystudio.org, was recorded on Dec. 21, 1971, as I wrote there, in William S. Burroughs' London flat at 8 Duke St. The filmmaker Antony Balch, who lived downstairs, brought his movie projector up to the flat, along with the unfinished footage of Bill & Tony, a movie he'd been working on. Burroughs sat in front of the movie projector. He looked remarkably like Buster Keaton, his stare so blank and deadpan he could have been a mummy. We turned off the lights. Balch ran the footage through the projector, superimposing the image on Burroughs' face. I ran the video camera. It was an Akai portable reel-to-reel video recorder that used 1/4″ black & white tape. The video is purposely not edited, to give the actual context of the experiment. In an interview in Rolling Stone,...
- 4/13/2010
- by Jan Herman
- Huffington Post
Now this is what we're talking about, man! Long lost movies hitting home video in new pristine prints! The news of another never ceases to get us excited, and now that Horror Hospital is coming home, we're downright feverish!
From the Press Release
Before he played the mild-mannered butler Alfred in Tim Burton’s “Batman” movies, Michael Gough was an icon of horror, appearing in such classics as “Berserk,” “Trog,” and “Horrors of the Black Museum.” But none of his roles can compare to his performance as sadistic and deranged Dr. Christian Storm in Horror Hospital. Director Antony Balch’s legendary 1973 shocker has now been restored to its uncensored glory and will be released on DVD by genre masters Dark Sky Films, via Mpi Media Group, on June 15, 2010. The disc, carrying an Srp of $19.98, includes a new feature-length commentary.
As with many British fright flicks of the ’70s, Horror Hospital pours humor,...
From the Press Release
Before he played the mild-mannered butler Alfred in Tim Burton’s “Batman” movies, Michael Gough was an icon of horror, appearing in such classics as “Berserk,” “Trog,” and “Horrors of the Black Museum.” But none of his roles can compare to his performance as sadistic and deranged Dr. Christian Storm in Horror Hospital. Director Antony Balch’s legendary 1973 shocker has now been restored to its uncensored glory and will be released on DVD by genre masters Dark Sky Films, via Mpi Media Group, on June 15, 2010. The disc, carrying an Srp of $19.98, includes a new feature-length commentary.
As with many British fright flicks of the ’70s, Horror Hospital pours humor,...
- 4/12/2010
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
Nice! Dark Sky Films is releasing Antony Balch's Horror Hospital in a special edition on June 15, boasting a new feature-length commentary. The film has now been restored to its uncensored glory and you can check out the cover art below. Transferred in HD from the original 35mm camera negative, Horror Hospital 's commentary features producer Richard Gordon ( Fiend Without a Face ) and is moderated by Tom Weaver. The DVD also includes an extensive still gallery which features selects from the personal library of Mr. Gordon, as well as rare lobby cards from Germany. Synopsis: Exhausted young rock singer Jason (Robin Askwith) decides to visit a rural retreat for some rest and rejuvenating treatment. Along the way, Jason meets Judy (Vanessa Shaw), a pretty girl who is also...
- 4/12/2010
- shocktillyoudrop.com
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