HOSPITAL MASSACRE (1981)

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTIONS: *psychological*


Apparently HOSPITAL MASSACRE was the original title of this early eighties slasher, though I confess that alternate title X-RAY is more evocative, if only because it suggests the extremity of exposure suffered by heroine Susan (Barbi Benton, the only "name" actor in the cast).

There's not much question that director/co-writer Boaz Davidson-- who'd mostly directed comedies prior to MASSACRE-- was strongly emulating the "hot" slashers of that period. The opening scenes are clearly modeled upon those of HALLOWEEN, in which a pint-sized psycho commits a heinous murder, which then lays the groundwork for his fully grown self to continue his slaughter-play. Whereas Little Michael Myers murders his own older sister, Little Harold of MASSACRE sticks within his own age-group. He pens a love-note to fellow grade-schooler Susan, and then watches in dismay as she tells her equally young brother about the note and they both laugh at Harold's presumption. Harold then kills Susan's brother, but Davidson stages the scene in such an awkward manner than it seems silly rather than tragic. Davidson also doesn't bother to say what happened to Harold once Susan, an indirect witness to the crime, blew the whistle on him. Nor do we have any inklings as to why, when Harold does come after Susan when both are adults, he chooses to do so in a hospital.

As an adult Susan (Benton) displays a little of the same bitchiness she evinced as a kid, verbally reaming her ex-husband when he tries to get her to let him have custody of their daughter for a weekend. Susan can't be bothered, as she has to get a routine medical checkup for her place of employment, though this scene does set up the ex-husband to be one of Susan's allies later on. But for the time being, Susan leaves the guy in the dirt and goes into the hospital.

For about twenty minutes, Davidson makes the multi-story place of healing seem as menacing as a decayed old manor. Harold, disguised as a doctor, starts messing with Susan's records so as to get Susan confined for reason of extreme illness, but even before that, Davidson's hospital seems full of menacing images: masked exterminators fumigating a whole floor, cackling old patients, stolid nurses and obtuse doctors. For those twenty minutes, Susan seems to be in a real hospital. However, once Harold starts killing anyone who gets in his way, the hospital devolves into just another big set where most of the rooms are conveniently empty and no one hears any screams. Harold's murders are certainly more imaginative than many other slashers of the time, though not much gore is seen. Still, there's nothing here that would make Dario Argento look to his laurels.

Worth a look just for a few scenes, but don't expect much.