Death Spa (1988)

Michael Evans (likable William Bumiller) runs a health spa that's beset by a series of gruesome and mysterious deaths. Director Michael Fischa, working from a gleefully ridiculous script by James Bartruff and Mitch Paradise, keeps the enjoyably inane story moving along at a brisk pace, treats the silly premise with gut-busting misguided seriousness, delivers a satisfying smattering of leering gratuitous female nudity, goes delightfully overboard with the excessive explicit splatter, neatly captures the Day-Glo cheesiness of the 80's fitness craze (hot chicks in leotards, leg warmers, strenuous aerobics, and so on), and pulls out the crazy stops at the wild climax in which a Mardi Gras party gets nightmarishly out of hand. Merritt Butrick as arrogant security expert David Avery, Ken Foree as easygoing trainer Marvin, and Rosalind Cash as the no-nonsense Sgt. Stone all do sturdy work in their roles. Moreover, this film further benefits from the smoldering presences of several beautiful babes: Brenda Bakke as Michael's sweet girlfriend Laura Danvers, Alexa Hamilton as conniving backstabbing manager Priscilla Wayne, Shari Shattuck as the vengeful Catherine, and Chelsea Field as perky diver Darla. Peter D. Kaye's shivery synthesizer score hits the shuddery spot. Arledge Armenaki's slick cinematography provides a smooth glossy sheen. A hugely entertaining piece of absolute tosh.

It's no secret that one of my favorite movies of all time is David A. Prior's 1986 classic KILLER WORKOUT. Given that, imagine my joy when I discovered there was another workout slasher made in the eighties. I somehow knew it wouldn't top KILLER WORKOUT, but it's near impossible to not enjoy DEATH SPA.Michael is the owner of a prestigious spa that's run completely by a large computer system built by his ex-brother-in-law David. You see, Michael's wife, Catherine, had a miscarriage, which severely damaged her spine and committed her to a wheelchair. Depressed, she doused herself in gasoline and set herself on fire. Well, now someone, or something, is killing off members of the spa. Is it Catherine, back from the dead? Or is it David, out to avenge his sister? Or is it someone else trying to get Michael to lose the spa? DEATH SPA is great, but for all the wrong reasons. I imagine this movie had a budget twice that of KILLER WORKOUT, yet the quality is still the same, and maybe even worse. This is definitely a movie made solely to show off some fancy gore FX, so the writing is very sloppy and very funny. Sometimes the hilarity is the result of just bad acting, but sometimes, you can't help but wonder if they actually could have done better, given the material. This is sad, considering some of the actors have done bigger things. There's Ken Foree (DAWN OF THE DEAD), Merrit Butrick (STAR TREK 2&3), Brenda Bakke (L.A. CONFIDENTIAL), and Frank McCarthy (THE RELIC).DEATH SPA definitely doesn't skimp on the gore, with inventive deaths, a huge body count, and lots and lots of grue. One guy's face falls off, another gets boiled alive by hot water, another explodes, etc. The effects aren't the greatest, but did you really expect them to be? I will say that DEATH SPA beats out KILLER WORKOUT in the death and gore department, but then again, there aren't any deaths by giant safety pin in DEATH SPA, are there? That's really all there is to talk about with DEATH SPA. It's not scary in the slightest, the gore is great, some of the kills are so absurd they're hilarious (death by fish, anyone?), the writing is beyond awful, and it is sort of sad to see these stars appearing in, well, THIS.Needless to say, it's required viewing for every organism on Earth.

After having gone to the amazing two day horror festival Foree Fest,i went round trying to find other films that Ken Foree has been in,and while this film is not up their with the classic horror film Foree gas been in)Dawn of the Dead and The Devils Rejecks)This is still a very enjoyable thriller/horror B-Movie.The plot: Ome of the main investors of a very successful gym/spa Michael(who's wife had killed herself in a very strange way,)girlfriend is at the spa,and she ends up getting very badly burnt.And as other people star to get hurt,Michael starts to think that the spas big brother-style computer system is being tamped with,and he thinks that the person doing this is the brother of his deceased wife.But he starts to find out that his wife is not happy,that he did not die with her..View on the Film: The screenplay:The screenplay is by James Bartruff and Mich Paradise and it seems to be stuck in choosing what type of film it should be,in that the big brother part of the film is really interesting,due to how much we depend on computers now,but the film fails when it turns into another post-Friday the 13th style slasher.(thought the ribs and the fish deaths are great fun)But the rest of the deaths just really drain the clever side of the story.Final view on the film: A really enjoyable film,thats stuck between being a B-horror movie and a pretty clever thriller.

Witch Bitch… For the (alternative) title alone this movie should be considered a "classic" in the industry of silly-n-cheesy 80's horror! "Death Spa" delivers everything you can derive from the title and cool DVD-cover (mine actually displays a girl's bare ass): rancid sleaze, a retarded plot and loads of gooey make-up effects. Recent widower Michael Evans runs the fancy and hi-tech Starbody Health Spa, where all the gym devices are computer-driven and sexy young girls become a member if only to get close to hunky Michael. Business is great until peculiar 'accidents' begin to take place. Michael's girlfriend Laura is the first victim when she gets heavily burned after using the spa. The next incidents are even worse, resulting in the death of several guests. Michael suspects his brother-in-law to sabotage the place, as he never got over his sister's tragic suicide, but it's more likely that Catherine's vengeful spirit returned from the grave herself. "Death Spa" is wacky nonsense, completely without tension or atmosphere, but the gory murders are tremendously fun to watch! Some of the cheese-highlights include a girl literally blown to pieces by an exploding mirror and another hottie melts down to the bones! An elderly guy (a cop investigating the case) even has his throat bitten open by a deep-frozen fish!!! How many times have you seen that before? Everything in this gym center is bewitched, even the cocktail blender and the bathroom tiles. The dialogs & acting performances are horrible, the typical 80's music is atrocious and all the characters are so dumb they really deserve to die. Ken Foree ('Dawn of the Dead') briefly appears as the gym center's caretaker, but his share in the plot is hardly worth mentioning. "Death Spa" is insignificant and brainless 80's trash, and I enjoyed it A LOT!