X-Ray (1981) User Reviews

Fun Little Slasher

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 29 July 2013]

While receiving a routine check-up, a beautiful woman (Barbi Benton) is stalked by a maniac (Charles Lucia) out to avenge a childhood Valentine's Day humiliation.

I see another reviewer called this Kafkaesque, and I am glad I was not alone in thinking this seemed in many ways like "The Trial" or other such works. The lead character keeps getting passed from doctor to doctor with test after test, but no one ever bothers to tell her what is wrong (and the audience does not know either beyond some really bizarre x-rays).

Writer-director Boaz Davidson has an impressive list of credits under his belt, primarily as producer (he is most recently involved with the "Expendables" franchise). His writing and directing is a bit more spotty, and from the interview featured on the Scream Factory disc it seems his specialty was comedies. This shows in "X-Ray". While obviously a slasher film, it is more silly than the average one and for every suspenseful or tension-filled moment, there is a humorous bit not far behind.

I would not say this is one of the great slashers. Most people probably forgot it existed or never heard of it. But it is not the worst, and I am glad it has been brought back on DVD and Blu-Ray. A cheesy 1980s horror film beats the new stuff any day of the week.

A hoot

[adriangr · 5/10 · 2 September 2007]

"Hospital Massacre" is a pretty low aiming shot in the mid 1980's slasher stakes, and it has so many crappy moments in it that you should have a good laugh while watching it. Basically, glamour model Barbi Benton plays Susan Jeremy, a woman who pops into hospital for some routine test results only to find that she can't get out again. This is because a maniac with a serious grudge against her is blocking all escape routes and won't stop until he gets what he wants!

Now let me say that the film isn't all bad, but what really doesn't work is the hilarious implausibility of the "situation" that Susan finds herself in. As soon as the killer knows she is in the hospital, he plants some bogus test results in her file, and from this point onwards all the other hospital staff treat Susan like a dangerous and/or mentally deranged powder keg who must be detained at all costs. Thus we see a perfectly normal woman forced into straps and restraints, slammed into locked wards, subjected to humiliating examinations and, of course, in between all that she's being pursued by a masked killer. Now the film makes quite good use of the hospital location for some good murders, but this supposed inescapability I just did not swallow. Anyway, for even more fun, let me list a few of the really outrageous goofs this film thinks it can get away with. Susan actually leaves her boyfriend in the car waiting while she pops into the hospital for "a few minutes". Amazingly, several hours go by and darkness falls before he even comes to look for her! Next watch out for a side-splitting scene when Susan hides behind a portable screen on wheels just inches away from the killer. Watch as she drops a lighter on the floor and retrieves it with her foot while the killer stares right at the screen without out seeing anything. The screen even has about 12" of space below it where Susan's legs can clearly be seen. Oh sorry she also pulls the material aside to peer through the screen at him, and he doesn't see that either. Next watch for the notorious examination scene where Susan is stripped naked and felt up all over by a doctor in a supposedly sinister fashion. NO WAY would this ever be tolerated or handled in such a sleazy manner in a real hospital. Plus, save your breath for the scene in which a fleeing Susan bursts into a room full of patients in traction, who all spring to life and writhe their tethered, bandaged bodies around like it's a scene from some kind of purgatory. Why? I don't know. There's no reason at all for this shot, expect to put something bizarre to look at into the running time.

I'll say this though, Barbi Benton is not bad in the role of Susan. She screams well enough and is attractive to look at throughout. Shame that the script gives her so many stupid, dumb things to do and never once is there a moment when she decides to just leave the building (it's not a prison, fer crying out loud).

Luckily the murders are pretty good fun and the general looniness of the whole thing definitely makes it fun. Just forget logic and you'll enjoy it.

Passable low rent who-done-it slasher film set in a hospital

[a_chinn · 6/10 · 11 August 2019]

Early entry into the 80s slasher film craze is surprisingly decent and is one of the few times Golan-Globus Productions ("Invasion U.S.A," "Breakin'," "Revenge of the Ninja," etc.) made a slasher picture. The opening prologue has an unpopular boy named Harold leaving a Valentine's Day card on the doorstep for pretty girl Susan. Susan and her friend find the card, laugh about it, and crumple up the Valentine. Unbeknownst to them, Harold has been watching the whole time. While Susan is getting some cake from the kitchen, she returns to her friend murdered while the creepy Harold stares at her through the window before running off. That's all the set-up you need for this slasher film, which the adult Susan, played by former playmate Barbi Benton, visits the hospital one day for some test results where she is stalked by an adult Harold who is still in love with her. From there, the bodycount continues to grow and just about every male in the hospital might be Harold (it seems like this hospital almost exclusively hired by creepy dudes). Directed and co-written by schlockmeister Boaz Davidson, who's made charming garbage since the 70s like "The Last American Virgin" all the way until today with lame films like "Mega Snake" and "Leatherface" (though he's also produced some classier films like "The Expendables," Rambo 4," and the underrated "Drive Angry"). The plot, characters, and story are pretty non-existent, but Davidson does deliver a good number of suspenseful and creepy hospital themed horrors, particularly an uncomfortable exam of Benton by a creepy doctor that seems to last forever. The film's bloody finale is also quite memorable. There are some slow parts in the second act of the film that drag, but it's not a bad film if you're in the mood for a throwback style slasher that you may have missed. FUN FACT! The film was photographed by Nicholas Josef von Sternberg, son of famed director Josef von Sternberg ("The Blue Angel" "Morocco" "Shanghai Express").

Good movie!

[Rusty-50 · 9 May 1999]

The movie starts off with a young boy who obviously has a crush on this girl. When he sends her a valentine card, she laughs at it. This must have made the boy go psycho. Cut to the present. The girl is now a grown woman, who is going to get a routine check up at her hospital. The killer shows up at the hospital and begins to methodically slice and dice the hospital staff to get to the woman. This movie has some great suspense and atmosphere. The acting was a little below average, but the movie is too good to be missed.

Hospital from Hell

[Dave_douell · 5/10 · 11 February 2019]

They could have left the killer out of the movie and it would have been just as good! It's so stupid that it's funny. Every scene is bizarre with the half wit doctors and staff. Thankfully none of these things could actually happen in a real hospital. I wasn't expecting much when I watched this and that's exactly what I got. Still, the craziness that occurs is worth a laugh. Watch this when you have nothing else to watch!

Not Bad 80's Horror/Slasher Flick

[gwnightscream · 5/10 · 15 January 2021]

This 1982 horror film features attractive, divorced woman, Susan (Barbi Benton) who goes to get a doctor checkup, but finds herself in nightmare when a killer decides to sabotage her x-ray results to keep her there. This isn't a bad 80's horror/slasher flick except for some very dark scenes and shares similarities with "Halloween II," "My Bloody Valentine" & "Visiting Hours." Fans of the genre may want to check this out at least once.

Hospital Massacre

[Toronto85 · 5/10 · 30 May 2012]

Quite a few hospital horror movies were being made around this time such as Halloween II and Visiting Hours. Hospital Massacre isn't released on DVD and is the hardest to find of the bunch. It is also the lesser of the three movies mentioned. Hospital Massacre sounds great in theory, a psychotic killer stalking the halls of a deserted hospital trying to kill a very beautiful woman. But after watching Hospital Massacre, I found out that it isn't all that great unfortunately.

The movie starts with the murder of a young boy on Valentine's Day. After another boy named Harry gets "rejected" by our lead character Susan, he murders the young boy she's playing with. Flash forward 20 years now. Susan has a young child and a boyfriend and she is headed the hospital to find out test results from a routine checkup she had done. We then see our killer who is dressed up as a surgeon. He switches her test results to make it seem that she is dying, when then leads to the hospital staff forcefully admitting Susan to the hospital overnight. We get a few kills along the way of nurses, doctors and secretaries. It all leads up the finale and revelation of the murderer.

Obviously the killer is Harry from all those years ago. The mystery we have to solve is "who is Harry"? We saw him as a kid so we don't know what he looks like as an adult. The suspects include a couple of doctors, one by the name of Harry (go figure). The murders aren't anything special, sort of bloody but not too much. It's just all so random for me. He kills a bunch of nurses before we even get introduced to them. One second we see Susan talking and then bam, a random nurse gets stabbed. No character development at all.

I liked the creepy deserted hospital scenes and a few of the murders were well done like when he is chasing a nurse down the dark hall. But Hospital Massacre felt rushed and very busy. Too many things were going on and yet nothing was being explained. We get that the killer is insane, but why kill all of these random people? There were times he could have easily killed Susan, but he chose to kill hospital staff that for the most part weren't even in his way. It's worth at least one watch for horror fans, but could have been better.

5/10

Kafkaesque grindhouse absurdity

[noahbbrown · 7/10 · 5 April 2009]

Forgive the pretentious summary, but i thought this film was effective precisely for all the elements other reviewers seemed to criticise. It IS fairly well shot (the dark bits are hard work) and the editing's sharp. With a big bombastic orchestral score and lots of OTT moments, this is a cheesy film with plenty of daft false scares and the like, but it's quite nightmarish too. The clichéd parts are tensely handled. Maybe I'm desensitized to bad cinema at the moment, having consumed plenty of terrible 80s slashers recently, but I thought this was pretty good. Little touches like the horrible old women sharing Barbi Benton's hospital ward, cackling like the witches from Macbeth, added to the absurd bad-dream quality. The murder scenes are well handled, violent and rough but not that splattery.

This film has a similar feel to something like 'Don't Answer The Phone!' or 'The Centerfold Girls', serious in intent and not really 'camp' in any way. It's obviously 'bad cinema', but artfully done.

Pretty boring, incredibly stupid.

[ExecutiveChimp226 · 1/10 · 28 September 2000]

Normally I love movies like this. The late 70s and early 80s made the best stupid horror movies. However, this is just plain stupid. Its not scary, not funny, not anything. It's got some of the usual gratuitous gore and nudity, but most of it is just so boring and the plot is so stupid that it doesn't matter. I'm willing to suspend my disbelief for this kind of movie, but it couldn't even keep my attention.

Nonsensical entertainment.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 28 August 2013]

Among the small sub-subgenre of horror movies that are the hospital slashers - also including "Halloween II" (1981) and "Visiting Hours" - is this kooky story of murder. One realizes early on just how absurd the whole thing is. Story author and director Boaz Davidson ("The Last American Virgin") adds enough offbeat and humorous touches to his presentation to make this something other than the typical slasher. Slasher fanatics may be disappointed that the body count isn't larger, but some of the murders are effectively gory and sadistic, and lead actress Barbi Benton, the Playboy icon and companion to Hugh Hefner for several years, shows off the goods in a pervy examination scene.

The story begins with a child named Susan who reacts with laughter to receiving a Valentine from admirer Harold. Well, good old Harold is more than a little unhinged, so even after impaling Susans' friend Dave on a coatrack, he's still mad as a hatter. And 19 years later when Susan (now played by the luscious Ms. Benton), a mother and divorcée, heads into a hospital to pick up her test results, he contrives a way to make her stay, by falsifying her results and making it look like she's terminally ill. Hospital staff start to get slaughtered (albeit intermittently) and Susan must deal with an infuriating bunch of doctors and nurses while also trying to stay alive.

Just to give you an idea of how Davidson approaches such material, there's the inclusion of three strange elderly female patients (one of them obviously played by a man in drag) who drive Susan up the wall. He creates some suspense and some atmosphere, but he never takes himself too seriously. The acting isn't inspired but it is serviceable. Benton is a fine screamer and puts up a good fight. Charles Lucia ("Society") is amiable as helpful intern Harry. Jon Van Ness ("The Hitcher") plays Susan's boyfriend Jack adequately. And John Warner Williams is effective at making his character Dr. Saxon the kind of character whom you just want to punch in the face. The opening back story features Elizabeth Hoy as the young Susan and Billy Jayne as Harold; these two had previously co-starred as killer kids in "Bloody Birthday".

Pacing is decent, the laughs are frequent, and topping it all off is a priceless, ridiculous music score by Arlon Ober that utilizes a lot of vocalizations.

All in all, this is pretty fun stuff for those who like their horror with a healthy sense of humour.

Seven out of 10.

Obscure mess.

[insomniac_rod · 3/10 · 15 October 2006]

God Bless Barbi Benton. She gives us a great, explicit nude scene. When that's the highlight of a movie, it means that the whole movie sucks.

"Hospital Massacre" is a boring, standard 80's slasher with a stupid premise (although we get to know who is the killer at the end). The events are predictable, the gore is horrible, but worst of all, the movie has horrible cinematography and lightning. I couldn't believe this was released in theaters. Still, if you love 80's slashers get a copy of this obscure movie.

Not enough blood, scares, mystery, but has great nudity. Again, this is a must see for fans of Barbi Benton.

I don't know if there's a DVD release, but stick anyways to the VHS version. This movie is doomed.

This Movie is INSANE!

[tildagravette · 9/10 · 30 March 2019]

Wow! Where to begin?

Hospital Massacre seems like one of those movies that an alien from a different planet would make about humans. So many characters behave in such ridiculously bizarre ways that no one seems like a real person. It's probably best to turn off your mind before going into this one and just rolling with it.

The story itself might make zero sense, but it seems as if it's just a coat hanger to hang a series of gory, imaginative death scenes on and those scenes are certainly memorable. It's never terribly gory (in fact, it tends to cut away before it shows too much most of the time), but the scenes themselves are unlike anything you've ever seen. Watch a nurse turn a corner and come face to face with the killer at the end of the hall who's walking towards her with a sheet stretched out in front of him. Like most of the film, it's hard to tell if this is dreamlike and creepy or incredibly hilarious.

Much like the same year's Halloween II, there are only a handful of patients in this entire hospital and the people in charge must be trying to save money on electricity, because there are so many dark corners and hallways everywhere.

Barbi Benton isn't half bad in her meager role which just consists of her looking scared, angry, or hysterical. At least when she isn't being subjected to hysterically gratuitous nude examination scenes.

I'm not sure what Hospital Massacre was intending to be, but it sure turned out fun.

Not too bad

[Eraser81 · 7/10 · 4 March 2004]

Of all the B horror films out there, this one was actually watchable.

Barbi Benton goes to the local hospital to recieve her check up results to turn in to her new insurance provider. Little does she know a pyshcotic killer has switched her test results to keep her pinned inside the hospital.

There, the doctors themselves seem evil and the whole hospital itself is pretty creepy. Slicing and dicing soon occurs and Barbi must fight to stay alive.

The death scenes are pretty cool. Though I thought the scene where he smothers a nurse with a sheet was kind of bizzare, the way he came out holding it running down the hallway.

Barbi's best performance since "Naughty Cheerleader"!

[rlcsljo · 5/10 · 29 December 2000]

I will admit it--Barbi Benton apparently has done "only" three theatrically release movies and I own all of them on cassette: more than any other actress! She not only can not act, she can not even play herself from one film to the next--but I love her! No wonder Hugh kept her around for close to eight years.

In this movie, Barbi has obviously matured (too much time at the mansion?) and has lost her girlish enthusiasm. The body is still there, but the face is practically gone. She finally achieved the "grown up" look she was striving for in "Naughty Cheerleader".

Overall, this movie did about the best job I have seen in making a hospital look spooky. And it is always gratifying to see the doctors get sliced back.

This movie is the guiltiest of pleasures.

The Perfect Stupid Slasher Movie

[houx · 21 March 2000]

Of all the slasher films that came out in 1981, this is definitely one of them. That said, for some small reason this film sticks out as a perfect example of the slasher film. With it's goofy plot revolving around the identity of the killer, and gratuitous Benton nudity, one really can't go wrong with this title. It's not a great film, but it's got all the key elements of the slasher film, and for that, at least it succeeds on those terms.

Frustrating to watch

[miss_toucan · 1/10 · 12 November 2021]

This is just an attempt to cash in on the slasher genre that was so popular at the time, but this movie was difficult to watch.

It was a very weak storyline, poor acting, and parts of the movie just had me wondering who would think any part of it was believable.

May contain spoilers- A woman goes into hospital to get some medical results required for a promotion. The doctors see something on her x rays that are quite serious, and force her to stay. One doctor has her sitting naked on a table while taking her blood pressure. I realize that nudity was a must in that type of film, but no woman would just sit there naked while some sleazy doctor does things that don't require a patient to be undressed. He makes her stay in what appears to be a psychiatric ward, and no explanation is given to her regarding her mystery diagnosis, and she doesn't even really ask! She is treated terribly by the doctor and nurses, and forced to stay like she is mental patient that has been involuntarily committed.

It is frustrating to watch as none of it really makes a lot of sense and is just so unrealistic.

I honestly don't know how this has a rating higher than about 3 on IMDB. I wish I could give it zero.

Implausible Junk

[Rainey-Dawn · 1/10 · 21 April 2015]

Hospital Massacre is also known as X-Ray a terrible 1981 horror film. I have to call this implausible junk - because that is what it is. I had to keep fast-forwarding through the film because it's that bad.

The so-called "legitimate" doctor does not act that way at all - he acts likes like a perverted sick-o himself - and so did the nurses but not as bad as the so-call doctor. It's as if they were in on it too and for no reason.

I could not even get a laugh out of this film -- some scary films are not scary - in fact they are quite funny but this one is NOT that way. It's just junk. Between the bad acting and horrible script I had problems sitting through it - so yes I kept fast-forwarding and stopping to watch just to fast-forward again... did that until the end. Every thing I watched was pure nonsense - this is NOT the way a "legitimate" hospital would act.... even if a killer was among them, the rest of the staff would act "legitimate" - not in this junky film.

Sorry I have to rate this a 1 - only because they make me rate this film - too bad there is not a 0 and below rating.

1/10

Weirder Than Usual Slasher

[meghancoker · 7/10 · 29 September 2020]

Barbi Benton is in trouble. You see, she went to the hospital to get her routine checkup results, but a psycho has switched them with the x-rays of someone who has some sort of deadly disorder and, now, the doctors won't let her leave, because they need more tests, putting her in the perfect place for this crazy man to kill her and everyone else he comes across.

There isn't a lot of mystery to Hospital Massacre and you always know who the killer will turn out to be. They're barely disguised with a doctor's hat and surgical mask on, but some of the set pieces are interesting and it's not completely devoid of suspense.

Bad acting, Bad lighting, no plot Even the topless scene

[leerober · 1/10 · 18 May 1999]

I just got finished watching this turkey under the Hospital Massacre title on CED. What a waste. Most of the scenes were shot in shadow which was in itself unbelievable. Barbi strips for a doctor even though he is not her doctor and she doesn't know why. The Killer had little motive and a less than believable part. Even when they stepped on each others lines they used the Ed Wood method of directing that is don't reshoot a scene. There is a reason this has three different aliases you would too if you stunk this bad.

Sinister Hospital Creepiness

[kevinfbarker · 7/10 · 21 October 2020]

One thing you can say about Hospital Massacre is that it seems like the filmmakers had a great time throwing everything they could at the screen and hoping something would stick. It seems pretty by the numbers, but at the same time, there aren't many other films like it out there and it has a mood all its own. Barbi Benton does just fine in the lead role, managing to conjure up some legitimate sequences of fear and some of the visuals such as a sinister doctor being backlit while racing towards an unlucky nurse in a deserted hospital hallway aren't things you forget anytime soon.

Awful attempt at a slasher movie made by people who didn't exist in reality

[jellopuke · 2/10 · 2 July 2018]

How did anyone look at this script and think "sure, that's plausible!" ????? They keep trying to make you wonder who the killer could be by making EVERYONE in the hospital totally creepy and insane, but all that serves to do is make the entire plot unbelievable to the extreme. Sure there's gratuitous Barbi Benton nudity, but it's really creepy and the whole movie just drags because the director thinks that by doing something slow it builds suspense when it just makes you want to fast forward. Even for Canon films, this is bad.

Quirky and Bizarre Nightmare

[marcusgrant-86630 · 8/10 · 14 September 2018]

What did I just watch? You might find yourself asking that same question when the end credits of Hospital Massacre (a.k.a. X-Ray) begin scrolling up. It's certainly not boring. That'd good, right?

Playboy playmate, Barbi Benton, stars as a woman stopping into a hospital to get some routine test results back and, without warning, finds herself trapped in a bizarre nightmare down the rabbit hole. What the hell kind of hospital is this? Not only does it seem impossibly understaffed and smokey, but is every man working there a pervert? Oh yes, they all look at poor Benton as if she's the first woman they've seen in 30 years and many of them get to examine her in the nude. #TimesUp, fellas!

Besides all of these weirdness, none of the patients seem to have a normal ailments like broken legs or something. No, they all seem physically fine. They just seem like they should be in mental wards instead. Literally everyone in this film is nuts with the exception of Benton, who's actually fairly winning in her role.

Hospital Massacre will probably be too frustrating a watch for some, but if you turn off your brain and tell yourself it's a surreal art film, you might get more mileage out of it.

Overall this is a fun old school 80s slasher that is worth your time but just an average addition to the genre

[kevin_robbins · 6/10 · 2 May 2021]

Hospital Massacre (1981), also known as X-Ray, is a Valentine's movie I recently watched off Amazon Prime for free. The storyline focuses on a woman who is admitted into a hospital for something that seems routine but after checking in she realizes she may never be allowed to check out. This movie is directed by Boaz Davidson (Going Bananas) and stars Barbi Benton (The Love Boat), Charles Lucia (Tank Girl), Jon Van Ness (The Natural) and Den Surles (The Osternan Weekend). The doctor was an entertaining villain with his antics and props. The kill scenes are a bit disappointing as they show the victim and what is about to happen then the camera flashes to the killer as blood slashes or a body part falls without seeing the actual act. The setting is fun and I enjoyed Benton as the lead character. Overall this is a fun old school 80s slasher that is worth your time but just an average addition to the genre. I'd score this a 5.5/10.

You might want to take something to numb the pain.

[BA_Harrison · 3/10 · 7 April 2009]

When the Valentine's Day card he sends to pretty Susan Jeremy is greeted with laughter and derision, young Harold loses the plot and impales Susan's playmate on a hat-stand. Nineteen years later, a now fully grown Susan (played by Playboy playmate Barbi Benton) attends a hospital appointment only to find a still-rather-obsessed Harold waiting there to try and steal her heart once again—only this time, he intends to do it literally with a variety of nasty surgical implements!!

Chock full of ridiculous red-herrings and annoying false scares, and displaying zero originality from start to finish, Boaz Davidson's Hospital Massacre is a derivative piece of slasher garbage that, at times, is so daft that it unintentionally borders on parody.

In the prologue, Susan is seen brandishing a large knife, only to reveal that she is about to cut a cake; later, what looks like blood drips onto Susan's shoe but which turns out to be ketchup; an unscheduled lift stop on a deserted floor results in Susan being startled by men in masks, who are then revealed to be fumigating the level; and a human shape under a sheet turns out to be a mannequin: Hospital Massacre is absolutely littered with such dumb contrivances that really grate on the nerves.

Also serving to irritate are Susan's inability to keep quiet when being stalked by the killer (she drops her lighter, knocks over reports, and clatters metal instruments at the most inopportune moments), the complete absence of any other people when the murderer strikes, the ridiculous manner in which the hospital staff treat their patients (can anyone say 'lawsuit'?), and the score, which mimics not only Harry Manfredini's music from Friday the 13th (which is understandable, I suppose), but also Jerry Goldsmith's choral chanting from The Omen (???!?!).

On the plus side, there's the occasional spot of reasonable gore (including a severed head in a box, an axe in the head and a pointed thingy through the neck), an enjoyably exploitative moment where Miss Benton strips to her panties for an unnecessary all-over examination by a pervy doctor, and one incredible, must-be-seen-to-be-believed scene in which Susan runs into a room full of people covered from head-to-toe in plaster who all proceed to flail their limbs in an uncontrollable manner. Weird.