Death Spa (1989)

Gruesome deaths begin to occur at a hip Los Angeles health club.

Director:

Michael Fischa

Writers:

James Bartruff, Mitch Paradise

Stars:

William Bumiller, Brenda Bakke, Merritt Butrick

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
William Bumiller	...	Michael Evans
Brenda Bakke	...	Laura Danvers
Merritt Butrick	...	David Avery
Robert Lipton	...	Tom
Alexa Hamilton	...	Priscilla Wayne
Ken Foree	...	Marvin
Rosalind Cash	...	Sgt. Stone
Francis X. McCarthy	...	Lt. Fletcher (as Frank McCarthy)
Shari Shattuck	...	Catherine
Hank Cheyne	...	Robert
Chelsea Field	...	Darla
Joseph Whipp	...	Dr. Lido Moray
Karen Michaels	...	Rhonda
Tane McClure	...	Vicky (as Tané McClure)
Cindi Dietrich	...	Linda

Storyline

Michael's health club is beseiged with a series of terrible murders involving killer saunas and other grisly devices. Michael's wife killed herself a while before and her brother holds Michael responsible. Michael needs to stop the bloodshed before he loses all of his clients.

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Plot Keywords:

health club | topless female nudity | slasher | mass murder | person on fire | 

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Taglines:

You'll sweat blood!

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

The extras in the shower scene were obtained from a porn casting agency.

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Goofs

This film was written and produced in the mid-80s and by all appearances is meant to be taking place in the present day of that time. However, a party is advertised as happening on Saturday, February 2, which could only be an actual date in either 1980 or 1991, but in no year in between.

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Alternate Versions

The Chinese Laserdisc is NOT uncut! A full-length Gore Scene is missing. The German Video Version is heavily cut.

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Connections

Featured in Best of the Worst: High Voltage, Death Spa, and Space Mutiny (2014)

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Soundtracks

She's Cruel
Performed by The Blazorades
Composed by Rick Boston, Eric Pressley (as Eric Nelson Pressly)
Indian Bingo Music (BMI), Portlock Music/Mechanical Panther Music/ASCAP

User Reviews

Gets fun towards the end

After reading the glowing reviews for this film I had to seek it out, especially as it's been compared to Aerobicide (Killer Workout). However I found that Death Spa was not as good, despite the fact that there's more gore.

The plot to Death Spa is a bit muddled and I found it hard to follow to start with. It seemed to be about a mans dead wife who was coming back to haunt him, causing deaths at the spa. There are some nice scenes such as when the naked girls are showering and bits of glass fly at them. And there's the scene where the guys ribs split open. The thing is, the deaths are not quite as 'gory' as some reviewers here would have you believe (at least on the Witch Bitch VHS I saw). The best scenes are at the end when all the mayhem occurs. The highlight is the frozen fish death scene that many have mentioned, which is hilariously cheesy. There's plenty of naked breasts too if that's your sort of thing.

Overall, Death Spa is fairly good but not amazing. The frozen fish scene is priceless. If you liked Death Spa you may also like Killer Workout, which I personally think is much better.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 October 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

Death Spa

Filming Locations:

Simi Valley, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Maljack Productions, Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1