Canada, 1980
103m, 105m
35mm, colour, 1.85:1
mono, English
A Canadian slasher film directed by Jean Claude Lord. In the UK it was added to the “video nasties” list in September 1984 but was removed a year later.
Plot Summary
A misogynistic serial killer takes issue with the reports broadcast by the controversial TV journalist Deborah Ballin and rapes her, leaving her for dead. But he's alarmed to hear that she didn't die – in fact she's recovering quite nicely in a nearby hospital. Despite a huge police presence to protect her, Deborah is soon being menaced by the killer who is lurking in the hospital looking to finish the job.
Credits
Crew
Directed by: Jean Claude Lord
© Guardian Trust Company, 618 St. Jacques Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (on behalf of unitholders), 1981
Opening Logo: Twentieth Century Fox
Pierre David and Victor Solnicki present a Filmplan International production. A film produced with the participation of The Canadian Film Development Corporation. Filmplan International, Inc.
Executive Producers: Pierre David and Victor Solnicki
Produced by: Claude Héroux
Screenplay by: Brian Taggert
Director of Photography and Operator: Rene Verzier
Edited by: Jean Claude Lord, Lise Thouin
Music Composed and Arranged by: Jonathan Goldsmith
Location Mixer: Don Cohen
Costume Designers: Delphine White
Make-up: Inga Klaudi
Hair Stylist: Pierre David
Special Effects Make-up: Stephan Dupuis
Art Director: Michel Proulx
Cast
Lee Grant (Deborah Ballin)
William Shatner (Gary Baylor)
Michael Ironside (Colt Hawker)
Linda Purl (Sheila Munroe)
Lenore Zann (Lisa)
Harvey Atkin (Vinnie Bradshaw)
Helen Hughes (Louise Shepherd)
Michael J. Reynolds (Porter Halstrom)
Kirsten Bishopric (Denise)
Deborah Kirshenbaum (Connie Wexler)
Elizabeth Leigh Milne (Patricia Ellis)
Maureen McRae (Elizabeth Hawker)
Dustin Waln (Mr Hawker)
Neil Affleck (police officer)
Damir Andrei (paramedic)
Dorothy Barker (Sally)
Steve Bettcher (anesthesist)
Walker Boone (elevator policeman)
Richard Briere (entrance policeman)
Terrance P. Coady (entrance security officer)
Richard Comar (emergency doctor 2)
Alternative Titles
Angustia en el Hospital Central – Spanish title
Delitto al Central Hospital – Italian title
The Fright
Get Well Soon
Godziny odwiedzin – Polish title
Horror-Hospital – Austrian title
Kuolema kierroksella – Finnish title
Mördaren glr ronden – Swedish title
Terreur è l'hôpital central – French Canadian title
Links
See also
Halloween II (1981)
Press
1982
Screen International no.341 (1-8 May 1982) p.20
A copycat mishmash of gash and hack sadistic shock horrors lumped together without regard for plausibility, let alone credibility, and given a particularly distasteful thread of hyped up male chauvinism which implies that Deborah not only suffers for her support of women's rights but is also forced to stop being a softhearted wet and stain her own hands with blood. All I can say in its favour is that all the male goodies are as bone headed as the females, ad are not prototype human beings.” – from a review by Marjorie Bilbow
References
Periodicals
Films and Filming September 1982 p.35 – credits, review
New Video Viewer November 1983 p.27 – review
Screen International no.341 (1-8 May 1982) p.20 – credits, review (by Marjorie Bilbow)
Video News International October 1983 p.28 – review
Books
Film Review 1982-1983 by F. Maurice Speed (ed.) p.167 – credits, review
The Films of the Eighties by Robert A. Nowlan and Gwendolyn Wright Nowlan p.617
Horror Films of the 1980s by John Kenneth Muir pp.291-293 – illustrated credits, synopsis, review
Serial Killer Cinema: An Analytical Filmography by Robert Cetti p.496-497
