Friday, October 10, 2014

Scary Movie Month 2014, Day 10

Death Spa

Appropriately batshit movie about a computer-controlled, murderous health club. Surprisingly, it took almost six minutes to get to the first full-frontal nude shot, which seems positively lethargic for a movie called Death Spa. Also, it was cowritten by a guy named Mitch Paradise, so now you all know my chosen porn name.

It's a bit shocking that this came out as late as 1989 because it feels firmly rooted in the Miami Vice-inspired neon aesthetic of the mid-80's. It's all brightly-colored spandex, over-the-top gore, new wave music, and did I mention the brightly-colored spandex?

As for the movie itself, the title pretty much says it all. A spa run by computer goes haywire (because things like the bolts on a diving board and the tiles in a shower are run by computer, isn't that how things work?) and starts causing people to be maimed and/or killed. Also a guy gets eaten by a two-foot-long fish because why not. Of course there's more to it than a simple computer malfunction, but I won't spoil the gleeful batshittery to come. The movie goes completely insane in the final act, and it's all the better for it.

Everyone in the cast commits to the nonsense and it makes for a pretty fun watch overall. I wish Ken Foree had a bit more to do since he's a goddamn national treasure, but any Foree is good Foree. Also, as a Star Trek fan I'd be remiss if I didn't mention this was the final film performance of Merritt Butrick, who played Kirk's son in Treks II & III. His performance is unfortunately rooted in the gay panic not uncommon in movies of the era (era) but he's still fun to watch.

I imagine this would work well as a party movie, just something to have on in the background during a Halloween party. You can watch pretty much any random 5-10 minutes of it and enjoy pretty much everything it has to offer. I don't mean that as a dig, for the record. It's exactly what you're looking for if you're into movies with titles like Death Spa.

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