''Hospital Massacre'' (also known as ''X-Ray'', ''Be My Valentine, Or Else'', and ''Ward 13'') is a 1982 American
slasher film
A slasher film is a genre of horror films involving a killer stalking and murdering a group of people, usually by use of bladed or sharp tools like knife, chainsaw, scalpel, etc. Although the term "slasher" may occasionally be used informally as ...
directed by
Boaz Davidson and starring
Barbi Benton
Barbi Benton (born Barbara Lynn Klein; January 28, 1950) is an American retired model, actress, television personality, and singer. She is known for appearing in ''Playboy'' magazine, as a four-season regular on the comedy series ''Hee Haw'', an ...
. Its plot follows a woman who becomes trapped on an empty floor of a hospital, where a murderer posing as a
surgeon attempts to kill her.
Plot
In 1961, an unpopular boy named Harold leaves a
Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, thr ...
card at the home of the beauty Susan Jeremy. Susan and her friend David mock and crumple up the card, prompting an enraged Harold to break into the house and kill David by hanging him from a
hatstand.
Nineteen years later, Susan is divorced, has a daughter, and a new boyfriend named Jack. On Valentine's Day, Susan has Jack take her to a hospital to pick up the results of a standard physical exam, which her new
health insurance plan has requested. On the way into the building, she is observed from a window by a man in surgical garb. The man strokes a photograph of a young Susan, and sabotages the elevator Susan boards in order to delay her while he kills the doctor who has her paperwork, which the murderer tampers with. A janitor finds the doctor's body, and has his face dunked into a sink full of acid by the killer.
While looking for the doctor, Susan coerces a friendly
intern
An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gove ...
named Harry into getting her results, which Harry notices are abnormal, prompting him to bring them and Susan to Doctor Saxon. The peculiarities of Susan's paperwork (which the murderer further sabotages after killing a pair of laboratory workers) cause Doctors Saxon and Beam to order that she be detained for observation. Harry uncovers evidence suggesting that someone is pulling a "con job" on Susan, but he disappears after promising Susan he will straighten things out. Jack, who had fallen asleep in his car while waiting for Susan, enters the hospital to look for her, and is lured to an empty hospital room by the killer, who beckons him. Behind a curtain, Jack finds the corpse of one of the nurses before the killer decapitates him with an electric
orthopedic saw.
The killer places a large box next to Susan's bed, which she opens to find Jack's severed head. Susan flees in terror to get help, eventually being found by Saxon and a nurse, who return her to her room. When she attempts to show them the contents of the box, it contains only a cake. After Susan tells Saxon about Harry's findings, Saxon goes to look over the copies of her paperwork in the archives, where he is murdered with a hatchet, an act witnessed by Susan. Susan's claims of there being a killer on the loose are disbelieved, and she is strapped to a gurney after being deemed delirious. The staff prepare to perform emergency surgery on Susan, but are killed in rapid succession by the murderer, who takes Susan to a vacant operating room. Susan pulls off the killer's mask to reveal he is Harry, who is really Harold. When Susan asks what he wants, Harold responds, "What I've always wanted. Your heart".
Before Harold can cut her open, Susan stabs him, and escapes. Susan is pursued to the roof by the wounded Harold, who she sets on fire, and sends plummeting onto the street below. The next day, Susan is released, and reunites with her daughter and ex-husband outside of the hospital.
Cast
Release
The film was released regionally in Wichita, Kansas and a brief run in other states on April 23, 1982.
Critical response
Jeremy Wheeler of
AllMovie said that the film had "zero plot", but was still "a bloody fun time". An overall score of 2½ out of 5 was awarded by Adam Tyner of
DVD Talk
DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman.
History
Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...
, who wrote, "''X-Ray'' is kind of dumb and ridiculous, sometimes deliberately and other times not so much. Even though there's basically no gore to speak of, plenty of the red stuff still gets sloshed around. The hospital backdrop opens itself up for some gleefully twisted and frequently medical-themed kills. I really love the score, and my ears are pretty certain those are actual strings and not the usual early-'80s banks of
synths. Taken as a pure horror flick, it's a misfire: zero successful scares and not all that much in the way of suspense. As '80s
slasher junk food
"Junk food" is a term used to describe food that is high in calories from sugar and/or fat, and possibly also sodium, but with little dietary fiber, protein, vitamins, minerals, or other important forms of nutritional value. It is also known as ...
, something I'll never turn down, it's worth watching once. And, yeah, once; not sure this is something I'll ever give a second spin".
DVD Verdict's Tom Becker stated, "While it's fun for a while, ''X-Ray'' runs out of steam long before the ending, in which the killer is unmasked, to the surprise of probably no one. An extended final chase also goes on way too long. While the oddness here can be a bit charming—including a bizarre bit that has three elderly women looking for a doctor in a closed-off part of the hospital—it's a few rungs down from must-see, even for fans of '80s slasher sleaze". ''
TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news.
The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008.
Corpora ...
'' succinctly concluded, "Unless you are a diehard
arbiBenton fan, this is a must to avoid".
Home media
On August 20, 2013, the film was released as a double feature under its ''X-Ray'' title with the film ''
Schizoid
Schizoid personality disorder (, often abbreviated as SzPD or ScPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency toward a solitary or sheltered lifestyle, secretiveness, emotional coldness ...
'' by
Scream Factory
Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...
on both
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
, and
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
. In March 2022,
Vinegar Syndrome
Cellulose acetate film, or safety film, is used in photography as a base material for photographic emulsions. It was introduced in the early 20th century by film manufacturers and intended as a safe film base replacement for unstable and highly ...
reissued the double-feature disc in
4K UHD
4K resolution refers to a horizontal display resolution of approximately 4,000 pixels. Digital television and digital cinematography commonly use several different 4K resolutions. In television and consumer media, 38402160 (4K UHD) is the dominan ...
with newly-commissioned bonus features.
References
Sources
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External links
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{{Boaz Davidson
1982 films
1980s horror thriller films
1982 independent films
1980s mystery films
1980s slasher films
American slasher films
Films set in hospitals
American mystery horror films
1982 horror films
Films set in 1961
Films set in 1980
American films about revenge
Films about mass murder
Valentine's Day in films
American independent films
Golan-Globus films
Films set in Los Angeles
Films shot in Los Angeles
Films directed by Boaz Davidson
Holiday horror films
Films produced by Menahem Golan
Films produced by Yoram Globus
1980s English-language films
Films with screenplays by Boaz Davidson
1980s American films