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.

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.

"Hospital Massacre" has a derivative plot outline, a familiar setting, clichéd situations and largely uninspired murder sequences … and yet still it's an above average and engaging little 80's slasher film that even is – do I daresay it – a little bit underrated! Back in the early eighties, hospitals were quite the popular setting for horror movies ("Visiting Hours", "Halloween II") and they incidentally also loved holiday-themed slashers ("Happy Birthday To Me", "Silent Night Deadly Night"). "Hospital Massacre" cleverly takes the best of both worlds, as the massacre takes place in a hospital on Valentine's Day! The prototypic pre-credits opening sequence is golden slasher stuff. The lovely 12-year-old Susan Jeremy receives a Valentine's card at her house from an unpopular boy who peeps through her window to catch a glimpse of her reaction. Little Susan is not very impressed with the card and her bratty younger brother even mocks the author. When Susan returns from the kitchen, her little brother is hanging dead on a coat hanger… What a lovely little appetizer, ain't it? I have a weakness for slashers that begin with an exaggeratedly OTT and gruesome flashback to indicate where the horror in the rest of the film originates from. Anyway, cut to 19 years later, when cute little Susan grew up to become a stunningly gorgeous 30-something year old divorced MILF (played by Playboy starlet Barbi Benton). She checks in to the hospital on Valentine's Day to pick up some formality test results, but enters a genuine and life-altering nightmare. There's a vicious killer lose and he/she apparently set up a whole evil master plan to keep Susan hospitalized and drive her paranoid. He/she kills nurses and doctors to change Susan's X-ray test results – making it look like she's terminally ill – and sadistically sends her the decapitated head of her new boyfriend in a box of Valentine's Day pastry. Could it be her childhood admirer returned after nearly 20 years of unprocessed rage and frustration? "Hospital Massacre" is a fairly well-scripted and suspenseful 80's effort, benefiting from the skillful direction of Boaz Davidson and the agitating charisma of Barbi Benton. The hospital setting isn't worked out well enough – they could have done so much more with it – and the red herrings (Susan's vile ex-husband suddenly disappearing, the mysterious old drunk wandering around the hospital floors, etc…) stupidly miss their effect. On the plus side, the characters are well developed and the murder sequences are effectively morbid. Perhaps it's not the goriest of films, but several scenes are quite brutal and offensive, like the axe-in-the-head murder or the poor nurse who has a gigantic syringe shoved in her spine. The pace even speeds up near the climax and the final confrontation between Susan and her assailant is impressive. Surely recommended to all fans of 80's horror. And yes, Barbi does go topless.

I heard this was made in 1978 but didn't get released until the early 80's when video made any slasher film a potential moneybag. Am I right? Hello? As far as comparison with its peers go, it's right there, DOWN there.Kid likes girl. Girl likes other kid. First kills second. Girl screams. That, my friends is the first scene. Cut to the present.Yeah, you know where this is going.Barbi Benton screams and watches as someone kills everyone in the hospital she's staying at. This hospital seemed to be on a VERY skeleton crew too. The whole place seemed like a deserted, condemned building to me.Since Barb was a Playboy model, we get lots of breast shots here. The doctor takes his time checking her chest, but the scene is played so seriously, its hard to care.Not much fear at all. A few jumps maybe, but that be all.And no prizes for figuring it out. I had it by the end of the first reel.