Episode 6

Death Spa (1988)

Published on: 26th August, 2022

A story about unitards, technology run amok, an angry ghost, and a huge liability case.

Listen in as me and guest, Devon, slip on our leg warmers and pop in our jazzercise mixtape to see what's the haps with this week's flick.

Directed by Michael Fischa (My Mom's a Werewolf, Crack House) and written by James Bartruff (Death Spa, What's Happening Now!) and Mitch Paradise (Death Spa, Bleacher Bums), Filmmonthly called the film "a goofy, gory, unpretentious good time," and the Lair of Filth said it "is sleazy, cheesy and bone-snappingly entertaining viewing." Yea, I agree. It's pretty silly and really fun.

It tells the story of Michael Evans (William Bumiller, Species, Boat Trip) as he tries to run his sexy and popular gym, Starbodies Health Spa, while a series of mysterious injuries and deaths begin. He suspects his ex-brother-in-law, David (Merritt Butrick, Star Trek 2, Star Trek 3), and his computer system that runs the gym may be to blame. His buddy Marvin (Ken Foree, Dawn of the Dead, From Beyond) just wants to toss the ol' pigskin around and wear short-shorts. Of course, the pissed off ghost of Michael's wife, Catherine (Shari Shattuck, One Deadly Ground, Spy Hard), has her own agenda in the spa. It's goofy, violent, and just plain fun.

The film is currently available on Tubi, Plex, and Prime Video.

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About the Podcast

Subversive Cinema
The show about the weird, whacky, and downright wrong entries in cinema history.
There are a lot of films out there, so it's only natural that a decent amount of strange content exists. These are the films we examine.

Each week, I sit down with a guest and we take a look a one of these weird, whacky, or downright wrong cinematic entries. Each of them has something about it that makes it special — I call it the "Subversive Sauce" — and that is recipe we try to break down.

Is it scientific? Absolutely not. Will you learn things you didn't know? Maybe. Might you hear about films worth checking out? Most definitely.

Tune in and see what the subversion is all about!
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Art Hall

Art started in the podcasting ecosphere back in 2007 with the outrageous, yet short lived, scripted variety show "WBKR: Buckwilde Radio," which claimed listeners from over 20 different countries. After hanging up his headphones and heading west to move to Los Angeles, he kept podcasting in his heart but only made appearances rather than producing or hosting. It only took a global pandemic, boredom, and the pleading from his buddy, Joe, to get back into the mic booth.