Originally titled Hospital Massacre and rushed into production to capitalise on the slasher boom of the early 80s, X-Ray finds Susan Jeremy (former Playboy Playmate Barbi Benton) attending a hospital to collect the results of a routine check-up.
Unfortunately, her medical records have been doctored by a maniac named Harry (Chip Lucia) – who is out to avenge a childhood Valentine’s Day humiliation in 1961 (shown in flashback) – so the doctors and nurses detain her, remove her clothes (natch) and restrain her (which is pretty much how she spends the rest of the movie).
She is passed from doctor to doctor and subjected to humiliating examinations while Harry sets about killing everyone he encounters in the hospital while trying to get to Susan.
Even without a killer on the loose, it’s a bizarre hospital (to say the least) – A drunk wanders the halls, swigging from a bottle of booze while accosting Susan at every opportunity; Susan’s roommates are three disapproving old women (one of whom is clearly a man in drag though this is never acknowledged); and when Susan insists a killer is after her, the overbearing nurses strap her to a gurney.
Since the killer’s identity is evident from the beginning, the trick is to determine which of the hospital staff or patients is the grown-up Harold.
The film is chock full of red herrings and false scares, and Benton isn’t much of an actor – but she is a great screamer and can take a nude prostrate exam with the best of them.
Susan Jeremy
Barbi Benton Harry
Chip (Charles) Lucia Jack
Jon Van Ness Dr Saxon
John Warner Williams Dr Beam
Den Surles Nurse Dora
Gloria Morrison Nurse Kitty
Karen Smith Ned
Michael Frost Tom
Jimmy Stathis Hal
Lanny Duncan Mrs Edelman
Marian Beeler Mrs Fedrow
Ely Wold Mrs Parry
Jonathon Moore Dr Jacobs
Gay Austin Janitor
Bill Errigo Suzy
Beverly Hart Nancy
Ann Charlotte Lindgren Desk Nurse
Judith Baldwin Eva Jeremy
Tammy Simpson Young Susan
Elizabeth Hoy Young Dave
Michael Romano Young Harold
Billy Jacoby The Doctor
Don Grenough
Director
Boaz Davidson
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Unfortunately, her medical records have been doctored by a maniac named Harry (Chip Lucia) – who is out to avenge a childhood Valentine’s Day humiliation in 1961 (shown in flashback) – so the doctors and nurses detain her, remove her clothes (natch) and restrain her (which is pretty much how she spends the rest of the movie).
Susan Jeremy
Dr Beam
Ned
Suzy
