10 British Horror Films You've Probably Never Seen

2. Britannia Hospital

Ok, so it’s not really a horror film, but Britannia Hospital from 1982, often feels like it and moments in the final scenes are of pure horror. This black comedy about a royal visit to the eponymous hospital is the final part of a loose trilogy, which pairs director Lyndsey Anderson and actor Malcolm McDowell of A Clockwork Orange fame. The only real connection between each of the three films is McDowell who plays an everyman character called Mick Travis. That’s it.

This whole film is out of its mind. More a group of darkly satirical sketches than a straightforward story, but if there is a story, it features Mick Travis as a reporter investigating secret experiments being carried out at the hospital. This film has to be seen to be believed. The films financiers, EMI hated it so much they tried to get production closed down after the death of one of the films actors, Arthur Lowe. Failing that, they then withdrew it from cinemas four weeks after its release, ensuring the film made back a fraction of £2.5 million budget. At the Cannes Film festival it was booed and the film effectively ended director Lyndsey Anderson’s career for the next fifteen years!

Now tell me, aren’t you just a little curious to see this film?