‘Doctor Plague’ VOD Review
Stars: Martin Kemp, Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott, Peter Woodward, David Yip, Wendy Glenn, Daisy Beaumont, Gary Webster, Michael McKell | Written by Simon Cluett, Robert Dunn, Robert Geoffrey Hughes | Directed by Ben Fortune
Doctor Plague is a low-budget British slasher directed by Ben Fortune, arriving from Shogun Film, the same company behind the recently released Helloween… and featuring some familiar faces from that film! The setup is simple enough on paper: a masked serial killer known as Dr. Plague targets those he deems “sinners,” with hints of Jack the Ripper influences and whispers of a shadowy, almost Illuminati-style underground cult. At the centre of it all is a police detective, played by Martin Kemp, juggling the investigation while worrying about his son slipping through the cracks.
On a technical level, the film is more competent than you might expect from its budget. There’s a degree of production gloss here — passable camerawork, decent audio, and a sense that the people behind the camera understand the basics of filmmaking. Visually, it never looks completely amateurish, and credit is due for at least trying to build a mythology around its killer. Dr. Plague isn’t just presented as a random lunatic; there’s a backstory, historical links, and the suggestion of others being involved. It’s a more ambitious approach than your average bare-bones slasher.
Kemp, too, is reasonably effective as the lead. He’s not a powerhouse actor, but he’s personable enough and fits the East End, slightly gangster-adjacent tone the film occasionally leans into. The Dr. Plague costume itself looks cool in isolation, and a few shots teasing multiple antagonists are among the film’s stronger visual moments, even if the suit feels wildly impractical in practice.
Unfortunately, that ambition collapses once the story starts unfolding. Narratively, Doctor Plague is a mess. The backstory doesn’t hold up under even mild scrutiny (the maths alone raises eyebrows), the police work is laughably sloppy, and character motivations often feel arbitrary. Performances across the board are weak, with wooden line delivery made worse by the film’s heavy reliance on dialogue. Since the titular Dr. Plague barely features until late in the third act, much of the runtime is spent watching unconvincing conversations play out, often veering into outright cringe.
The horror elements fare no better. The kills are dull and poorly staged, CGI blood is painfully obvious, and the violence lacks imagination. For a killer named Dr. Plague, the decision to default to “man with a knife” feels like a huge missed opportunity. Add in a few clumsy AI shots that stick out for all the wrong reasons, and the whole thing feels half-baked.
There are flashes of interesting ideas here, but Doctor Plague is ultimately poorly acted, poorly structured, and disappointingly unscary. Even by low-budget slasher standards, there are far better options out there.
*½ 1.5/5
Doctor Plague is out on digital platforms now.
