The House That Stank of Death Volume 4 (Lowry, Salford)

Just in time for Halloween comes The House That Stank of Death, volume 4. Made up of comedy sketches mixed with short films it’s not meant so much to fill you with horror but kill you with laughter.

There are about six short sketches altogether, of differing quality and hilarity. The humour ranges from the ridiculous to the surreal.

League of Gentleman influences come through in a sweet shop sketch inhabited by flesh eating porcelain dolls and the Lowrys near neighbours are mocked with a Fawlty Towers horror themed hotel visited by a BBC copyright inspector.

Unfortunately a few of them just miss the mark of being funny by not having a proper ending, like someone building up a joke and then forgetting the punch line.

The tightest sketch of the show, though not the most original, is set in a creepy art gallery and it works because it has a great beginning and end, something the others are just shy of.

It’s not at all groan worthy comedy and there are some funny moments. Creator Peter Slater casts himself well as the thespian narrator, and the cast do a good job with the material.

The short films, which run between the sketches, are the best part of the show with spoof horror trailers and a mockumentary about London’s Shard as an inverted pyramid.

The length of the sketches means it drags though. So much so, that when a message flashes on the screen saying it’s almost over, there is a small sense of relief.

The House That Stank of Death Volume 4 was reviewed at the Lowry.