Madhouse (1974) by Jim Clark

Director: Jim Clark

Year: 1974

Country: United Kingdom/USA

Alternate Titles: Deathday; The Revenge of Dr. Death; The Madhouse of Dr. Fear

Genre: Slasher

Plot:

Following the release of his latest film, a beloved horror actor announces his intention to retire, but when he's dragged out by friends to do another entry, a series of killings based on his famous creation begins to toy with him as he sets out to prove he isn't insane and stop the killer.

Review:

There's a surprising lot to like in this film. The film's best quality is that it mixes in traditional giallo aesthetics into a very campy Vincent Price-ish film and manages to pull them off. There's a black-gloved killer stylishly killing off the various participants in a grand scheme that makes no sense, and the murder mystery is used to provide some suspense in the proceedings. There's a really decent amount of enjoyable chase scenes included in the film and they're all quite thrilling to watch, from the chase through the gardens that includes the stellar fogged-in surroundings, the sequence inside the pinball room is straight out of a giallo of the grandest order, full of swinging lights, hysterical screaming and the slow, suspenseful approach from the killer towards the victim and a later scene luring victims to their deaths inside a house from outside.

The showdown chase through the movie studios is a nice and really long scene that is thrilling to watch, going through various sets and traps that are quite fun, as it's a marvelous scene that works wonders and is the movie's best scene. With the majority here focused on the investigation of the crimes as well as him wondering what's really happening, whether it's in his mind or not, that also nicely follows these conventions, the film manages to generate a great cross-section of influences that are rather enjoyable and somewhat decent. It's also one of the best endings, which uses the double twist ending to great effect and really ends on a great note. The inferno unleashed beforehand, where the first burns down the movie set and is captured on tape, leading to the first twist, is a real spectacle that is nevertheless impressive in the long list of films with that same kind of ending. This even features a really nice selection of kills in here, all making this better than it should be.

There really isn't a whole lot wrong with the film. The biggest issue is that the film is set up as a murder mystery, in typical giallo style, only for it to be painfully obvious who the killer is quite early on. That's not a real plus for the film, having the audience much farther along than the characters, and it doesn't generate that much suspense knowing that. The other main mistake is that the mask of the villain isn't that creepy. The mask looks overly plastic and doesn't inspire fear the way the great masks do. It's not bad, but there could've been a better mask available. The only other complaint against this is the pacing, where this one tends to get really padded at times. It's pretty much full of scenes that go on far longer than they should, from the showing of older films of his career to dragging this out with needless side characters only there for the body count, and they're pretty blatant. While some might also say the campiness of the film doesn't mesh all that well, this could've been a lot worse than what it is.

Overview: ****/5

An interesting and entertaining film in Price's catalog, there's a lot to like here that manages to tie into the various careers at the time, as only a few slight drawbacks are enough to bring this down. Those with an appreciation for this era of the genre, who are curious about the approach taken here, or who are fans of the creative crew will have a lot to like, while most others out there should heed caution.