Leofwine_draca MADHOUSE came out at around the same time as fellow Vincent Price-starrer THEATRE OF BLOODand both films share an aspect of deliria that make them worthwhile watches. While the latter film is today regarded as a classic, however, MADHOUSE has slipped into the void and is regarded as an interesting obscurity at best. I enjoyed the film, but I freely admit that it's no classic; it lacks pacing and focus in the script, and during a couple of moments I was left looking at my watch, waiting for something to happen. It doesn't help that attempts at comedy (if that is indeed what they are) are quite awful; the attack by the couple with the watch in the garden is one such moment and it really stood out as a cheesy, unfunny, just plain weird moment in the film.To start off with, it's business as usual. Vincent Price plays Paul Toombes, a horror actor with a successful career as the creepy "Doctor Death". Essentially Price is playing himself and the film has a self-referencing angle that came decades before Wes Craven did it in SCREAM. Toombes is the main suspect in a string of grisly murders, although the special effects – rubbery severed head, hanging body – are laughable rather than frightening. We're never quite sure whether Toombes is insane and committing the crimes himself, or if he's being framed by an arch rival, and it doesn't really matter: by the end of the film he's quite mad anyway. What follows are a couple of twist endings and a memorable final shot which boasts astonishingly good make-up job.Vincent Price was a major draw for me and without him, I think this film would have been dire. With him, it's quite good. He has a lot of fun with the role and some creepy moments as the camera captures his distorted face. Price is ably supported by a pair of fellow horror veterans, Peter Cushing and Robert Quarry, although the two of them appear in relatively few scenes and their appearances seem to be little more than extended cameos. The delectable Linda Hayden also pops up in some eye-popping outfits and she's as gorgeous as ever, while chat-show host Michael Parkinson puts in a cameo that really adds to the movie as well as dating it. Adrienne Corri overacts her heart out as a crippled madwoman living in the cellar with her tarantulas.This was an Amicus/AIP co-production, so plenty of use is made of Price's career with Roger Corman; we get clips from THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER, THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM, THE HAUNTED PALACE, THE RAVEN, and TALES OF TERROR. The inclusion of scenes from the latter two movies allow the film-makers to give an amusing "with special participation by Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff" announcement at the film's opening. Such moments give MADHOUSE a weird atmosphere and unusual storyline, but I can't help feel that this is a bit of a jumbled film, a mess in places and brilliant in others. It's good, but I won't be returning to it in the same way I will THEATRE OF BLOOD; a worthwhile failure is the best way to think of it.

mark.waltz Vincent Price not only parodies his own career but salutes the whole genre as well in this look at the modern world through the eyes of Gothic horror. Old colleagues Boris Karloff and Basil Rathbone get honored through their then recent deaths through clips of several of their horror films, and while this marked the end of Price's American International films, he had nearly 29 years left in his own career that included film, stage and TV, as well as various other forms of art. Paired here with Peter Cushing, Price still gets the spotlight as the complicated horror movie star whose series of films as Dr. Death have seemingly driven him mad. But is he the fiend, or is it someone else?Cushing actually has little footage as an actor of horror films who instead became a writer of the series, and hints are dropped that he could be the maniac. But there are other suspects too, among them a former female co-star who has obviously gone mad due to her own frightful memories and unrequited love. The film is bloody and gruesome but not needlessly so, unlike some other films that took the frights a bit too far. Its ultimately pretty predictable but a nice ending to the lengthy career Price had at the greatest B studio following the end of the golden era of movie making. At times, Price overacts a bit and seems to be taking what Karloff had done in Targets and giving it his own touch. There is a persistent blonde who stalks Price and I couldn't wait for her to be dispatched. Perhaps that is the point of the film made through a speech Price gives that we all have a deep seated desire to see violence even if we are unable to commit it.

moonspinner55 Rather tame, tepid screamer from American International, one with a PG rating and a cast full of weary oldsters and bland female murder victims. Vincent Price would seem to be snugly cast as the star of the "Dr. Death" horror movie series, coaxed back to the role after a 12-year hiatus following the unsolved slaying of his fiancée at a Hollywood party, who may be blacking out and killing people for real. But Price can barely summon up the energy to get through this leaden picture, and--what with clammy British locations and plodding set-ups--viewers can hardly blame him. Director Jim Clark can't seem to get anything right, not the scenes utilizing old movie clips nor the unravelling of Price's sanity. Showing us the actor's back teeth as he screams in shock, Clark is exploiting Price (just as he exploits Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff in the clips), feasting on the star's sagging, hairy face in unflattering close-ups. It's a hack job, made by hacks and actors in need of their paychecks, with a quasi-campy tone that is never acknowledged and shoddy cinematography worse than any television series of the era. *1/2 from ****

Coventry "Madhouse" bears a lot of resemblance with the previous year's "Theater of Blood", and actually that movie was already some sort of multiplication of the 1971 hit "The Abominable Dr. Phibes". General conclusion: throughout the early 70's Vincent Price's successful career largely relied on playing the same flamboyant character over and over again, but who cares seriously, as all his films are hugely entertaining and worth tracking down. "Madhouse" even features another rewarding bonus, as Vincent Price shares the screen with fellow horror legend Peter Cushing. Here in this film, Price wondrously (of course) depicts a horror actor named Paul Toombes who has practically converged with his fixed movie character Dr. Death. When his future wife is found savagely beheaded on the morning after numerous house guests witnessed a verbal dispute, Paul Toombes is led to believe that years of identifying with Dr. Death has driven him to madness and actual murder. Toombes retires for twelve long years, until his good friend and manager Herbert convinces him to reprise his legendary Dr. Death role in a TV-format. As soon as the series begins filming, dead bodies start piling up again. Is Paul Toombes really a maniacal killer or is there someone, dressed in his horror movie costume, trying to make him look guilty? Director Jim Clark, usually a respectable editor, clearly intended to make an amusing and tongue-in-cheek Grand Guignol effort, rather than a serious and indigestible thriller. The film features clippings from previous Vincent Price highlights, including "The Haunted Palace", "House of Usher" and "The Raven". Perhaps Clark borrowed this idea from Peter Bogdanovich, who did something similar with Boris Karloff's career in "Targets". The murders in "Madhouse" are extremely imaginative, although incredibly over-the-top, like the crushing bed sequence. Dr. Death's outfit and make-up are deliciously macabre and there are some bonkers sub plots, like a crazy woman in a basement and the ravishing Linda Hayden as a over-enthusiast fan-girl/stalker. Recommended, but only if you're a fan of Vincent Price and his career.