Madhouse was the third trip to the revenge well for American International Pictures and star Vincent Price following their success with the vengeance-minded The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) and Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972), as well as Price's profitable Grand Guignol-inflected Theatre of Blood (1973), released by United Artists. The law of diminishing returns guaranteed that Madhouse would be the runt of this outré litter but, whatever its failings fright-wise, this AIP-Amicus co-production does pit Price against fellow horror icons Peter Cushing and Robert Quarry, and offers some juicy subtext concerning the dark side of the Hollywood dream.

In a throwaway supporting role, Adrienne Corri, cast as a Favershamesque ex-starlet turned scarred shut-in, delivers a chilling monologue about having been raped and disfigured while cruising for sex in Tinseltown that is more disturbing than all the rote blandishments of the Madhouse shock syllabus. (Corri had played a victim of an especially malevolent gang rape in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange [1971] two years earlier.) If the mayhem feels paint-by-numbers, the sense of curdled expectations is painted from memory, evoking an aura of discomfiture and decay.

Film publicist Greg Morrison's script was rewritten on-set while moneyman Milton Subotsky ordered severe cuts in postproduction, making blame for the film's shortcomings difficult to assign. Nonetheless, Madhouse would have benefited from the presence of a visionary behind the camera, a more perverse sensibility that might have made a true meal out of the material.

Producer: Samuel Arkoff, John Dark, Max Rosenberg, Milton Subotsky
Director: Jim Clark
Screenplay: Ken Levison, Greg Morrison, Angus Hall (novel)
Cinematography: Ray Parslow
Film Editing:
Art Direction: Tony Curtis
Music: Douglas Gamley
Cast: Vincent Price (Paul Toombes), Peter Cushing (Herbert Flay), Robert Quarry (Oliver Quayle), Adrienne Corri (Faye), Linda Hayden (Elizabeth Peters), Natasha Pyne (Julia).
C-89m. Letterboxed.

by Richard Harland Smith