Madhouse, 1974.
Directed by Jim Clark.
Starring Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, Robert Quarry, Adrienne Corri, Linda Hayden, Michael Parkinson.
SYNOPSIS:
A horror movie star returns to his famous role after years in a mental institution. But the character seems to be committing murders independent of his will.
Eureka return to horror this month with two often overlooked examples of 1970s goodness to add to their Eureka Classics range, the first of which is the Blu-ray debut of 1974 shocker Madhouse, a joint production from Amicus in the UK and AIP in the US.
Based on the 1969 novel Devilday by Angus Hall, Madhouse stars horror legend Vincent Price as Paul Toombes, a horror actor who has been playing the popular greasepaint- wearing serial killer Dr. Death in a run of popular movies. During a screening of his latest Dr. Death outing, Toombes’ young fiancé is murdered in a similar method to the screen villain’s and Toombes is framed as the killer’s trademark gloves are found about his person. Despite being acquitted of the murder, Toombes is never quite sure that he wasn’t guilty and he disappears from public life to undergo treatment in a psychiatric hospital.
Years later, a now fully recovered Toombes is approached by his friend and Dr. Death creator Herbert Flay (the equally legendary Peter Cushing) to recreate his famous role for a new television series to be produced by slimy TV executive Oliver Quayle (Robert Quarry), who was also the producer of Toombes’ fiancé’s early glamour movies, which Toombes was not happy about. Initially reluctant to return to the role, the aging actor agrees but once filming starts the bodies start piling up, and Toombes’ old mental health issues start creeping back as he isn’t sure whether it is him or Dr. Death who is committing these crimes.
By 1974 the horror landscape was changing thanks to darker and edgier movies from the US like Night of the Living Dead, The Exorcist and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and the old-fashioned gothic chillers that the likes of Peter Cushing and Vincent Price were known for during the previous decade were starting to look out of vogue, something that Madhouse touches on as clips from some of Vincent Price’s AIP movies are shown playing the part of Paul Toombes’ previous films. The idea of an aging horror star fading into obscurity wasn’t lost on Price – and Cushing, to a lesser extent – during this period and his movies from that time often had underlying themes that reflected that, as well as some glorious gore that was starting to look a little more realistic than than the Kensington Gore blood effects that Hammer and their ilk were known for using. So with that in mind, and the fact that Madhouse centres around a masked killer in a murder mystery scenario, there is a train of thought that Madhouse could be considered a proto-slasher in a similar way to Black Christmas and The Town That Dreaded Sundown, two movies that also came out around the same time.
To make this point, Eureka have included some supplementary material that gives flesh to the bones of this theory and it isn’t a hard sell once you see Price and Cushing clearly having a blast with making fun of the old gothics and embracing a sense of terror based on human trauma rather than vampires, werewolves or zombies. Not that Madhouse is up there with Halloween as a slasher classic, but the seeds are there as throats get slit, heads get chopped off and some poor soul even gets crushed by a hydraulic press. Interestingly, Peter Cushing was allegedly offered the role of Dr. Loomis in Halloween shortly after this but turned it down, and as great as Donald Pleasence was in that role you get a little inkling here as to how Cushing could have played it and it isn’t difficult to imagine him in that part.
However, despite its leanings towards the more graphic contemporary horror of the 1970s Madhouse still has that comforting feel that any movie from this era starring the old pros has, and it is the warmth that they bring that makes it so enjoyable. The bare bones of the murder mystery plot isn’t anything spectacular, but adding in Price’s previous movies to represent Toombes’ feels like quite a fresh move for 1974, and the movie would have felt severely underwhelming if it wasn’t for the two leads and what they brought to it, although having familiar genre faces Robert Quarry and Linda Hayden in supporting roles adds a bit of spice, although they do feel a bit underused.
TV chat show host Michael Parkinson appears in a cameo role as himself interviewing Paul Toombes in a fun scene, which may not mean much to viewers outside of the UK but Price himself appeared on Parkinson’s chat show in the 1970s so, again, it adds that familiar warmth that audiences engage with. If you look in the opening credits there is also a mention of special appearances by Boris Karloff and Basil Rathbone, but both actors were long dead by the time this movie was made, although clips of Price appearing opposite them in AIP’s The Raven and Tales of Terror respectively means there are more horror icons in this movie than you first think, and not a hint of AI anywhere, thankfully.
So yes, Madhouse is a creepy time spent with the godfathers of the genre poking fun at their pasts and their then-current standing, as well as accepting that things move on and they can still be a part of it. It is a little bit Scooby-Doo with its shocks and ultimate revelations but that is a part of the experience, and the added bonus of some gory kills and Vincent Price looking fantastic in his Dr. Death costume and makeup make Madhouse a joy to revisit again and again, even when you know what is coming.
The disc comes with a video essay by scholar Mary Going that gives an insight into the slasher movie theory and connections to other movies, as well as an introduction by author Stephen Laws and an archival making-of that also offers different perspectives. The picture quality is a little inconsistent, especially during the first half where there a few brief pops, crackles and some faint vertical lines during a couple of scenes but these are defects actually in the original film and not enough to distract, and although there is heavy grain present the picture quality gets better the longer the movie goes on, so that by the time we reach the climax you can clearly see the lines in Price’s face under that glorious makeup.
Overall, Madhouse is something of an underrated gem that this new release should go some way to addressing, and with new appreciations and readings of it as a proto-slasher then hopefully we might start seeing it appear in the same mentions as the likes of Black Christmas, Bay of Blood and Psycho. Time will tell.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
