MADHOUSE (1974)

 

(Director: Jim Clark. Screenwriters: Ken Levison and Greg Morrison. Additional dialogue and text provided by an uncredited Robert Quarry, who plays Oliver Quayle in the film.)

 

Review

Based on Angus Hall’s 1969 novel DEVILDAY, this PG-rated American International Pictures [AIP] flick stars Vincent Price as Paul Toombes, a horror actor largely known for playing an iconic, five-film villain, Dr. Death. When Toombes’s fiancée is murdered at a Hollywood party, he loses his mind and spends twelve years in a mental asylum. Leaving the asylum, Toombes heads to London, England, when Dr. Death creator Herbert Flay (Peter Cushing, FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE, 1974) invites him there. Flay is in the employ of Oliver Quayle (Robert Quarry), an ex-porn producer producing a Dr. Death television series─whose lead role Toombes will hopefully resume. That Quayle knew Toombes’s murdered fiancée and attended the party where she died rankles Toombes but, professional that he is, he deals with it.

Almost immediately, a murderer, dressed like Dr. Death, begins killing people around Toombes. It isn’t difficult to figure out the killer’s identity, but the screenwriters throw a lot of red herrings in the mix. MADHOUSE likely doesn't do anything you haven’t seen before (if you’re familiar with the horror genre), but the solid writing and pacing, the over-the-top acting and murder scenes and everything else make this an entertaining film, worth your time.

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Filmic deep(ish) dive – got this from MADHOUSE’s IMDb “Trivia” page

MADHOUSE features scenes from other AIP films: TALES OF TERROR (1962, starring Price and Basil Rathbone, who died in 1967); and THE RAVEN (1963, starring Price and Boris Karloff, who died in 1969). The Dr. Death clip shown near the start of the film is AIP’s THE HAUNTED PALACE (1963, also starring Price), with voices dubbed in to add the Dr. Death element. Later in the film, at Oliver’s house, scenes from Price’s 1961 film THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM are shown during a party.

MADHOUSE was Price’s final movie with AIP. He started working with them in 1960.

During one of the costume party scenes, Robert Quarry wears his outfit from COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE (1970). Also: Peter Cushing, who played Van Helsing on several occasions, wears a Dracula costume.