(1981/USA/Italy)
Review By-Johan Melle
Cast: Trish Everly, Michael MacRae, Dennis Robertson, Morgan Hart, Edith Ivey, Allison Biggers, Jerry Fujikawa 
Directed by Ovidio G. Assonitis. Written by Ovidio G. Assonitis, Stephen Blakely, Roberto Gandus and Peter Shepherd. 
Source: Film 2000 DVD (UK, PAL Region 0, 94 minutes) 

Julia Sullivan (Trish Everly) is a talented teacher at a school for deaf children, and apparently has it all: good looks, nice job and a steady boyfriend. However, almost no one close to Julia knows that she actually has an identical twin sister, Mary (Allison Biggers). The two twin sisters have always had a pretty difficult relationship – the cruel and sadistic Mary used to taunt and torment Julia endlessly as they grew up. As a result, Julia has broken off all contact with her twin, whom she has not seen in seven years. 

With Julia and Mary’s mutual birthday only five days away, Julia is contacted by her uncle, a kind but preachy priest named Father James (Dennis Robertson). He informs her that Mary is in the hospital, suffering from a terrible and lethal skin disease that has disfigured her face to the point of being unrecognizable. Pleading with Julia that Mary misses her and that she needs her sister in this difficult time, Father James is able to convince Julia to accompany him to the hospital. However, the reconciliation is all but a happy one as the demented and horribly disfigured Mary is furious to see Julia – the mirror image of what she herself once used to look like. She violently grabs hold of Julia and – cackling like a complete maniac – promises to make her sister suffer again. 

Later that night, Mary escapes from the hospital in what has to be the most unrealistic escape scene ever caught on film. She basically just slips out of bed and proceeds to walk right on out of the building without encountering a single doctor, nurse, patient or guard on her way out. Not long afterwards, a hospital night watchman (where the hell was he during the escape?) is suddenly jumped by a rabid killer dog, which viciously tears his throat out. We soon learn that this is Mary’s dog, which she used to torment her sister with several years ago. So now killer dog and owner are happily reunited and set out on a killing spree – murdering all those close to Mary, including her favorite deaf pupil. 

Poor Julia is certain that Mary is the one responsible for the poor deaf kid getting ripped apart by a dog but neither her uncle nor her boyfriend Sam (Michael MacRae) believe in this theory. Meanwhile, Julia’s birthday is rapidly approaching. The twin sisters’ mutual birthday was the day when Mary used to act the absolute cruelest towards Julia, and it’s safe to say that this year’s birthday has a very special surprise in store for Julia… 

Originally titled THERE WAS A LITTLE GIRL, distributors recognized how this wasn’t a very sellable title and hence it was retitled MADHOUSE in most territories; accompanied by various eye-catching taglines like “Julia think she lives alone… She doesn’t!” and best of all: “Many people visit, few ever leave… the madhouse!” Subsequently, the film ended up on the infamous Video Nasty list in Britain, and it is probably its status as one of the previously banned Video Nasties that is the film’s biggest claim to fame. 

Although directed by Italian filmmaker Ovidio G. Assonitis and featuring a largely Italian crew, MADHOUSE was filmed entirely in the US state of Georgia with an all-American cast. Assonitis, best known for directing BEYOND THE DOOR (1974) and TENTACLES (1977) – both profitable, second-rate rip-offs of American hit movies – moved his production company from Italy to America, and like many of his later productions, MADHOUSE is ostensibly an American film. Nevertheless, it is covered in Adrian Luther Smith’s excellent giallo book Blood & Black Lace, although the film’s classification as a giallo is certainly debatable – it plays more like an all-out slasher film and, indeed, the film’s prime inspiration would seem to be the numerous American slasher films of the early 1980s. 

Fortunately, though, MADHOUSE avoids the pitfall of becoming yet another ‘horny teens having sex and getting killed’ number – focusing instead on an adult heroine and her bond to her psycho twin sister. The special bond between twins has been a popular horror movie theme ever since Brian De Palma’s SISTERS (1973), and this theme would also feature in other Italian films such as Alberto De Martino’s BLOOD LINK (1982) and Carlo Vanzina’s NOTHING UNDERNEATH (1985). Unfortunately, though, the potentially interesting relationship between Julia and Mary is never really elaborated on. Mary’s reasons for treating her sister so cruel are never really revealed. Instead, Mary is simply portrayed as a highly clichéd nutcase who appears to have been born evil. No insight into her warped mind is offered here. 

The above is really just a minor quibble that could easily have been overlooked if only the rest of the film had delivered the goods but sadly there are more problems burdening this film. Somehow it just never really becomes as effective as it ought to be, and this is mainly due to the paper-thin and uninteresting characters – not helped by the mostly bland actors bringing them to life. 

The beautiful Trish Everly, who plays Julia, doesn’t appear to have been in any other films either before or after MADHOUSE, which is a shame because she makes a pretty sympathetic and likable heroine here. She’s also quite a nice-looking lady, and while certainly no Meryl Streep, she should have been able to get more film work. The main problem, however, are the rest of the cast members. 

There’s Michael MacRae, who is quite bland as the boyfriend. He seems to have had little interest in his role other than to collect a paycheck. On the other end of the scale, some of the supporting actors are way, WAY over the top. Dennis Robertson really hams it up in his exaggerated portrayal of the priest uncle but he is nevertheless pretty funny to watch. Allison Biggers on the other hand is quite annoying as the cackling psycho sister – her madwoman role being as clichéd as they come. 

But the one cast member who really ups the annoyance factor is Edith Ivey as Julia’s landlady; a tarot-reading ‘free spirit’ whose apartment is furnished with garishly colored drapes, various New Age symbols and way too much incense. This oddball lady also seems curiously incapable of standing still. Even as she is having a conversation, she continually dances back and forth, and even makes the occasional pirouette. Amazingly, she uses pretty much the same silly movements when she tries to flee after encountering the killer – well, minus the pirouettes, that is. She acts in such a completely ridiculous way – looking almost as if she doesn’t want to get away from the killer – and on top of it all, she chooses the absolute worst hiding place EVER in slasher film history when she tries to hide under a bed where she must be visible from at least 50 ft away! At this point one can’t help but feel that this woman deserves whatever is coming to her! 

But in spite of mediocre cast and characters, MADHOUSE nevertheless has plenty of good things going for it too. Technically, the film is quite well-made. The cinematography by Assonits’ regular cinematographer Roberto D’Ettorre Piazzoli is very stylish and nice-looking. It captures many of the film’s effective locations to good effect, such as the large, dimly lit basement in Julia’s house; and the hospital room where Mary is kept: a large, eerie-looking room full of plastic curtains. The musical score by the talented Riz Ortolani (SUPERBITCH, CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST) is very uncharacteristic of his work. Largely a strange fusion of synthesizer sounds; it’s a very strange score. Interesting for sure and occasionally effective but it quickly grows repetitive and often feels out of place. However, the title theme – a lulling little melody, similar to Ortolani’s “Sweetly, oh, Sweetly” from THE HOUSE ON THE EDGE OF THE PARK (1980) – is actually very good and has a really creepy undertone beneath its soothing lulling. 

Assonitis also musters up a share of effective scares and impressive scenes. The opening titles sequence for example shows a young girl rocking her doll in a rocking chair. Then all of a sudden she whips out a big rock and gorily smashes the doll’s face with it. A very weird scene showing a clearly unbalanced child – this scene sets the tone of the film very nicely. There are also a couple of good jump scares in which the killer dog comes leaping out of nowhere. 

But where MADHOUSE really excels is in its sometimes extreme murder scenes, which are the reason why the film ended up being a banned ‘Video Nasty’ in Britain. Whether or not it actually deserved to be banned is a whole different discussion as the killings aren’t THAT nasty but we are nevertheless served some rather graphic scenes of unfortunate victims getting their throats ripped apart by the rabid killer dog. One also has to somewhat admire a film that has the gall to kill off a deaf child even if the actual death is off-screen. There’s also a really frantic scene where a character is repeatedly hacked in the back with an axe while large chunks of innards, guts and blood (admittedly not too real-looking) flies all over the place. The film’s most notorious scene involves a power-drill to the brain but the victim is not a human being but the rather the evil killer dog. Tasteless it may be but most thrill-seeking trash fans are likely to get a real kick out of watching the malignant dog finally get his deserved comeuppance. 

Then, of course, there’s the film’s climatic last third. After playing out pretty much like a standard slasher flick with plenty of flaws along the way, the one hour mark introduces a big plot twist; revealing that everything is not quite as easy as it seemed to be. This nice twist injects the extra life that the film really needs by now, and it is in its last third that MADHOUSE really shines (it is also here that all the aforementioned gore scenes occur). To cap it all off, Assonitis gives us a pretty twisted little finale in which all the dead victims are gathered around the birthday table for a very special surprise party. This sequence is a complete rip-off of the climax of J. Lee Thompson’s excellent HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME (1980), one of the very best of the American slasher films. The climax in MADHOUSE is not in the same league as Thompson’s film, though. Nor does it actually generate much suspense. The reason why this demented birthday party finale still works, however, is because it is a completely over the top assembly of birthday songs, hysteria, dead party guests and splattering gore. It’s not really all that well-made but Assonitis musters up such impressive chutzpah that it’s impossible to not sit back and enjoy all the bad taste on display here. 

MADHOUSE is brought to DVD uncut (with all previous BBFC cuts waived) by Film 2000, a small-time DVD company that has mostly put out cheap shot-on-video flicks. Surprisingly, Film 2000 presents MADHOUSE in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio, though non-anamorphic. The transfer is a very good-looking one, with a crisp image, good colors and balance. A few shots do admittedly look rather soft but this could well be the how it was originally shot. This print bears the on-screen title MADHOUSE, which is quite obviously superimposed – probably over the original THERE WAS A LITTLE GIRL title. Overall, the picture quality is quite satisfying, though not spectacular. Film 2000 are to be commended for presenting the film in its OAR although the lack of anamorphic enhancement is regrettable. 

Unfortunately, Film 2000 really screw up on the audio. The only audio option is a Dolby Digital mono soundtrack in English (the film was shot in English with an all English-speaking cast so the lack of an Italian soundtrack option is of no concern here) and this track is a complete disaster! Dialogue is both low and muffled; making it very difficult to hear what is being said. The only way to properly hear the dialogue is to crank the volume up to a maximum but this works badly as it causes a lot of hiss. In addition, the musical score is far louder than the dialogue, which means that one has to crank the volume down a considerable notch every time the music kicks in. And then up again whenever someone is talking. This is seriously annoying! Also, having the volume at an unusually high notch to make out the dialogue caused me to literally jump mile-high out of my chair during an unexpected shock effect. The sound level also seems to vary somewhat from scene to scene. This has to be one of the worst audio tracks in a long, long time! There are also no subtitles, which could have helped matters somewhat. 

Extras are pretty much non-existent. There are only four trailers for other films released by Film 2000: DARK WALKER (2003), DELTA DELTA DIE (2003), THE KILLER WITHIN ME (2003) and VAMPIRE RESURRECTION (2001). If the trailers are anything to go by then these films are appalling and ultra-cheap shot-on-video snoozers not worth picking up. Sadly there is no trailer for MADHOUSE, which is a pity. It would’ve been quite interesting to see how this was distributed. 

All in all, MADHOUSE is a fairly routine affair and certainly no forgotten slasher classic. Largely uninteresting characters and the lack of any familiar and reliable cast members hurt the film and it just isn’t as effective as it could and should have been It is redeemed, however, by a couple of good scares here and there, and for eventually picking up its pace and delivering a delirious finale.

The DVD is nice-looking but the package is ultimately sunk by an absolutely wretched audio track. The film itself is worth a look, though, which means that the DVD gets a recommendation but with strong reservations! Be prepared to have your volume control handy when watching this disc. 

Purchase this DVD at X-Ploited Cinema
 

STORY/FILM- 3/5 BITCH SLAPS
PICTURE- 3.5/5 BITCH SLAPS
AUDIO- 1/5 BITCH SLAPS
EXTRAS- 0/5 BITCH SLAPS
OVERALL DVD- 2/5 BITCH SLAPS 

2008 @ Cinema Nocturna