MADHOUSE (1974)
Directed by Jim Clark
Starring Vincent Price and Peter Cushing
Essentially Vincent Price's last starring role in a legitimate
horror film (he did comedies and other projects later), "Madhouse"
really did represent an end of an era. Released after "The Exorcist"
redefined what a horror film was, "Madhouse" still boasted old-school
stars like Price, Peter Cushing and Robert Quarry. Filmed in Britain,
it had some of the charm of "The Abominable Dr. Phibes," but you can
tell just by watching it that the early '70s, late '60s horror model
was wearing thin in the wake of films like "The Exorcist."
Price plays a horror film star whose life is turned upside down after
he finds the beheaded body of his girlfriend. Acquitted of her murder,
he eventually returns to work as a fear film actor -- playing his
trademark character "Dr. Death" -- only to start witnessing people
around the film project being knocked off one by one. Has he gone
crazy? Has he always been crazy?
Cushing plays an actor friend, while "Count Yorga" actor Quarry plays
a mean producer. Gorgeous Linda Hayden has a small role as an
obsessed fan.
Not a particularly good movie, "Madhouse" is still a must for fans
of Price and very early '70s horror. This was also something of a swan
song for Amicus, which produced the film. Amicus would make "The Monster
Club" in 1980 with Price, but that film was quite silly.
This was Price's last movie for AIP and, fittingly, the film features
footage from many of Price's Corman-era Poe films as the movies of
the fictional horror star he portrays.
For Price fans, this can be considered his last true horror film. It's not
bad.