{"id":1545,"date":"2015-04-03T15:37:58","date_gmt":"2015-04-03T19:37:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=1545"},"modified":"2026-03-18T16:13:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T20:13:43","slug":"madhouse-1974","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=1545","title":{"rendered":"Madhouse-1974"},"content":{"rendered":"

Madhouse-1974<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Jim Clark<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, Adrienne Corri<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #233<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"220px-Madhouseposter[1]\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed April 3, 2015<\/p>\n

Grade: B-<\/strong><\/p>\n

Madhouse, a 1974 British horror film, stars horror icon Vincent Price, who portrays a sympathetic Hollywood actor who is unsure of his sanity after the grisly murder of his trophy fianc\u00e9e, whom he may or may not have been responsible for murdering.<\/p>\n

Mainly set in London, Madhouse also stars famed British actors in the latter stages of their careers, such as Peter Cushing, and is a treat for classic British horror fans.<\/p>\n

The look of the film is stylistic and effective in the mood- the story, while silly, is also fun.<\/p>\n

Paul Toombes (Price) is a renowned actor best known for his portrayal of Dr. Death in a successful film franchise. He seemingly has it all and is the envy of his contemporaries- wealth, notoriety, and a glamorous blonde fianc\u00e9e named Ellen.<\/p>\n

After Ellen is murdered by someone dressed as Dr. Death, Paul is unable to remember the circumstances or his whereabouts during the murder.<\/p>\n

After spending years in a mental institution in a confused state, he is summoned to London to mount an acting comeback of sorts, reprising his Dr. Death alter-ego.<\/p>\n

As the bodies begin to pile up, a whodunit commences- is Paul Toombes the killer, or is someone impersonating him?<\/p>\n

The film itself is quite pleasing to a horror fan like me. The deaths, while silly, are fun and campy.<\/p>\n

Mostly all female victims, a comical aspect is how the victims, when cornered by the killer, simply scream and stand there waiting to be sliced.<\/p>\n

Wouldn\u2019t they fight back in real life?<\/p>\n

This film is certainly not realism at its finest, but it is a fun horror film. It is a bit exaggerated and over-the-top in a campy way, but it is also true to the 1970s style, with point-of-view scenes from the killer\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n

A wonderful aspect of this film is the inclusion of real clips from old Vincent Price films (The Raven, The Pit and the Pendulum, and House of Usher), to name a few, featuring the deceased horror god Boris Karloff and Basil Rathbone.<\/p>\n

Since the plot features Price as a former horror actor, this is a wonderful opportunity to showcase classic horror films from long ago, and it works perfectly.<\/p>\n

I enjoyed the television scenes within the film plot as Paul revives his career and shoots a series for the BBC. The film chooses interesting, haunting sets, and Cushing\u2019s character, Herbert Flay, and his zany wife reside in a spooky, vast mansion with eerie spiders that the wife is obsessed with.<\/p>\n

The set pieces are great and very Halloween-like. And the spider-eating-flesh scene is excellent!<\/p>\n

The tag team of Price and Cushing is fun to watch- both horror stalwarts connect well, and both actors play off of each other successfully.<\/p>\n

They had a ball while making this film.<\/p>\n

Towards the end of the film, the plot becomes confusing, and the big reveal of the killer\u2019s identity and the surrounding motivations is a disappointment.<\/p>\n

The conclusion to the film is silly and makes little sense, although that is secondary to a film of this genre that borders on camp.<\/p>\n

Madhouse (1974) is an enjoyable midnight flick starring two of the classic horror genre’s top icons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Madhouse-1974 Director Jim Clark Starring Vincent Price, Peter Cushing, Adrienne Corri Scott’s Review #233 Reviewed April 3, 2015 Grade: B- Madhouse, a 1974 British horror film, stars horror icon Vincent Price, who portrays a sympathetic Hollywood actor who is unsure of his sanity after the grisly murder of his trophy fianc\u00e9e, whom he may or … Continue reading Madhouse-1974<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96,8959,440,434,13,235,9812,9168,9813,646,9816,567],"tags":[97,8963,441,435,248,236,9814,9172,9815,648,9817,568],"class_list":["post-1545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1974-films","category-adrienne-corri","category-british-films","category-british-horror-films","category-horror-films","category-campy-horror","category-jim-clark","category-linda-hayden","category-natasha-pyne","category-peter-cushing","category-robert-quarry","category-vincent-price","tag-1974-movie-reviews","tag-adrienne-corri","tag-british-films","tag-british-horror-films","tag-horror-films","tag-campy-horror","tag-jim-clark","tag-linda-hayden","tag-natasha-pyne","tag-peter-cushing","tag-robert-quarry","tag-vincent-price"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1545"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22756,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1545\/revisions\/22756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}