Madhouse

Directed by Jim Clark, Madhouse follows aging horror star Paul Toombes (Vincent Price) as he agrees to come out of retirement to once again play his most famous character – with violence ensuing after those around him are knocked off by a figure resembling said famous character. It’s a seemingly foolproof premise that’s employed to predominantly lackluster and uninvolving effect by Clark, as the filmmaker, working from Ken Levison and Greg Morrison’s screenplay, delivers an excessively (and unreasonably) deliberate endeavor that’s rife with long, drawn-out interludes of a decidedly pointless nature – with this especially true of the myriad of interludes devoted to footage of Toombes’ past work in the movie industry. There reaches a point, perhaps inevitably, at which it become virtually impossible to work up the slightest bit of interest in or enthusiasm for the proceedings, and it doesn’t help, certainly, that Clark offers up a series of kill sequences that couldn’t possibly be less compelling or visceral. (The only exception to this, ultimately, is an admittedly decent scene in which the killer stalks his latest victim through a television studio.) And while Price is often far better and more engrossing than the material deserves, Madhouse builds to a somewhat endless finale that ensures the whole thing finally concludes on as inept and anticlimactic a note as one could’ve possibly envisioned.

*1/2 out of ****