Madhouse 1974

 What's better than a horror movie starring Vincent Price?  How about a horror movie about a horror movie actor played by Vincent Price?  That's exactly what we get this time with Amicus Production's 1974 Madhouse.  Also starring Peter Cushing as a horror movie writer and Robert Quarry as a movie producer.  Adrienne Corri, Natasha Pyne, and Linda Hayden are the three female co-stars.  It's interesting to note that the movie contains scenes from other Price movies, specifically Tales of Terror and The Raven in which Price starred with Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff.  In the opening credits Karloff and Rathbone are mentioned as "special participation by" as the two had died in '69 and '67 respectively.  The film would be the final one Price would do for American International Pictures (AIP) after 14 years that began back in 1960 with House of Usher.

 The general gist of the story is Price plays Paul Tooms an actor who plays Dr. Death in a horror movie franchise.  After his fiance is murdered he ends up in a mental institute for years.  After being convinced to come back to the horror movie industry and return to the Dr. Death role, murders begin to happen around him again. The deaths are all based on victims from the Dr. Death movies.  The music by Douglas Gamley does it's best to set up some really nice atmospheric moments in the film.  As this is the last film Price would do for AIP it is easy to consider this a sort of tribute to his career.  Sure there are a few cliche "walking down the dark stairs with a candle" type scenes but for a small budget film with recycled parts from other films you have to accept this for what it is.  Basically we have a bon voyage tribute from AIP to one of the biggest horror icons in movie history. 

     I felt the film was worth watching simply to see Price and Cushing together in a film and kudos to whoever joined AIP with Amicus so we could get this pairing.  In a way this film seems like an early attempt at what Wes Craven would try to do with the Scream movies.  The film does have a few moments of dark humor that could go unnoticed if you are not watching closely but they are there but I definitely wouldn't call this a horror comedy.  I would say it's more of a who dunnit inside of a slasher film.  This film marks the end of a era in many ways besides the beginning of Price's horror movie career but as well as the end of Amicus and AIP and to an even greater extent the end of Hammer Horror as well.  The golden age of British horror was coming to and end and Madhouse is one of it's lasts gasps.  2 and a half black capes (with red silk inner lining) out of 5.  I really wanted to like this one more than I did.  Denise, my Horror Honey, also wanted to really enjoy a Peter Cushing and Vincent Price team up and unfortunately she felt it never really added up to what it could be.  Something about the film being less than the sum of all it's parts.  She also managed to give it 2.5 out of 5.  The up side?  Not the worst we've seen this month.