The Mansion of Madness

This is a 'quirky' (crap) seventies horror film that's eccentrically filmed (the director was on drugs) which idiosyncratic tendencies (penchant for goofy hippy shenanigans)but visually pleasing, in the aesthetic sense (please be drunk before you watch this one), the acting is almost academic in its execution (the actors are so wooden you can buy them from B&Q), the script titillating (like someone tugging your scrotum with a fish hook), and the pacing of the plot erratic (so bad I had to review this one 'live') see below: ...okay now someone's naked...and dancing...no wait she's not naked it's just so dark...why has that woman got a football strapped to her head?...is that a fish?...WHAT IS THIS RITUAL ABOUT?...no wait it's a knife...can't see a thing now...it's a law in the seventies to use xylophone soundtracks when someone has been drugged...?????????...right someone talking Poe again...sounds like that Arthur Pym one...it would help if I could see what's going on...now he's walking up a corridor he just dreamt...and I'm none the wiser as to what I'm meant to see here...'you have three shadows even though you refuse to believe me'...darkness again...that chick's covered in grapes....there's almost a story now...more 'zany' xlyophones...nothing of interest has happened for 20 mins...there's a lot of bare bums in this film...and a naked chick on a horse...wait a minute Peter Greenaway nicked this scene for Prospero's books!...now there's a band where a guy's playing a crab...and people dressed as crows...won't the torture end?

Not as much a horror movie as the (real cool) Magnum video case lets on, it can be pretty scary and disturbing. Kind of like Gilliam's Baron Munchausen crossed with Fellini Satyricon crossed with any movie where the inmates run the asylum. I'd say it had a pretty high budget and a large cast. I figured it would be some Al Adamson type of film in a cardboard dungeon. Well the atmosphere is great and the shots are cool and very European. Based on a Poe story so the concepts and dialogue are pretty memorable. There are really creative sets and props I never would expect to see. I wonder why more people have not heard of it?

I've waited a long time to see DR TARR'S TORTURE DUNGEON and after I watched it, I was really disappointed by it. It's not the Baroque film I expected it to be. The trailer (which I saw on a Something Weird DVD) is much better than the entire film, which is remarkably forgettable. There are almost no stand out scenes in it and the look and feel is interesting but it doesn't even come close to other Baroque styled movies out there, from Fellini or Jodorowsky. The characters are dull and there's almost nothing dramatic going on, even though we see rape, crucifixion, insanity, etc.

The main problem with DR TARR'S TORTURE DUNGEON was the fact that it was a talk-a-thon more than anything else. It was almost like watching a book. I just wanted the film to have moments of silence or mood or something, instead we see/listen to the main characters chit-chat endlessly about dull stuff.

A missed opportunity.

It was the grisly demon-possession flick "Alucarda" (1978) that first made me aware of the talents of the late, underrated Mexican director Juan L. Moctezuma. Anxious to see more, I popped in the DVD for Moctezuma's first film, 1973's "The Mansion of Madness" (also, fortunately, on the Mondo Macabro label), and was pleased to discover that it is another winner, although much less disturbing and intense a horror outing than "Alucarda." The film nicely captures and expands Edgar Allan Poe's 1845 short story "The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether" (one of many that Roger Corman never got around to adapting!), and shows what can happen when the inmates of a madhouse literally take over the asylum. In the film, we make the acquaintance of a young man named Gaston Leblanc who has recently graduated from journalism school in 19th century America, and played by hunky dude Arthur Hansel (who looks a good 20 years too old for the part). Leblanc returns to his French homeland to do a story on a mental institution run by one Dr. Maillard (Claudio Brook, the doctor turned demon slayer in "Alucarda"), whose innovative "soothing system" of letting his inmates run free has been causing quite a stir in medical circles. But shocking surprises await Leblanc as he enters the titular "mansion of madness"....

This film, I should say, starts out very strangely, and Maillard's initial tour of his institution may cause some viewers to shake their heads in bewilderment. My advice would be to stick with it, though, as several plot twists serve to both clarify matters and ratchet up the suspense. Novice film director Moctezuma gives the viewer something interesting to look at in virtually every shot, especially toward the picture's conclusion. That banquet sequence is a literal phantasmagoria of oddball characters doing unusual things, the frame filled with hyperkinetic wonder. Kudos also to cinematographer Rafael Corkidi, especially for his stunning work outdoors. A welcome addition to the Poe story here: a romantic subplot of sorts featuring an inmate named Eugenie, played by beautiful Ellen Sherman. And speaking of "beautiful," Susana Kamini, who played the gorgeous Justine in "Alucarda," can be seen in this film as well. Look sharp: There she is, playing the topless inmate on the receiving end of that fishing pole! Opening with a pensive voice-over amongst lovely country scenery and concluding with a seeming homage to--of all people--"Little Caesar"'s Rico Bandello, the picture is a fascinating experience from beginning to end. Thanks again, you Mondo Macabro maniacs!

Dr. Tarr's Torture Dungeon (the more appealing a.k.a of this film) surely is one of the most bizarre films I ever saw. But then again, it qualifies as Mexican exploitation and you never know what to expect from these guys… I would love to summarize the plot a little but that's nearly impossible considering this is an incoherent series of absurdity, sleaze and semi-psychedelic stuff. The closest I can get is describing how the story takes place in a French asylum hidden in the woods, where doctor Tarr and professor Feather feast their most perverted barbarities on the poor and helpless patients…and yet they like it! My personal favorite is a guy – referred to as Mr. Chicken – who lives in a pen, alongside the other poultry. You should see how happy he is!! The screenplay is supposed to be adapted from an Edgar Allen Poe story but, even though I haven't read it, I suspect that the premise is replenished with many elements from the makers' own wicked imagination. As often the case with this type of cheap exploitation films, it features a surprisingly stylish cinematography and many addictive elements. Especially the mesmerizing opening sequence, with its wonderful blaze of colors, immediately draws your attention. The use of silly music is hilarious and you can only feel sympathy for the actor while they're attempting to rattle their exaggeratedly complex dialogues. This is the kind of cinema that normal human beings refer to as crap and complete rubbish. Only the people with a macabre sense of humor love it and regret that there aren't more films like this to find. I, for one, am proud to have it in my cult-collection.