Casa maldita

Clark (Joshua Leonard) is a young and idealistic new intern at a run-down and out-dated mental health facility. His aspirations for cleaning the place hit a snag when he butts heads with Dr. Franks (Lance Henrikson) who seems to not mind that the patients never seem to get any better. Shortly Clark begins seeing things and death and mayhem invade the reality of the "Madhouse". Together Clark and Sara must uncover who or what it is that stalks the asylum and survive the massacre.

"Madhouse" is a slick-looking production. Nicely filmed and directed it adds some nice visual pizazz to a relatively standard script. The three leads are all veterans of horror films and do very well in their parts. Excellent sound design and above-average photography make "Madhouse" a solid horror-thriller.

The psychiatric intern Clark Stevens (Joshua Leonanrd) comes to Cunningham Hall, a mental healthy facility administrated by Dr. Franks (Lance Henriksen), for a training period before his graduation in medical college. He gets close to the resident Sara (Jordan Ladd) and to Ben London, a dangerous patient lodged in cell 44 in the basement of the clinic. Clark becomes intrigued with a boy, who seems to be a ghost, and finds that Dr. Franks does not use real medication in the patients. A further investigation shows hidden dark secrets in the clinic.

"Madhouse" is an unknown low-budget movie with a surprisingly great gory story. The direction is sharp, the screenplay is very well tied up and in the end it is a worthwhile horror movie, highly recommended to be discovered by fans of this genre. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Casa dos Horrores" ("The House of the Horrors")

i have seen it. i always like movie theme like horror cum mental institution. e.g. session 9, house of haunted hill remake springs to my mind. lance henrikssen has only a small role here. anyway, in madhouse, i found it creepy, disturbing and scary throughout the movie especially the first time we see the "basement lock up patients" scenes. the sound design/effect is very very vigorous. this is another movie which got a 'clever' ending, it's not a 'scratching my hairs' kinda ending but rather a 'WoW" ending. i truly recommend it.

to anyone who wish to know my selection of favourite horror movies, here it is: - the shining - psycho - the ring remake - the grudge (original) - jaws - the exorcist - the eye (hong kong) - dead end .......etc etc

This movie is admittedly better than the usual fare horror fans are offered, however it was still missing something. The majority of the characters were interesting, though at times they seemed too perfectly tailored for their roles.

The movie is suspenseful for the most part and keeps you guessing. At times, things seemed kind of corny (worms and men with eyeliner don't scare ME, for instance) and certain plot points are never explored to their full potential.

All in all, it's a movie worth seeing (especially if you're into the genre). Reminded me a little of a juvenile version of Session 9... but if given the choice between the two, I'd choose Session 9 again!

There is a twist to this horror tale; all modern horror films seem to be required to have a story twist. I won't tell what it is, but I will say careful viewers will have no trouble figuring it out.

A young grad student arrives at a mental institution to begin his internship and from the start notices that the hospital is not up to standard. Patients are not given proper (sometimes not even humane) treatment, doctors and staff seem uninterested, facilities are nearly defunct, and (of course) the place just might be haunted.

The movement of the film is nice and brisk, with scare scenes coming at a fairly steady pace. The cast is capable and it's nice to have a couple horror regulars on board (Lance Henrickson and Jordan Ladd). The scripting is also adequate, but lacks punch; most everything seen here can be seen elsewhere. And then there is the twist, which while not a 'deal-breaker' will still influence your opinion of the film as a whole.

For some decent and classical scares this works just fine, just don't expect anything new or unique.

7/10