Lectures diaboliques

Bookstore worker Virginia (Jenny Wright) finds herself the target of a slashing madman (FX guy Randall William Cook) when she starts reading the horror books of Malcolm Brand. The killer is utilizing pieces of his victims in order to reconstruct his mangled face, so this means anyone around Virginia is fair game. Naturally, no one believes her story including her detective boyfriend Richard (Clayton Rohner). Director Tibor Takacs followed up his surprise hit THE GATE (1987) with this interesting horror tale. While it never fully delivers on its awesome premise, I, MADMAN has enough good bits to make it worth seeing and Takacs gets inventive with the camera at times. Look for an in joke where Wright passes a movie theater showing METAL MESSIAH, Takacs' first film. Cook, who also worked on the FX in THE GATE and would go on to win Oscars for THE LORD OF THE RINGS series, is good as the unusual killer and also provided some stop-motion work here. Lead Wright was a bit of a horror staple back in this time period, having done this and NEAR DARK (1987). She hasn't done anything since the late '90s and, sadly, it appears she has a bad substance abuse problem nowadays.

Although everything about this movie (especially the title) suggests that it must be trash, surprisingly enough it isn't. The plot involves a girl who likes reading scary books and one day finds that the events of the book she is reading, called "I, Madman", start to repeat themselves in reality. It has the logic of a dream - that is, no logic at all, - but don't see this one for the sake of the plot. What lifts it out of the B-movie pit is the imaginative way the seedy world of trashy novels from the 50s is recreated on screen; the smartly executed shifts between fantasy and reality, past and present; Jenny Wright's appealing and intelligent heroine; and finally, the director's genuine feeling for the atmosphere of time and place. It is a little like a cross between Cornell Woolrich and a mad doctor horror movie. Do not try to figure out why things are happening, just enjoy the way this film is so different from anything else. A totally unexpected pleasure.

I'm shocked - SHOCKED that this is not a more popular cult horror movie.

Yes, the performances are not Oscar Caliber. They aren't even regional playhouse award caliber.

But! There is definitely a very strong atmospheric feel and some fantastic makeup and set decoration. How many avid readers in your life would be in absolute heaven getting lost in the bookstore that's in the movie? Spoiler: all of them.

The books on which the plot hinges truly feels like a book that's as used and battered as the main villain.

The biggest weak point is, unfortunately, the main actress, Jenny Wright. I just watched her in Near Dark and she was fantastic. This movie came out later. So, perhaps it lies in the directions she was given?

Additionally, the police in this movie act like what I believe real police would act like. They work on what few clues they have and aren't treating the main girl as a looney.

Again, not the best horror, and it is a tad goofy, but as a cult movie? You could do a lot worse.

An young woman by the name of Virginia (Jenny Wright) is a fan of horror novels. She works in a used book store. When she reads a novel titled "I,Madman", which is a non-fiction novel. The villain of the novel seems to come out of the book to stalk the young woman and killing the people she knows.

Directed by Tibor Takacs (The Gate 1 & 2) made an entertaining horror fantasy thriller with an sharp performance by the underrated actress-Wright. The film was barely released to theaters in 1989. The film went on to be a Cult Classic. Clayton Rohner (From "April's Fools Day" and the T.V. Short-Lived Series "Good Vs. Evil" fame) co-star as a Police Detective. This is one of the most rarely seen and most underrated horror films of the late 80's. See it. Written by David Chaskin (A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2:Freddy's Revenge, The Curse). (****/*****).

Even though the premise sounds very ordinary and repetitive, this late 80's thriller features an unusually great deal of tension and slick elements. Tibor Tikács' (love the name) "I, Madman" focuses on a young woman – Virginia – obsessed by reading bloody horror novels. She recently discovered the oeuvre of a bizarre but stylish writer named Malcolm Brand. Especially his book "I, Madman" fascinates her as it describes the acts of a horribly deformed doctor who kills people in order to make an actress fall in love with him. But fiction turns into reality when Virginia finds herself chased by the book's eerie doctor and murders are committed all around her. This film contains a few very bloody sequences but it's not at all a gore flick like so many other similar productions from that decade. The power merely lies in the subtly build up suspense-scenes (with excellent depressing images of a nearly pauperized city) and, especially, the presence of an ultra-grim monster! This mad doctor/writer/hurt romanticist is a fine horror creation that'll certainly appeal to every fan of the genre. Jenny Wright gives away a fairly good acting performance as the petrified heroine. Horror fanatics will surely recognize her from the outstanding vampire film "Near Dark" and a few years after this, she stars in "the Lawnmower Man", next to Pierce Brosnan. The hunky guy who plays her boyfriend Richard isn't very convincing as the police detective, though.

Horror in the 80's got marked by a few obvious milestones (The Evil Dead, Day of the Dead, Nightmare on Elm Street…) and an overload of meaningless slashers. Between all those, there are a couple of worthy gems to discover, and "I, Madman" definitely is one of them. Tikács did a professional directing job here and he clearly controls the horror tactics well. This unquestionably is his best work as he later made the overly silly "The Gate" films