Madhouse

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")

The horror/thriller is about a rookie intern who checks into a mental health facility and discovers its darkest secrets as well as his own ones. Excellent sound effects, above average photography and smart script filled with plenty of shock moments make this film real fun to watch for fans of this genre. Joshua Leonard, a veteran in such films, acts quite well as the lead character.

But there are loopholes in the plot. One can clearly see them after a single viewing. The ending is catchy, but utterly unnecessary. Jordan Ladd hardly looks like any medical personnel. But most of all, the actions of the patients are very much exaggerated and overtly dramatic. Apart from these points, 'Madhouse' is worth renting, because the 'thrill' element is in right proportions in the film.

Saw this on a DVD in 2005. Revisited it recently. Ther is something creepy about films set in asylums, hospitals n institutions. But these films need good amount of atmosphere n suspense. Well, Madhouse ain't one of em but its not that bad. The story is about an intern who before graduating arrives at a mental health facility where he notices that there is something weird going on. In the institution there is a restricted area where the most dangerous patients are kept permanently locked up. Silence of the lambs style. Patients r given the same medicines n mysteriously people r murdered in gruesome ways. Sadly only two kills in this film. The movie has decent atmosphere n suspense. Ther is a nice twist. Ther is enuff gore. The acting was dull but it is always good to see our genre actor Lance Henriksen. Sadly he is not given enuff screen time. Of course ther r much better films than this. The Ward, Psych 9, Session 9, Patrick, Shutter island, Asylum blackout, Insanitarium....

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.

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