10 Days in a Madhouse

This movie could have been fantastic. Unfortunately for production, bad direction and horrible acting made a good story into a horrible movie. So disappointing. Didn't even recognize Kelly Lebrock as she has had so much plastic surgery.

After reading Nellie Bly's article, 10 Days in a Madhouse, I was pleased to find out there was a movie to be made about it. I finally had the chance to see the movie and I can truly say that I enjoyed it.

While the CGI effects may be sub-par to what we as an audience are used to, it does not take away from the film itself. The story is solid and the emotions it invokes are real.

Caroline Barry is fantastic as Nellie Bly. I feel that her portrayal was spot-on and was intrigued by her from the start. She brings Nellie Bly to life and you find yourself cheering her on as she goes forth on her mission.

10 Days in a Madhouse not afraid to explore the mistreatment of the women in the asylum. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the film covers almost all of what was in the article. To see what these poor women went through was sobering and also anger-inducing. It makes me angry to think that these women were left there to be mistreated until they more than likely died.

It might not be the greatest film in the world nor do I think it will be winning an Oscar any time soon. While being a little rough around the edges, I think it was still great, powerful and moving overall.

I had read articles about this movie saying the most amazing things. That this was Christopher Lambert's best part in ten years and that lead actress playing Nellie Bly was being praised for her performance by Hollywood insiders. But I couldn't understand why all the user reviews I was seeing were that the film was awful. After seeing the movie I did a little bit more research and realized the articles are written by the producers themselves and contain no factual information whatsoever. The movie is horrendous. The lead actress playing Nellie is just not a good actor. She flares her nose when she's supposed to be angry and widens her eyes when she's supposed to be scared. Christopher Lambert wanders around the movie with not much to do and looking amused that he's the only known actor in the film. The rest of the cast, complete unknowns, do the best with what they're given as the script's dialogue is incredibly cheesy and unrealistic. But a good number of them give cringe-inducing results. The movie itself is a hot mess. Some shots look very professional. Others look as if someone whipped out their iphone and started filming. Even an iphone might've produced better results. About 80% of the movie looked to be shot in real locations. The other 20% is flatly in front of green screen. And it's not well-done green screen as it looks like each part of the film was pieced together little by little until something coherent came together. Don't waste your money on this garbage.

I have watched many independent or B-movies. I have found that no matter how much money is at the disposal of the film makers, if they do not start out with a well written, well thought out screenplay....the film is doomed, no matter if every other department excels. The story here is interesting and unique and full of opportunities to deliver an outstanding cinematic experience but the screenplay fails to provide that important foundation. I did not like the voice over commentary of the female lead. She was speaking as if the experience was already over, as if she was reading parts of the article that she was to write after having been there. It would of been much more powerful, had they used the commentary to express her feelings about what she was going thru, as we witnessed it. Since in reality, just the visual performances were insufficient. And That's pretty hard to mess up, since the story/circumstances were placed in a great setting and full of experiences that would of made an audience very invested/involved and come to care deeply about the characters. Yet, it just failed to deliver that. Visually or verbally. The acting, was below average to amateurish. I didn't notice the score, and the editing was well done. The camera work sufficient. The plot a little slow and simple. The setting was good, the costumes (although not sure if accurate for period) seemed appropriate, and I did appreciate the manner of speech used as I understand it would be historically accurate. Problem with that accuracy tho, is that it only added to the detraction I already felt and kept me from really connecting with the characters. Bottom line, it all felt "aloof" to me. A great opportunity to share a part of history, that just dramatically missed the mark. Im hopeful that someone comes up with a well written screenplay based on this remarkable story and tries retelling this story again. This movie is OKAY. It wasn't a miserable and total fail...but I wouldn't recommend it unless you have nothing else to do, or you are particularly easy to entertain.

Wonderful storyline, but woefully underwhelming from an acting and screenplay/dialogue standpoint. Watching the "actors" converse in this movie was painful at times and reminds one of a film school project more than a serious picture. I've always trusted IMDb to be a good judge of films to watch. My personal experience has been that movies rated 6 or higher are typically very good movies so long as the content is to your tastes. That has changed for me over the past year or so though. I will take future IMDb ratings with a grain of salt.