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IMDbPro

Lectures diaboliques

Original title: I, Madman
  • 1989
  • 12
  • 1h 29m
IMDb RATING
5.9/10
4.1K
YOUR RATING
Jenny Wright in Lectures diaboliques (1989)
Trailer 1
Play trailer1:18
3 Videos
58 Photos
Slasher HorrorFantasyHorror

A bookshop clerk and wannabe actress starts seeing the disfigured killer from her 1950s pulp novels come to life and start killing people around her. She tries to convince her cop boyfriend,... Read allA bookshop clerk and wannabe actress starts seeing the disfigured killer from her 1950s pulp novels come to life and start killing people around her. She tries to convince her cop boyfriend, but to no avail.A bookshop clerk and wannabe actress starts seeing the disfigured killer from her 1950s pulp novels come to life and start killing people around her. She tries to convince her cop boyfriend, but to no avail.

  • Director
    • Tibor Takács
  • Writer
    • David Chaskin
  • Stars
    • Jenny Wright
    • Clayton Rohner
    • Randall William Cook
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.9/10
    4.1K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Tibor Takács
    • Writer
      • David Chaskin
    • Stars
      • Jenny Wright
      • Clayton Rohner
      • Randall William Cook
    • 55User reviews
    • 58Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win & 1 nomination total

    Videos3

    I, Madman
    Trailer 1:18
    I, Madman
    I, Madman: Book Comes To Life
    Clip 2:25
    I, Madman: Book Comes To Life
    I, Madman: Book Comes To Life
    Clip 2:25
    I, Madman: Book Comes To Life
    I, Madman: Interviews With Actors Clayton Rohner, Randall William Cook And Stephanie Hodge
    Featurette 1:34
    I, Madman: Interviews With Actors Clayton Rohner, Randall William Cook And Stephanie Hodge

    Photos58

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    Top cast26

    Edit
    Jenny Wright
    Jenny Wright
    • Virginia
    Clayton Rohner
    Clayton Rohner
    • Richard
    Randall William Cook
    Randall William Cook
    • Dr. Alan Kessler…
    Stephanie Hodge
    Stephanie Hodge
    • Mona
    Michelle Fozounmayeh
    Michelle Fozounmayeh
    • Colette
    • (as Michelle Jordan)
    Vance Valencia
    Vance Valencia
    • Sgt. Navarro
    Mary Baldwin
    • Librarian
    Raf Nazario
    Raf Nazario
    • Lyle, Hotel Clerk
    • (as Rafael Nazario)
    Bob Frank
    • Hotel Manager
    Bruce Wagner
    Bruce Wagner
    • Pianist
    Kevin Best
    Kevin Best
    • Michael
    Steven Memel
    • Lenny
    Vincent Lucchesi
    • Lt. Garber
    Murray Rubin
    Murray Rubin
    • Sidney Zeit
    Tom Badal
    • Composite Artist
    Roger La Page
    • Acting Teacher
    Nelson Welch
    • Elderly Customer
    James Quincey Hendrick
    • Bus Driver
    • Director
      • Tibor Takács
    • Writer
      • David Chaskin
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews55

    5.94.1K
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    Featured reviews

    8Polecat-2

    A nice little B-movie

    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.
    7claudio_carvalho

    Be Careful with What You Read

    In Los Angeles, the librarian and aspiring actress Virginia (Jenny Wright) works in a bookstore of used books with her friend Mona (Stephanie Hodge) and her boyfriend is the police detective Richard (Clayton Rohner). Virginia is reading an horror book called "I, Madman" written by Malcolm Brand (Randall William Cook) and is impressed with the creepy story of Dr. Alan Kessler, a deranged doctor that takes pieces of his victims. Soon Virginia realizes that the book is non- fictional and everything that she read really happens. She tries to warn Richard, but his superiors believe that Virginia is nutty. But she is frightened since Dr. Kessler's next victim is her.

    "I, Madman" is a cult-movie with a original story and the gorgeous Jenny Wright from "Near Dark" in the lead role. The movie deserved a better conclusion but anyway is a great horror movie with a wonderful music score. My vote is seven.

    Title (Brazil): "Prefácio da Morte" ("Preface of the Death") - availble only on VHS Note: On 14 Jun 2022, I saw this film again.
    6gavin6942

    A Different Kind of Slasher

    Virginia (Jenny Wright) works at a used book store and is into horror novels when she discovers an engrossing book from an estate sale. It is called "I, Madman" and it is about an insane doctor (Randy Cook) who cuts off people's noses, ears, and hair and puts them on his face to please a girl he likes.

    This film never achieved a wide audience in its day, which is unfortunate, and is not as well remembered as the other film featuring the collaboration of Randy Cook and Tibor Takacs, "The Gate". Heck, writer David Chaskin had previously done "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge" and "The Curse" (with Wil Wheaton), so he has a good pedigree, as well. Maybe with the new Scream Factory release, this will change.

    The movie is a lot of fun, with all the slasher touchstones, plus some excellent cinematography that brings out a variety of lights, darks and vibrant colors (particularly in a flashback scene). Even early on, we have some visual cues to "Nosferatu" which were clearly intended: the mad doctor who looks like Max Schreck, and the hotel employee going up the stairs following his own shadow... not to mention Cook "ripping off Lon Chaney" (his words) in the creation of a villain.

    The special features on the Scream disc really show how much work and love went into this. A short (roughly ten minute) behind-the-scenes feature has Randy Cook explaining how he had to act, apply his own makeup, and also be responsible for the animation. So after hours on set, he would still be up until two in the morning working on making the creatures fit the scene just right. It is impressive, especially the Jackal Boy, and shows a real dedication (no wonder the man has three Oscars).

    If that alone was not good enough, there is also a full commentary track with Cook and interviews with various people involved with the picture. Scream has taken a better than average slasher film and made it one of the must-own Blu-rays of 2015: any horror fan will delight in seeing (and hearing) how films such as this are made.
    7hazzah1

    Where's all the Cult Love?

    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.
    6Coventry

    Reading violent books causes severe damage to the mind... Watch violent movies instead!

    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

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Was retitled "Hard Cover" for Australia.
    • Goofs
      The shadows of the crew and equipment can be seen when Virginia enters her apartment carrying her groceries.
    • Connections
      Featured in Siskel & Ebert & the Movies: Fat Man and Little Boy/I, Madman/Gross Anatomy/Story of Women/When the Whales Came (1989)
    • Soundtracks
      Chanson d'Amour
      Music by Wayne Shanklin

      Lyrics by Wayne Shanklin

      Performed by Art Todd & Dotty Todd

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    FAQ20

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 16, 1990 (France)
    • Countries of origin
      • Canada
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • I, Madman
    • Filming locations
      • Los Angeles, California, USA
    • Production companies
      • Trans World Entertainment (TWE)
      • Sarliu/Diamant
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross worldwide
      • $205
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 29m(89 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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