Madhouse DVD Review:

From the DVD menu you might think that Madhouse will be an extremely gory and graphic film. The menu is filled with images of bloody faces and crazy mental patients. If these were the images that the film was about then it might have lived up to the menu, however they are images that are randomly inserted within the opening scene of the film, but have no real place within the story itself. Although Madhouse does have a small ghost boy (a device which seems to be in wide use recently) and a few gruesome deaths, the caliber of horror is never up to the standards imposed by its own menu.

New psychiatry intern Clark Stevens, played by Joshua Leonard of The Blair Witch Project, joins the staff of the Cunningham Hall Mental Facility. The hospital is run-down but Clark soon finds that this is the least of his worries when doctors suddenly begin dying. Clark suspects that the head psychiatrist Dr. Franks, played by Lance Henriksen, may be responsible, and he decides to investigate the matter with the help of attractive co-worker played by Jordan Ladd. Along the search Clark also begins discussions with a mysterious patient in the basement of the hospital.

This may sound like a promising premise for a horror film, but it also sounds rather typical. There are no new elements to the over done story, with one of the most used endings in any horror film recently. It is no wonder that this film was left for home video.

Even as much of the film is not as interesting as it seems it should be, there are some scenes that always held my attention. These scenes are the ones with Jordan Ladd. She brings cuteness to the film in between the horror that is oddly magnetic. In many ways it felt that the film would have been better if there had been more emphasis on her rather than the unimpressive Leonard.

The DVD itself has a good look to it, seeming to be a promising rental until about halfway through. The menu looks far more frightening than the rest of the package. There are also a few special features like deleted scenes and director’s commentary, which is impressive for a film as unimpressive as this. Overall it is worth a viewing when shown on cable at night, but not worth the price of a rental.

Ryan Izay

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