When a film has the title Madhouse, every horror fan needs to check it out!
Madhouse was directed by William Butler, who is no stranger to the horror community! The film follows a man named Clark Stevens who begins his internship at Cunningham Hall, a mental institution. Clark is young, ambitious and bright eyed about his future as an psychologist. He has many ideas that would better the facility that he would like to share with the administrator of the institution, Dr. Frank, however Dr. Franks is uninterested. Dr. Franks states how he does not want to cure patients, he simply wants to maintain them. Dr. Franks quickly puts Clark in his place about his role at Cunningham Hall, Clark is simply an intern.
Moving on Clark meets Sarah who is the resident nurse, Clark immediately finds her attracted and becomes attached to her. Sarah takes Clark on a tour of the facility, he sees the great of the place and also the negative which is down in the basement where the extra crazy patients are. Out of all the whacky patients, Clark becomes intrigued with a patient named Ben London who sits in a dark cell. Because of that I knew this wouldn’t be the last time Clark would go down to the basement! As time goes on, Clark sees a little boy that pops up around the facility and eventually disappears before anyone else notices him. Then one night there is a nurse who is brutally murdered in the facility and Clark begins to investigate the facilities past. As days goes by, there are more murders and things get stranger with the patients and even the staff.
Before last week, I never heard of this film which I found surprising. I felt it had plenty of potential to be great however there were too many plot holes. When I first watched the film I wanted to know more about the character Clark Stevens, specifically his background and how he attained the intern position at Cunningham Hall. It was like there was a major gap and because of that there were many questions that kept arising for me throughout the film. There was plenty of gore but I did want more!
Without throwing out spoilers, I’ll just say the plot does get pretty creative! Since there was a nurse that was murdered this would mean who ever did it was either a patient or a staff member. If it’s a patient this would mean that he/she is escaping from out of their room/cell, however if it’s a staff member he/she is a crazy person masking their craziness in public! The acting in this film was pretty good, I have no complaints in that department. The special effects used in this film were great, especially when someone bites their own tongue off. It looked real and insanely painful but I couldn’t keep my eyes off of it! With films like this, the sound effects wanted to make you jump which isn’t out of the ordinary since many horror films do that as well.
Overall, I was entertained with this film. Who am I to complain when I get to see a guy smear his own feces on a glass window? That was gross but pretty funny! But as far as it goes with this film bringing something new to the table, it doesn’t do that. The beginning of the film I was hooked but towards the middle and end I found myself a bit bored. I recommend this film to you if you’re fan of William Butler or if don’t mind checking out a new film!
Check out the trailer!
3 out 5 queen skulls!
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