Often called the "Rip-Off King", Ovidio G. Assonitis has made a career out of grievously copying what's popular in America at the time. The Exorcist is a hit and along comes Beyond the Door, Jaws smashes box-office records and Assonitis unleashes Tentacles on the World. And that brings us to Madhouse (originally titled, the much more pleasing, There Was a Little Girl), a film that's trying to clone the success of American slasher movies with a touch of Giallo thrown in. It's a movie that's mostly known by genre fans as being one of the titles included on the infamous "Video Nasties" list in the U.K., which seems a bit odd considering the Dark Sky Films version (which this review is based on) is uncut and it's really not that bloody a film - well, apart from the opening "smashing in a face with a rock" and power drill moments.

Julia (Trish Everly) teaches deaf children for a living and does a pretty good job at it. But she's got some skeletons in her closet as it turns out she has an identical twin. Five days before her birthday she goes to visit said twin Mary (Allison Biggers), who's been deformed by a rare disease and is quite nutty because of it, in the hospital. And it's not a pleasant visit as Mary proceeds to threaten and mock Julia, which only gives her flashbacks to a childhood where her twin would abuse her every year on her birthday with the help of her mean Doberman.

Not long after her visit, Mary escapes from the hospital, which, in my mind, would put up the warning flags, but nobody in the movie, Julia included, seems to really give much of a care about it. Which they probably should since people start getting attacked and killed by Mary's dog - including the deaf child Julia's befriended like a brother. The rest of the film follows the final days leading up to the twin's birthday as people around Julia die before the script tosses out a ridiculous twist in the last third which is introduced by Julia's landlady nonchalantly helping carry a body bag into the basement of their apartment building.

Madhouse is a messy movie. For most of the first half I was fighting off yawns but once that twist and all the deaths start in earnest I admit to sitting back engrossed in what stupid ass thing was going to happen next. This is probably the only horror flick I've ever seen that contains an extended, and completely un-scary, stalking scene where our killer sings "Old King Cole" while their victim continually does dumb-ass things. On top of that, the red herrings and mystery the script tries to come up with is more laughable than anything and by the time the pleasingly morbid finale rolls around it's just too late. And I have no idea why, but I was pretty irritated that with all the things going on around all the characters nobody ever f*cking calls the cops!

In the lead role Everly is about as bland as they come and it's really no wonder this is her lone acting credit. But things are considerably wackier when it comes to the supporting cast as television character actor Dennis Robertson (Dark Night of the Scarecrow) puts on his overacting cap and runs with it. Biggers comes out of it with the best impression as the deformed Mary and gives her performance the right mix of loony and psycho. And it's best to forget about Jerry Fujikawa in his stereotyped comic relief role as the Asian handyman Mr. Kimura.

After watching the interview with Assonitis included on Dark Sky's DVD it's easy to see why Madhouse turned out to be such a mess. Assonitis doesn't mince words telling us that he's a cheap filmmaker, that the original director was fired ten days into shooting and he was forced to take over, or that he wasn't happy with the musical score or effects. When all these things are taken into consideration the fact that this is a pale imitation of its North American counterparts, and a sloppy one at that, makes a lot more sense. If you're curious, or just want to see all the films on the DPP list, then check out Madhouse - regular viewers beware. (Chris Hartley, 9/25/09)

Directed By: Ovidio G. Assonitis.
Written By: Stephen Blakley, Ovidio G. Assonitis, Peter Shepherd, Robert Gandus.

Starring: Trish Everly, Michael MacRae, Dennis Robertson, Morgan Hart.

aka: There Was a Little Girl; And When She Was Bad; Flesh and the Beast; Scared to Death.

Picture Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen.

Picture Quality: Dark Sky's print used here contains the film's original title and while the transfer is littered with specking, some mild damage, and has some mild softness to it; I doubt it has looked as decent as it does here.

Extras: Apart from the very interesting interview with Assonitis I mentioned above the disc also contains a still gallery. It's not a lot, and I would've liked a trailer, but the piece on Assonitis makes up for it.

Visit Dark Sky Films for more info.