Madhouse (1974 film)
| Madhouse | |
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| Directed by | Jim Clark |
| Produced by |
Max Rosenberg Milton Subotsky executive Samuel Z. Arkoff |
| Written by | Ken Levison Greg Morrison |
| Based on | novel Devilday by Angus Hall |
| Starring |
Vincent Price Peter Cushing Robert Quarry Adrienne Corri Natasha Pyne Michael Parkinson Linda Hayden Barry Dennen |
| Music by | Douglas Gamley |
| Cinematography | Ray Parslow |
| Edited by | Clive Smith |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | American International Pictures (US) |
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Release date
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Running time
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91 minutes |
| Country | United States United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Madhouse is a 1974 British horror film directed by Jim Clark for Amicus Productions in association with American International Pictures. It stars Vincent Price, Natasha Pyne, Peter Cushing, Robert Quarry, Adrienne Corri and Linda Hayden.
Paul Toombes (Vincent Price) is a successful horror actor whose trademark role was Dr. Death, a skull-faced sadist. During a party in Hollywood showing off his fifth Dr. Death film, he announces his engagement to Ellen Mason (Julie Crosthwait), who gives him an engraved watch as an engagement gift; later that evening, however, adult film producer Oliver Quayle (Robert Quarry) reveals Ellen had worked for him previously. Distraught at Toombes' reaction, Ellen returns to her room, where a masked man in dark garb, similar to Dr. Death's attire, approaches her with a knife. An apologetic Toombes comes in shortly after, only for her severed head to fall from her shoulders. Though he is acquitted of the crime, Toombes' career is destroyed as he spends several years in a mental hospital, where even he is not sure whether he killed Ellen or not.
After his release, Toombes is called to London by his friend Herbert Flay (Peter Cushing), the writer of the Dr. Death films, who has joined with Quayle to produce a Dr. Death television series for the BBC. While on the cruise ship en route to England, he encounters a persistent young actress (Linda Hayden), who takes his watch from his cabin and follows him through London, and eventually to Flay's house. In the spider-infested basement, Toombes discovers Faye Carstairs (Adrienne Corri), the female lead in one of the Dr. Death movies and now Flay's reluctant wife, driven mad after being disfigured in a car accident. Outside Flay's house, the young actress discovers the masked man walking the grounds; believing it to be Toombes, she approaches him, only to be killed with a pitchfork. When her body is discovered, Scotland Yard suspects Toombes, as the killing resembles a scene from one of his films.
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