The Maddening
| The Maddening | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Danny Huston |
| Produced by |
Mark Amin Leslie Greif |
| Written by |
Andrew Neiderman (novel) Henry Slesar Leslie Greif |
| Starring |
Burt Reynolds Angie Dickinson Mia Sara Brian Wimmer |
| Music by | Peter Manning Robinson |
| Cinematography | Nick McLean |
| Edited by |
Eric L. Beason Roberto Silvi |
| Distributed by | Trimark Pictures |
|
Release date
|
1995 |
|
Running time
|
95 min |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $5,000 |
The Maddening is a 1995 erotic psychological thriller film directed by Danny Huston.
Based on a novel by Andrew Neiderman, published under the title Playmates, this was a direct-to-video creepfest featuring Burt Reynolds and Angie Dickinson.
A young couple, Cassie and David Osborne, have an intense argument as he spends too much time on business trips. The next morning, after David goes to work, Cassie takes their five-year-old daughter Samantha to stay with her sister, Joanne, for a few days.
Having car trouble, they stop at a seedy-looking gas station, where they are tended to by Roy Scudder, the owner. Instead of helping the mother and child, Scudder rigs the vehicle to break down a short distance down the road. Then he drives down the road and offers to tow them back to his place.
Once there, Cassie meets Roy's insane wife Georgina, who's been out of sorts since the mysterious death of her baby boy. Samantha is made to be a "playmate" for the Scudders' daughter Jill, who appears to be as unstable as her mother. Georgina and Jill believe the two Osbornes to in fact be Marlena and Donna, respectively Georgina's widowed sister and niece. Cassie hears Samantha cry and rushes upstairs, only to be led to the wrong room by Georgina who locks her in.
Joanne panics after Cassie and Samantha never reach her house. She calls the police, convinced that David had something to do with their disappearance. David begins desperately searching for his missing wife and child. He is tracked by a police officer who is convinced David has murdered Cassie and Samantha. His suspicions are increased by a nosy neighbor who wrongfully insists that David beats Cassie.
Roy inadvertently leaves a large wrench in Cassie's room, which she hides and later uses to knock the pins up from the room's door hinges. A photo of Marlena shows a resemblance to Cassie and Roy remarks on the similarity before tearing up the photo. Georgina insists upon bathing Cassie and calling her "Sis." Cassie buys some time by saying she has to use the toilet and hides the wrench in the toilet bowl. Georgina bathes Cassie who has grabbed a pair of scissors at a moment she thought Georgina had looked away. Unfortunately, Georgina grabs the scissors from Cassie and cuts her hair to look more like Marlena. Samantha is let out by Jill who is leading Samantha by a rope she's placed around her neck. Samantha runs to her mother in the bathroom but she is pulled away from Cassie by Roy. Cassie attacks him with the wrench but is overpowered. He takes her back to her room and while he straddles her unconscious body he is encouraged to rape her by a hallucination of Roy's deceased father. The hallucination insists he will never get another chance as good as this and that he has not had sex for a long time, Georgina refusing to touch him since the death of their "idiot child" Arthur.
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