There Was a Little Girl
| Madhouse | |
|---|---|
1984 VHS release
|
|
| Directed by | Ovidio G. Assonitis |
| Produced by | Ovidio G. Assonitis |
| Written by | Ovidio G. Assonitis Stephen Blakeley Peter Sheperd Roberto Gandus |
| Starring | Trish Everly Michael Macrae Dennis Robertson Allison Biggers |
| Music by | Riz Ortolani |
| Cinematography | Roberto D'Ettorre Piazzoli |
|
Release date
|
1981 |
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Running time
|
93 min. |
| Country | Italy United States |
| Language | English |
Madhouse (original title: There Was a Little Girl; also known as And When She Was Bad) is a 1981 Italian slasher film directed by Ovidio G. Assonitis. It stars Trish Everly, Dennis Robertson, Allison Biggers, Michael Macrae, Morgan Hart, Edith Ivey and Jerry Fujikawa. The film features a musical score by Riz Ortolani and cinematography by Assonitis regular Roberto D'Ettorre Piazzoli.
It was one of the many films on the "video nasty" list, a list of horror/exploitation films banned by the BBFC in the 1980s for violence and obscenity.
Julia (Trish Everly) is a young schoolteacher for deaf children living in Savannah, Georgia. She has horrid memories of her childhood, which was scarred by her sadistic twin sister Mary (Allison Biggers). At the urging of her uncle, James (Dennis Robertson), a local Catholic priest, Julia visits Mary, suffering from a severe skin disease, in a mental institution. The meeting does not go well and Mary vows to make Julia "suffer as she had suffered".
As their mutual birthday approaches, several of Julia's friends and neighbors begin to die gruesome deaths in the house she lives in, some involving a mysterious Rottweiler dog who attacks its victims, mauling them to death. One of Julia's students, Sasha, is killed in a park by the Rottweiler one afternoon.
Meanwhile, Julia becomes increasing unnerved that someone—possibly Mary—is hiding inside the large house she lives in. One evening, when being dropped off by her psychologist boyfriend Sam (Michael Macrae), she witnesses a light come on on the second floor of the house, but finds no one there. Helen, Julia's friend, offers to spend the night with her. In the middle of the night, she is attacked by the Rottweiler on the staircase; the dog attacks her neck, tearing open her throat and effectively killing her. Julia awakes the next morning and finds Helen gone. Given there is no evidence of the attack, Julia assumes she went home early. Sam visits her, and tells her he is forced to take a business trip to San Francisco over Julia's upcoming birthday.
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Wikipedia