Madhouse [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

I must warn anyone about to buy this DVD of (a) that dog scene - if you like your horror to only involve humans, or if it has animals, to not be graphic at all, to gloss it, this will seriously offend/upset you, and (b) the sound quality of this DVD version is really, REALLY bad. I was turning the sound up and down the whole way through. The characters were either whispering, drowned by the music, or screeching loudly - not in actuality, but because of the very dodgy sound transfer. (If anyone has been similiarly irritated by the 'Suspiria' DVD, where the music drowns the conversation in many places, you'll know the sort of problem I mean.)

Apart from that, I thought this wasn't too bad - worth a look if you like 70's/80's horror (before all the ironic self aware stuff that passes today), and especially any horrors made with Italian crews.

The film is enjoyable and capable of sustaining interest throughout it's running time. Trish Everly makes a very likeable heroine, and a lot of trouble is taken to gain the viewers sympathies for her, especially in the early scenes set in the school for deaf children where she works. She's rather timid, but armed with a fairly good script, she makes for an appealing heroine. Another good character is the fiesty girl friend who agrees to sleep over in Julia's apartment when events start to take a more sinister turn. Sadly this companion soon falls prey to Mary's brutal scheme to terrorize Julia all over again, and left only with a boyfriend who is conveniently never on hand when he is needed, it is left to Julia to find the strength to somehow outwit her sister.

Although some of the time the action can get rather slow, the film features two pretty over-the top gore scenes that seem almost out of place in a movie that exercises restraint in most aspects. The most infamous sequence is the one that shows just how you can put down a dangerous attacking rottweiler with a handy power drill. The other is an axe attack that is so drawn out it becomes almost surreal. The only things letting the film down are some rather over-the-top performances from the supporting cast, such as Julia's landlady and her Uncle James, both of whom are very eccentric and colourful weirdos. But they certainly enliven the action, unlike the character of Mary, who appears on screen with pantomime-style evil rantings and some very unconvincing looking "facial disfigurement" make-up. This may be due to it having been laid on with a trowel in an attempt to disguise the fact that the two sisters look nothing like each other - despite the fact that they are supposed to be twins!

The Film 200 DVD release restores the film to it's correct widescreen ratio, and it looks superb, much better than the old Medusa pre-cert release which panned and scanned the picture, producing a muddled mess of what is a nicely composed and shot movie. It also includes all the violence, even the dog-drilling scene has been left intact (don't worry, it certainly doesn't look real!). The biggest let down, however is the sound quality of this disc - it's APPALLING. Half the time its far too quiet and even with the volume turned way up, there were times when I couldn't even make out what people were saying. A big dropped clanger there. But as this is the only current release on DVD, it's either this or nothing, because I don't think "Madhouse" is important or popular enough to merit any further special treatment. Mind you if they can give DVD releases to other, far inferior video nasties like "Unhinged", I guess anything is possible.