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Madhouse -
A mashup of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and This is Your Life, Madhouse stars Vincent Price, who plays a fictional version of himself named Paul Toombes. Dr. Death, his most popular character, has come to life and is murdering those closest to him and the cast of his new TV series. All in all, it's a pretty good love letter to Vincent Price's career in horror and an exploration of the value and meaning of the genre. There are scenes that celebrate Toombes' career and one where he's on a talk show, and as a bonus, they feature clips of actual Vincent Price movies like The Raven and The Masque of the Red Death. Speaking of the talk show, Toombes provides one of the best explanations of why horror is appealing that I've ever heard. It's also nice to have frequent Price collaborator Peter Cushing along for the ride as Toombes' longtime writer and the mystery the movie builds as to Dr. Death's identity had me guessing until the end. Regardless, even though I've mentioned Vincent Price in almost every sentence of this review, this movie would not be the first one I would recommend to someone who is new to his work. First, Toombes is a thinly drawn character and not all that interesting. While Price plays the part as well as he can, it only lets him do a smidgeon of what he's capable of, which is not really what you want in a movie that's partly a tribute to him. Also, the entertainment in "meta" movies like this one often seems secondhand, i.e. not nearly as entertaining as what it's referencing - which is truly the case given the clips of other, better movies - and this one is no exception. Vincent Price is one of the great horror actors, and while this is not his best movie, it has enough going for it to make it worth seeing. Thankfully, we got a much better tribute to his career in the preceding year's Theater of Blood.
A mashup of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and This is Your Life, Madhouse stars Vincent Price, who plays a fictional version of himself named Paul Toombes. Dr. Death, his most popular character, has come to life and is murdering those closest to him and the cast of his new TV series. All in all, it's a pretty good love letter to Vincent Price's career in horror and an exploration of the value and meaning of the genre. There are scenes that celebrate Toombes' career and one where he's on a talk show, and as a bonus, they feature clips of actual Vincent Price movies like The Raven and The Masque of the Red Death. Speaking of the talk show, Toombes provides one of the best explanations of why horror is appealing that I've ever heard. It's also nice to have frequent Price collaborator Peter Cushing along for the ride as Toombes' longtime writer and the mystery the movie builds as to Dr. Death's identity had me guessing until the end. Regardless, even though I've mentioned Vincent Price in almost every sentence of this review, this movie would not be the first one I would recommend to someone who is new to his work. First, Toombes is a thinly drawn character and not all that interesting. While Price plays the part as well as he can, it only lets him do a smidgeon of what he's capable of, which is not really what you want in a movie that's partly a tribute to him. Also, the entertainment in "meta" movies like this one often seems secondhand, i.e. not nearly as entertaining as what it's referencing - which is truly the case given the clips of other, better movies - and this one is no exception. Vincent Price is one of the great horror actors, and while this is not his best movie, it has enough going for it to make it worth seeing. Thankfully, we got a much better tribute to his career in the preceding year's Theater of Blood.