Madhouse (2004)

Purely Joyful Movie!

Powerful

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Straight to DVD fare it may be, but it has some merit as a spooker to make it worth spending time with. Plot finds Joshua Leonard as a psychiatric intern who arrives at Cunningham Hall Mental Facility and quickly finds that all is not as it seems.It's hardly an original concept, that of a mental asylum housing something sinister, either supernatural or of human origin, but director and co-writer William Butler has a good feel for a chilly atmosphere, while he's not scrimping on the shocks and terrifying imagery either.The asylum is a suitably depressing place, unhealthily cold to look at and the patients milling about the place are the requisite hot-pot of sad cases and the disturbed. Then there is the basement ward, of course, where the extreme cases are kept in cells, and it looks like something straight out of Hades.Jordan Ladd is on hand for eye candy and romantic thread duties, and Lance Henriksen adds his horror weight to the role of Governor of Cunningham Hall. It's all very competently performed and constructed, the screenplay full of killings, dark corridor peril, secrets and a curve ball twist thrown in as well.It doesn't push any boundaries, so searching for anything new here will only end up in disappointment. Yet it's stylish and creepy enough to warrant a night in with the lights turned off. 6/10

Right Out I Give It A 25 Out Of 10 I LOVED IT!, I Have Read Other Reviews On Here, And They Are Crap, They Say The Movie Had Loopholes In The Plot, Well What Were These Mysterious Plot holes!? They Don't Tell Us, And The Acting Of The Crazy People Was Overacted, I Thought It Was Perfect For How Crazy People Act It Was Genius, And Then Apparently According To One Reviewer The Ending Was Unncessary, Your Just Mad You Didn't Guess It, You Blowhard. And Lets Not Forget The The Actors Were To Good For There Roles, Yes Lets Find A lot Of People Who Cant Act And Cannot Play A Nurse Or A Head Doctor, Fantastic Idea! The Damned Fools, I Strongly Stand By It Was Well Written, BEAUTIFULLY Well Shot, The Opening Was Creepy As HELL!, I Loved All The Actors, They Played There Parts Perfectly, Every Dollar On The Budget Was Used To Perfection, Watch And Enjoy

Strong horror and a vivid thriller. Slow boiling suspense and a twist that neither makes or breaks the film. Clark Stevens(Joshua Leonard)is a young psychiatric student that arrives for his internship at Cunnningham Hall Mental Facility. Understaffed, outmoded equipment, building in shambles, patients treated subhuman and a mysteriously uncaring director Dr. Franks(Lance Henriksen). Stevens is hardly settled in and a brutal murder occurs causing him to dig deep in the facility's history to uncover suspected secrets.The mixing is notable and those long dark hallways are pretty creepy. There will be a couple of occasions having you leave your seat, but it is the anxiety of waiting for the horrific violence that brings on a hammering headache. Others in the cast: Natasha Lyonne, Dendrie Taylor, Leslie Jordan and Patrika Darbo.

If you don't over-analyse the plot (which is at turns both confusing and contrived), there is quite a bit to enjoy about writer/director William Butler's asylum-set horror tale, Madhouse. Joshua Leonard plays Clark Stevens, a psychiatric intern at a creepy mental institute who experiences spooky occurrences during his stay. With the help of sexy, buxom nurse Sara (Jordan Ladd) he delves into the dark history of the crazy-house and unearths the truth about the strange patient locked away in cell 44.Despite a whole shed-load of clichés, a couple of silly, but delightfully gory deaths (check out that electrocution scene—hilarious!), and some obvious plot turns, Butler manages to conjure up quite a bit of atmosphere, and his rundown asylum full of OTT murderous psychos is perfect for delivering scares.Instantly forgettable, but fun while it lasts, Madhouse isn't going to shock the more hardened horror fans (who will have seen this kind of thing done before, and better), but is perfect fodder for those who enjoy the occasional fright flick.