Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

DKosty123 While this film invites comparison to House of Wax, this film is totally it's own, while House of Wax was a remake of a 1930' s film. The crew of House of Wax sort of stayed together to do this one. Both films were originally in 3D. Both films have the same director.What is interesting here is that the women in the cast at ages 23 (Mary Murphy Karen Lee) and 35 Ava Gabor (Claire Ormond) are younger than the males in the cast, the film focus is so much on magic that you hardly notice the women. The plot involves Price as the mad magician(Don Gallico / Gallico the Great) who people seem to keep stealing his trick from him. So he gets upset with these thieves and starts killing them. Then he develops masks of these deceased people he has killed including (John Emery -The Great Rinaldi) and keeps them alive performing as them on stage. Meanwhile, Price's own persona seems gentle and kind to humanity.Ava Gabor (Claire Ormond) plays Prices Ex-Wife, stolen from him by a rich man (Donald Randolph ...Ross Ormond ) that Price kills while she is overseas spending all of his money. She comes back, gets wise to the hidden death of her husband, and gets murdered by Price to continue the cover up. As the tricks pile up, a police detective who uses finger prints to catch killers, catches on to Prices plot. (Patrick O'Neal). The unmasking has a really hot conclusion.While it is not House of Wax, the cast is literally stacked with people that were in a lot of 1950's Sci-Fi films.

Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki Magician uses elaborate props from his magic act to dole out revenge on those who have wronged him in his professional life. First is a disloyal partner. Next, a rival magician. Price later impersonates them, by using elaborate masks, keeping them "alive," and effectively leading a double life, to keep suspecting eyes away from him and his crimes.Price is his usual wonderful antihero (we want him to be avenged against the people who did him wrong, yet at the same time, his character becomes a ruthless killer, causing more harm than those who wronged him) He could play that character type better than anyone before or since.The screenplay is good, but unmemorable, save for a few scenes; The film is most let down by static monochrome photography. Mystery of the Wax Museum (from 1933) was in two-strip Technicolour; it was remade as House of Wax in 1953, and both had glorious colour photography. House of Wax was partly remade here, but this time, in static, slightly washed-out black-and-white. That is the biggest letdown here, and it makes this film the least of the three loosely-connected films.

lorenellroy This is essentially a variation on House Of Wax ,in both the plot and the type of role played by the star of both movies ,Vincent Price.In both pictures he plays a talented artist who is sent toppling over the edge into insanity when his creations are usurped by other,less talented and less scrupulous people .In this movie he plays a designer of illusions for stage magicians who aspires to set out on a performing career himself only to be frustrated when another illusionist ,the Great Rinaldo (John Emery)insists that he honour his contract and give him first choice of any illusions he designs.Price is already ill disposed towards Rinaldi as his former wife is now a paramour of Rinaldi. He deploys his talents as an illusionist and as a brilliant mimic to avenge himself upon Rinaldi and others who thwart his plans for recognition as a performer and a designer.Price is pretty much the whole show here and gives a well judged star turn as a wronged man whose predicament earns audience sympathy.The rest of the cast are competent if colourless and the weight of the whole venture falls on Price who carries the burden with ease .Good solid B Movie melodrama , this is a crime movie rather than a horror picture and is enjoyable providing you don't expect a masterpiece .Shot in black and white it is low on gore and is best seen as melodrama and enjoyed for the presence of its star giving an idiosyncratic performance

MartinHafer The film begins with Vincent Price about to begin his performance as a magician. However, mid-way through the very successful show, the police come and shut him down. It seems that his old boss had cheated him out of the tricks Price had created--even those he made on his own time at home. As a result, Price justifiably kills the evil man. The problem is that while the viewer understood why Price killed and most probably thought this was a GOOD thing, because Price was a bit mad, he just couldn't stop at one (sort of like eating Lay's Potato Chips).The film was full of very creative and spectacular magic tricks (including a huge circular saw and a crematorium for the shows), great plot twists as well as exciting action. One thing you can't say about this film is that it is dull. While it's also far from subtle, it is fun throughout, though and well worth a look.Had I never seen Vincent Price's version of HOUSE OF WAX, I probably would have liked THE MAD MAGICIAN a lot more and scored it an 8 or 9. That's because while THE MAD MAGICIAN is a wonderful film, it's highly reminiscent of the film that preceded it (HOUSE OF WAX). The bottom line is that since HOUSE OF WAX was so successful, the formula was re-hashed in the follow-up film. Both were made in 3-D, both have a plot where Price has every justification to kill but he can't stop once he's committed the first and both are great fun to watch. The biggest differences, and there are few, are that HOUSE OF WAX was in color and was more of a horror film and THE MAD MAGICIAN was definitely more of a mystery.My advice is to see this film AND HOUSE OF WAX (the Price version only). They are both terrific 1950s horror films.