The Mansion of Madness

1976 "The Newest Edgar Allan Poe Horror Thriller!"
5.1| 1h39m| R| en
Details

The inmates of an insane asylum take over the institution, imprison the doctors and staff, and then put into play their own ideas of how the place should be run.

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Also starring Ellen Sherman

Reviews

BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment
Mjeteconer Just perfect...
FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
bkoganbing The Mansion Of Madness is a Mexican production of an American story with a French location. It's based on an Edgar Allan Poe short story The Torture Garden Of Dr. Tarr and if not top rate at least it's interesting.Mexican star Claudio Brook plays the infamous Dr. Tarr who is actually both a master criminal and has a personality that has stepped over the line. He led a revolt of inmates who have taken over the asylum from the real staff. As the asylum is deep in the Ardennes Forest in France the chances of visitors are slim to none. And when visitors do come they get the treatment that the visitors in this story get.One thing you've got to love about these films is that it gives players a chance to overact outrageously and keep within character. The Mansion Of Madness has to be among the top ten films with overacting as the norm.Watching this film also made me realize where the plot of a certain Star Trek episode in which Steve Ihnat played a Dr. Tarr like character who took over a futuristic prison came from.I think fans of Edgar Allan Poe will like this production.
HumanoidOfFlesh "The Mansion of Madness" by Juan Lopez Moctezuma is loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe's "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether".The basic premise is strikingly similar:lunatics take over a mental institution and change places with the doctors.The film is obviously inspired by Jodorovsky's "El Topo" with its eccentric characters who are physically deformed or mentally unstable.When it comes to its genre "The Mansion of Madness" is a surreal comedy with plenty of nudity,Tarot imagery and odd situations.I will always prefer his wonderfully hypnotic "Alucarda" over his debut,but if you are a fan of cinematic phantasmagoria you can't miss this carnival of weirdness.7 out of 10.Enough of this melodramatic nonsense!
doc_hartman I read reviews on this movie and decided to give it a shot. I'm an open minded guy after all and I’ve given good reviews to some pretty bad flicks. As the end credits rolled on this one I searched for meaning and something nice to say. Here goes: "This film was mercifully short." That's all I got.Okay, Okay. The sets and visuals were well done and the music helped lend to the mood of asylum life but the film was painful to watch and the endless dialogue took away from the good bits. I did find myself laughing at this film but the way you laugh at your best friend who just embarrassed himself in front of a large crowd.By the time of the "chicken dance" at the finale I had just decided to tuck and roll with the film and let the bodies fall where they fall. I don't know what could have salvaged this film. The acting was not bad and it looked like it had a budget but there just wasn't any way to make it watchable; not even the presence of beautiful bare breasts. Maybe I should have sparked a doobie or drank a LOT of beer to get the full experience of the film. Either way, I'm not watching this film again unless I'm really depressed. Then I can tell myself “At least I wasn’t in ‘Dr. Tarr's Torture Dungeon.’ I’m better than those guys."
jkahler02 Although I rated this movie a 2 for showing a complete lack of effort in trying to create a quality horror film it was a 10 on the unintentional funny scale. I couldn't figure out what was going on in the movie or who the people were but I didn't care because I knew every scene was going to have something to make me cry with laughter. Dialogue is a minimum throughout the movie but I believe this is because they started filming without a script. The fact that there is no plot line makes the movie extremely versatile. It doesn't matter if you sit down and watch the movie from beginning to end or if you watch it in rewind you will be confused with enjoyment. I particularly like the scene in which the inmates are taking turns running around outside beating each other with sticks. I believe the doctor refers to this as treatment. Genius!