Review of Madhouse (2004) by Sam H — 31 Jul 2008

Strange Italian-American hybid that takes place in Georgia where a beautiful teacher of the deaf, Julia, is having some fears about her birthday. Mainly because her psychotic and deformed sister, who owns an equally violent dog, is planning of paying her a visit.

There are some undeiniably creepy moments in Madhouse, such as when one of Julia's friends encounters Julia's sister and her devilish dog in the apartment hallway, but it's not always peaches and cream. Even though most of the film is interesting, well shot, suspenseful, and surprisingly classy for an Italian slasher offering, a criminally overlong chase sequence involving Julia's landlady wears thin quickly with the actress overacting her way through the scene, screaming in a high pitch and whining to little effect. The macabre ending which features a demented birthday party full of corpses is more than a tad reminiscient of a similar scene in the wonderful Happy Birthday To Me, which was released the same year. Hmmmmm???

Despite a few minor flaws, Madhouse is an extremely watchable, mature, and refined slasher/thriller with some good performances and creepy moments. It's well worth a horror fans time!