Review of Madhouse (2004)

Introduction

Clark Stevens (Joshua Leonard) is a young intern who accepts an internship at the slowly decaying Cunningham Hall asylum (or mental health facility in modern parlance). The head of this facility is Dr Franks (Lance Henriksen), and he quickly makes it clear that Stevens is in the real world rather than a classroom. Dismissing Stevens` suggestions for improving patient care out of hand, Franks suggests that Stevens concentrate on his primary role of looking after some very sick patients.

The young intern then meets Sara (Jordan Ladd), one of the nurses who offers to shows him around the place. Upstairs is suitably decorative with a number of disturbed patients, but Stevens is quite prepared for the dingy and smelly hole of the basement nicknamed `The Madhouse`. This is where the most seriously insane and dangerous patients are held, and Stevens has a lucky escape during this first visit.

Relatively swiftly, things begin to go wrong. Strange noises are heard around the house and one of the staff is found murdered. It`s believed that one of the patients is responsible, and Stevens and Sara try to discover who the killer is before he strikes again.

Video

Lots of dark and dirty shots, with blue tinged for the many hallucinations. Why is it that all films set in asylums have to be totally dark? And with light bulbs that blow just before someone`s about to get it? Cliché city.

Audio

Suitably spooky 5.1 Surround score, but the score by Alberto Caruso is as clichéd as the script.

Features

I think Redbus are turning into the new MGM, nothing here bar a trailer…

Conclusion

This film is bad, and I don`t mean bad as in good. There are so many clichés here it`s unbelievable. It didn`t take long for me to work out who the killer was, despite the scripts awkward attempts to cast the blame elsewhere. The script is one of those where it appears that the real world doesn`t exist. We have a murder in the asylum and the police don`t investigate or talk to any of the staff, and the staff are left to try and find out who did it? Really? I know you need to suspend disbelief when watching films, but there should be some attempt at a semblance of common sense.

Everyone from the staff to the patients aren`t quite what they seem, all having secrets of one form or another. Most of these are never really explored and some of the treatment and reactions seen here just ring completely false. Maybe there really are institutions this bad in the US, but I find it hard to believe.

The acting is between bland and disinterested. Lance Henriksen clearly phoned his role in, and his role, whilst fairly pivotal to the plot (?), gives him minimum screen time.
Some of the editing is quite good in a nod to films like the The Ring and The Grudge, but ultimately the hallucinations you see mean virtually nothing. What little suspense there is created is ultimately ruined by both the score and the use of inappropriate songs from the soundtrack to telegraph the next bit of butchery. Maybe the current MTV generation will lap this up, but I found it a complete turnoff.

Don`t waste your time.