The Celluloid Madhouse
Submitted by cmonster on Tue, 11/18/2003 - 12:31
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- Shock Treatment (1964) - Decent, and with a twist I totally didn't see coming. Engaging characters and mildly amusing scenery chewing, but there's a good half hour in the middle where I cleaned my house.
- Creature with the Blue Hand (1967) - One of my favorite movies in this genre, with a ton of outstanding quotes that highlight an absurd plot about Klaus Kinski as a pair of insane twins and a family so dysfunctional that one creepy mansion can't contain them all. Demerits issued for the dead dog scene.
- House on Haunted Hill (1999) - One of my top 13 alltime favorite movies, I still haven't seen the whole thing. It is just that scary. But it is also visually delicious and with an all-star cast. Minor suck with the ending.
- House on Haunted Hill (1959) - Who can say no to Vincent Price? A great classic black and white haunted house piece, replete with acid bath. Delicious and totally different from the 1999 remake.
- In the Mouth of Madness (1995) - Creepy, creepy Carpenter. Still, highly watchable. Books, insane asylums, it's all good.
- Session 9 (2001) - I can't cope with how scary this movie is. I couldn't sleep for two days after seeing it, and it took my best friend and I two tries to actually watch the whole thing. Too scary to own. Easily best of the genre.
- Asylum (1997) - Ostensibly a remake of Shock Treatment (1964), it kind of is and it kind of isn't. It's also kind of icky, and has the least compelling villain ever.
- Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) - This is my favorite of the Nightmare series, and would be even without the asylum setting. It's a classic disaster flick, where you care about what happens to the people affected by the tornado. Only the tornado is Freddie.
- The Snake Pit (1948) - I saw this movie years ago, but it still strikes me as being a Helen Reddy kind of time. I'll have to rewatch it.
- Dream Team (1997) - Far be it from me to say a discouraging word about Peter Boyle, but I disliked this movie. I didn't loathe it, I just didn't care.
- Girl, Interrupted
- Gothika
- High Anxiety
- Lost Angels
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
- Quills
- The Cabinet of Dr Caligari
- The Ruling Class
- Bedlam
- Cheech and Chong's Nice Dreams
- King of Hearts
- Suddenly, Last Summer
- Spellbound
- Tales from the Madhouse
- Halloween: Resurrection
- Crazy People
- The Brood
- My Bloody Valentine
- The Haunted Asylum
- Killer Instinct
- Asylum of Terror
- Manic
- Strait-Jacket
- The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave (1971) (aka La notte che Evelyn uscì dalla tomba, aka The Night She Arose from the Tomb)
- Asylum of the Damned (2003)
- The Jacket (2005)
The Dream Team . Thought your list needed a little more light relief.
Thanks. There's probably something to say about our collective unconscious that most asylum movies are in the horror genre.
You haven't seen all of one of your top 13 alltime favorite movies?
Yup. It's way too scary. If you have seen it, know that when the reporter wanders around with her camcorder, I am under some cushions. I only recently saw the bit where the doppelganger of the hero stands in the doorway twitching.
And yet the portion of the movie that I have seen is so good that I fear if I were to watch the whole thing, my head would explode and shower everyone with the AWESOMENESS.
hehehe, well, I guess I'll have to check it out.
So awesome. So scary. Don't tell me what happens in the cushion-duration.
Marat/Sade, which I watched tonight should be included.
:?)
Repulsion, by Roman Polanski. Not technically in a madhouse, but definitely about the slow descent into madness. Creepy. I watched at 3 in the morning in the dorm alone. Not recommended viewing conditions.
IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS was directed by John Carpenter, not David Cronenberg.
Thanks! I've corrected the list accordingly.
Another one you might want to add to your list would be IN DREAMS. I barely remember the film (perhaps that's a good thing), but I remember quite a bit of it taking place in an asylum.
Ooh, wait! How about THE RESURRECTED? You can almost always count on H.P. Lovecraft films, much like IN THE MOUTH..., to begin and/or end in an asylum.