Madhouse 1981 123movies

Watch: Madhouse 1981 123movies, Full Movie Online – Julia, a teacher in a school for the deaf, has a hideously deformed and deranged twin sister that resides in the local looney bin. She escapes to gate-crash a surprise birthday party for Julia..
Plot: A woman is pursued by her murderous, psychopathic twin sister in the days leading up to their birthday.
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Ratings:

	5.5/10 Votes: 2,168
	N/A | RottenTomatoes
	N/A | MetaCritic
	N/A Votes: 39 Popularity: 4.587 | TMDB

Reviews:

Not deserving of its ‘nasty’ label.
Madhouse stars Trish Everly as Julia Sullivan, a teacher at a school for the deaf, whose hideously disfigured and sadistic twin sister, Mary, resides in a nearby mental hospital. Four days before Trish’s birthday, Mary escapes in order to arrange a special party for her unsuspecting sister…

In the United Kingdom in the 1980s, movies released on home video became the target of a hate campaign led by Britain’s über-vigilant defenders of moral decency: the press, bored housewives, and Conservative politicians. As a result, a list was compiled of the films they deemed to be most offensive; these titles became known as ‘Video Nasties’ and were seized from shops before they had a chance to work their evil influence on an unsuspecting public.

Ovidio G. Assonitis’s Madhouse was one such ‘nasty’.

Featuring a bloodthirsty rottweiler, a frenzied axe attack that reduces the victim’s back to a bloody pulp, and a messy canine lobotomy by electric drill, it quickly found itself added to the list of titles most likely to corrupt and deprave. It didn’t matter much to the moral crusaders that the film was also a well-crafted psychological chiller that delivered plenty of atmosphere, memorable performances, and some lovely cinematography; no… this film featured a dog receiving a drill-bit between the eyes, and we can’t have people watching that kind of stuff, can we?

Two decades on, and Madhouse is now available uncut on DVD; it seems that the people of the UK have since developed to a stage where they are able to handle such horror without it turning them into murderous lunatics (either that, or the authorities have actually realised they were wrong and the film was never that disturbing in the first place). Oh well, better late than never, I suppose…

Ironically, Assonitis’s film is perhaps a little too slow and lacking in gore for today’s casual horror viewer, but for seasoned fans of the genre, it offers plenty to enjoy: there’s the mystery of the identity of a second killer (not too hard to guess, but fun nevertheless); a great OTT performance from Dennis Robertson as Father James, Trish’s nursery-rhyme singing uncle; a likable heroine; a brief performance from Morgan Hart as very tasty, blonde rottweiler fodder, Helen; and a ghoulish final scene that is remarkably similar to that of a Canadian slasher, Happy Birthday To Me (who stole from whom is debatable, since both films were released in the same year).

“It’s not the dead that scare me, it’s the living.” Neat ‘n’ tidy little shocker, not too bad.
There was a Little Girl, or Madhouse as it was called in the UK where it gained some notoriety by being placed on the ‘Video Nasty’ list in the early eighties, starts with a dream sequence in which a little girl bashes another little girls head in with a rock, I don’t really know why to be honest. Then we, the viewer that is, are informed with an on screen caption that it’s ‘thursday November 9 five days before julia’s birthday’. Julia Sullivan (Trish Everly) works in a school teaching deaf children, her 25th (yeah right!) birthday is fast approaching & her Uncle Father James (Dennis Robertson) has recently contacted her about visiting her sister Mary (Allison Biggers) who is in hospital having had 7 years of almost being totally cut-off from each other. Julia agrees, however Father James warns her that Mary has been suffering from a virus which has left her deformed. As Julia approaches Mary’s bed Mary grabs her arm & warns Julia that she will get out & make her suffer the way she has, upset Julia runs away. That night a security guard (Joe Camp) is attacked & killed by a vicious dog & Mary makes her escape. It’s now ‘friday November 7 four days before julia’s birthday’ & the maintenance man Mr. Kimura (Jerry Fujikawa) in Julia’s apartment building is murdered by Mary. It seems that Mary is planning a very special 25th birthday party for Julia, one she will never forget if she survives it…

This Italian produced film was co-written, co-produced & directed by Ovidio G. Assonitis & I thought There Was a Little Girl was a decent enough time waster that provided a certain entertainment value. The script by Assonitis, Stephen Blakely, Fobert Gandus & Peter shepherd is a little slow at times but if you persevere with it through to the end then it serves up a decent twist climax & some fairly good murder set-pieces. I think the twist was revealed a bit early at just before the hour mark but it makes for a good last third regardless. There isn’t a whole lot of reasoning behind the events of There Was a Little Girl but I didn’t mind that much & just went along with it. The characters are OK & I was glad there weren’t any teenagers in it, There Was a Little Girl uses the Halloween (1978) & Friday the 13th (1980) clichéd slasher formula but at least tries to do something a bit different with it & it succeeds up to a point. Director Assonitis manages to make a very competent & technically very good film with some memorable & atmospheric lighting & cinematography especially at Julia’s special birthday party which rounds the film off, having said that bear in mind that I have the UK DVD which is in widescreen & has a great picture so I am basing my opinion on this viewing rather than an ancient grainy fullscreen VHS tape. There are some good kills in There Was a Little Girl too & filmed with a certain style, someone has their hand chewed off by the evil dog & their throat bitten out, others are attacked by the dog & also have their throats torn out, there’s some stabbings using a kitchen knife & the dog eventually gets it’s comeuppance when the hero uses an electric drill to make a hole in it’s head… The acting is solid if not exactly spectacular, in fact that sums the whole film up quite well solid but not spectacular. Oh, there is no way on Earth that Trish Everly who makes for an attractive heroine was 25 when she made this, she was in her 30’s at least! Overall I enjoyed it as a one time watch, I don’t think I will be in any hurry to see it again but I have positive thoughts about it which must mean I liked it in spite of the slow pace at times. Definitely worth a watch for horror fans & anyone interested in murder mystery films, I must admit I didn’t see the twist coming. I liked it, give it a go if you can find a copy.

Other Information:

Original Language en
Runtime 1 hr 32 min (92 min), 1 hr 32 min (92 min) (USA)
Budget 0
Revenue 0
Status Released
Rated Not Rated
Genre Horror
Director Ovidio G. Assonitis
Writer Ovidio G. Assonitis, Stephen Blakely, Roberto Gandus
Actors Patricia Mickey, Michael MacRae, Dennis Robertson
Country Italy
Awards N/A
Production Company N/A
Website N/A

Technical Information:

Sound Mix Dolby
Aspect Ratio 2.35 : 1
Camera N/A
Laboratory Technicolor
Film Length N/A
Negative Format 35 mm
Cinematographic Process Technovision
Printed Film Format 35 mm