This is a fun 80s horror movie. It's a bit unpredictable because it doesn't make sense. But it has such a zany energy that it's forgivable imo. Dennis Robertson's performance stands out as being memorable. I will reiterate - you'll have to turn your brain off to enjoy this one. It's creepy and well-made. And it will not answer the questions it raises. It doesn't care about logic.

Sweet Julia Sullivan (a fine and appealing performance by the lovely Trish Everly) works as a teacher for deaf children at an elementary school. Julia's angry and hideously disfigured twin sister Mary (intensely played with seething rage by Allison Biggers) escapes from an asylum a few days prior to Julia's twenty-fifth birthday. Soon thereafter Julia's friends are getting bumped off left and right.

Director/co-writer Ovidio G. Assonitis relates the absorbing story at a steady pace, take time to develop Julia as a character the viewer truly cares about, does a nice job of crafting a creepy atmosphere, grounds the premise in a believable everyday reality (for example, we get to see Julia at her job teaching deaf kids), and pulls out all the macabre stops for the super twisted climax. The sound acting by the capable cast keeps this movie humming: Dennis Robertson as the jovial Father James, Morgan Hart as Julia's spunky gal pal Helen, Michael MacRae as Julia's affable doctor boyfriend Sam Edwards, Edith Ivey as loopy landlady Amantha, and Jerry Fujikawa as bumbling handyman Mr. Kimura. The scenes with a vicious Rottweiler attacking folks and ripping out their throats are quite brutal and gory. Riz Ortolani's shuddery score hits the spine-tingling spot. Roberto D'Ettore Piazolli's glossy cinematography provides a slick'n'stylish look. A worthy slice'n'dice item.

MADHOUSE is a forgettable slasher movie from Italian director Ovidio G. Assonitis, the man priorly responsible for such B-movie fare as BEYOND THE DOOR and TENTACLES. This film unusually ended up on the video nasty list, which is bizarre as it's gory, certainly, but little more so than most slashers from the era. This Italian/American co-production involves a dullish young woman who finds herself pursued by an evil doppelganger which turns out to be her own twin. A string of gory murders ensue, but the violence is only really exceptional at the beginning and at the end. For the most part this is sluggishly-paced and poorly written. Assonitis has seemingly watched THE BEYOND and THE OMEN before making this, so we get a lot of dog attacks and the like, but as slashers go this one's rather forgettable.