The Worst Film Ever

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Blistering performances.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Virginia (Wright) works in a used bookstore who just loves to read. She comes across two books written by an obscure horror writer named Malcolm Brand (Cook). She quickly becomes fascinated with the books even though they spook her to the bone. Strangely, the books are titled nonfiction and the deranged character in the book is Malcolm himself. Malcolm cannot secure the love of his life so he begins cutting up other people and taking their features to make himself more attractive. Virginia begins seeing the terrifying Malcolm in real life and she soon finds herself in the place of Malcolm's lost love. Virginia isn't sure at first if what she is seeing is real until people around her begin to die. Her boyfriend Richard (Rohner) at first doesn't believe her but is soon convinced and the two join forces to stop the deranged Malcolm. There are some nice plot twists that make some of this believable and Director Tibor Takacs makes an improvement this time from his first feature "The Gate". The plot itself is clever and Takacs makes the most out of his central character's over imagination. There are several sequences where the audience is kept off balance between what is real or in Virginia's imagination. There is a good deal of atmosphere between Virginia's dimly lit apartment and her stuffy over stocked bookstore. The book is gruesome and when passages are shown from the book, Takacs doesn't hold back on the gore. Malcolm is a great screen psycho with an unnerving appearance of sewn on body parts. Probably the scariest moments come from Malcolm expectantly showing up in Virginia's life, including a hair- raising and intense scene in an elevator. The characters are well developed and the cast do a decent job. The movie has a surreal feel that makes this a hidden gem you should seek out.

Virginia works at a used book store.She's really into horror novels and discovers a book called "I, Madman" and it's about an insane doctor who cuts off people's noses, ears, and hair and puts them on his face to please a girl he likes.Only Virginia discovers that the book is non-fiction, and every time she picks up the book to read it, she sees him.The insane doctor from the book has escaped the book into our reality...This is one of those movies that was released back in the late eighties, and as since been forgotten about. And whilst it's not the greatest movie out there, it does have some redeeming features.Obviously if you work in a used book store, you can afford to live in a very expensive looking pad like Virginia.Wright is god in her role, but it's no wonder she went into obscurity after films like this, one fees she could have been really big after 'Near Dark'.the killer looks like he's drifted in from 'The Phantom of the Opera' and does little else than wander around apartment corridors and moaning.The support is good, and although the film does suffer from Horror clichés (the redhead taking years to get to her apartment) it's cheesy fun, especially with the baffling stop motion creature that dwells around the beginning and the conclusion.

Pretty bookworm Virginia (Jenny Wright) likes nothing more than to curl up in her flat with a good book and, in her opinion, a good book is anything written by Malcolm Brand, a pulp horror author with a decidedly mysterious past.Virginia gets her paws on a copy of Brand's second and final book, 'I, Madman', which he wrote whilst in an asylum. The book tells the tale of a poet who, rejected by the one he loves for being too ugly, hacks off his features with a razor and replaces them with pieces from those he kills. Virginia soon regrets her choice of reading matter when the killer from the book appears in reality and begins to murder those around her.Tibor Takács, who gave us the silly but fun monster movie THE GATE (1987), tries hard with this tragic tale of a writer whose unrequited love drives him to madness and murder, but he ultimately fails to deliver anything special. The film is fairly slow and has more than its fair share of dumb moments, which I would have been willing to forgive had the movie been much much scarier; but with the killer eventually sporting the red hair of an actress and the pouty lips of a bookstore assistant, I couldn't help but be decidedly unafraid. A dodgy looking stop-motion monster also brought a smile to my face, the supposedly terrifying creature looking like some kind of bow-legged dog-boy.I, MADMAN is a good example of a nice idea trapped in a mediocre film.

I, Madman starts in a hotel during the 50's. A guest named Dr. Kessler (special make-up effects man Randall William Cook) leaves the building as the front desk clerk (Raf Nazario as Rafael Nazario) receives a phone call from the room next to Dr. Kessler's complaining about animal noises, the manager (Bob Frank) goes to investigate & is attacked by a monstrous half man, half jackal creature which Dr. Kessler had created. Virginia Clayton (Jenny Wright) stops reading her horror novel entitled 'Much of Madness, More of Sin' by Malcolm Brand at this point. Virginia works in a used bookstore & enjoys reading, recently she has discovered Much of Madness, More of Sin & has been engrossed. The next day at work Virginia tries to find the other novel by the same author called 'I, Madman'. Virginia has no luck but when she returns home she finds a copy waiting for her outside her apartment door, she starts to read as the book once again features Dr. Kessler who is madly in love with an actress named Anna Templar (Jenny Wright again) who doesn't return the sentiment saying that he is ugly. As an offering to Anna, Dr. Kessler slices off his facial features with a scalpel & starts to collect various bits 'n' pieces from unwilling donors that he grafts on his own face. Of course this is all fiction & the book goes on to describe him brutally murdering a woman & scalping her. The next day Virginia sees a report in a local newspaper which tells of the murder of an actress & one of Virginia's friends named Colette Berkowitz (Michelle Jordan), after this event & a face to face meeting with Kessler before he kills & slices the ears off a pianist (Bruce Wagner) who lives near her, Virginia is convinced that the character of Dr. Kessler is responsible & comes to life when she reads I, Madman. Virginia's boyfriend Detecitve Richard Channing (Clayton Rohner) is on the case but has a hard time believing Virginia's story about character's from a horror novel coming to life & committing murder's, as the murder's of people connected with Virginia continue in the same vein as I, Madman she realises that the novel ends with Anna, whom she think's she is in reality, having her heart cut out by the deranged Kessler...Directed by Tibor Takacs I was pleasantly surprised by just how good I, Madman was, I'd never previously heard of it but I think I've uncovered a bit of a hidden gem. The script by David Chaskin has a lot more depth than you might expect & offers a little more originality than most. At heart I, Madman is a slasher but it tries to do something different with the premise & tries to stay away from the clichés which was both refreshing & something I wasn't expecting. It does a nice job of blurring the lines between the fantasy world of the novels & the reality in which Virginia lives. How a character from a novel can suddenly become real isn't explained that well but the story felt solid still & it didn't really matter to me that much as I, Madman just seemed work. The killer's motives are actually quite good & have at least some thought put into them, his connection with Virginia & why he focuses his attentions on her is also believable & not just coincidental like her being in the wrong place at the wrong time, there's a method to all the madness in I, Madman. It takes a while to get going but I never found it boring or felt my interest was waining, the characters are pretty strong & enough happens to satisfy & entertain. There isn't much blood or gore but what's here is effective & quite brutal looking as Kessler runs around killing people with his straight razor, there's a scalping, someone has his ears sliced off, someone's lips are cut off too & a gruesome scene where Dr. Kessler reveals his face early on minus his nose, ears & lips. There is a monster in I, Madman as well brought to life with stop-motion animation which looks impressive considering the budget, I believe the people involved in making I, Madman had enthusiasm & cared about the finished product which goes a long way. Technically the film is very good & well made, director Takacs manages to create some really good sequences especially the ominous moodily lit & shot murder set-pieces which are more effective than they have any right to be. The acting is very strong throughout which also helps give I, Madman a certain credibility that other cheap horror/slashers simply don't have. Overall I didn't think I would but I actually rather liked I, Madman, don't like that title though. A bit of a sleeper & I highly recommend I, Madman to horror fans, as for everyone else I still think it's a worthwhile film & definitely worth watching.