BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Hitchcoc Despite some silly religious symbolism, it was fun, as usual, to watch the painful expressions of the great Vincent Price. The poor guy sentences this guy to death. After he is dead, whatever was inside him that made him evil, goes into Price's body. From then on, this thing called the Horla becomes the driving force in Price's life. When he gets this cheesy green glow in his eyes, he becomes murderous. Price tries to find peace in his avocation, sculpture, but the cute little model he hires becomes his obsession. She is already married but Vincent has designs on her. But worse than the nasty mother of the girl is his Horla friend who makes the relationship impossible. Besides, she was indeed a fortune hunter. This is one of those fun 1960's horror films that I enjoyed when I was a kid. One shouldn't take it too seriously or analyze it too much. Just enjoy the story.

Rainey Dawn This film really needed a little more something - maybe a quicker pace? It does drag on in places for way to long. Now don't get me wrong it is worth watching and mainly for Vincent Price. Price is the biggest draw or attraction in this film, but then again he is for all his films. Price drives this film while the others in the film pale in comparison and are a bore to watch.It is exactly the way the synopsis reads: Simon Cordier (Price), a sculptor possessed by an evil invisible spirit, hires a model to pose for him then learns thereafter that she has been brutally murdered.I can say there is an invisible man, a spirit of sorts, that haunts Simon Cordier (Price). If that sounds interesting then you might like the film.7/10

IPreferEvidence Interestingly enough this is not based on Nikolai Gogol's short story Diary Of A Madman but on a short story by Guy de Maupassant called The Horla. The film is very different from the short story and takes a totally different direction with the plot while expanding on some things already established in the short story. The acting is decent(and of course there is Vincent Price who is awesome as always). The cinematography is pretty bland and there are some nice yet sparingly used special effects. The Horla is one of my favorite short stories so I just had to look this up but instead of being a study of a very deluded mind this adaptation was a cheesy 60s supernatural horror film with Vincent Price.Not terribly and not even that bad but it just could and should have been a lot better.

Michael_Elliott Diary of a Madman (1963) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Vincent Price turns in another winning performance as Simon Cordier, a nice judge who goes to visit a man on death row and ends up having to kill him in self defense. Unfortunately for Simon, the dead man's evil spirit follows him home and slowly starts to turn him into a murderer. This film is certainly far ahead of its time and it's a shame that so many good ideas and performances are brought down a few notches because of some questionable direction. LeBorg's credits include the really bad VOODOO ISLAND, the bizarrely awful HOUSE OF BLACK DEATH and the all-star lineup THE BLACK SLEEP. While no stranger to the genre, LeBorg is clearly out of his league here because the psychological nature of the film never gets fully realized because it seems the director didn't know how to tell the story. Several scenes just drag along when they should have zipped by and the entire film has a rather odd pacing that doesn't help matters. The rest of the movie is pretty nice and, as I said, it was way ahead of its time. The "voices of evil" that are haunting Simon is something probably expanded from the mental state of Norman Bates in PSYCHO. This film takes that to a new level and really shows us that voice, which is constantly haunting Price and I thought it was done very nicely as we never know if the voice is there or if Price is just imagining it. I think you also get a brief look at what would eventually become the giallo the following year with Mario Bava's BLOOD AND BLACK LACE. During the murder scenes, Price is dressed in black with the famous black gloves stalking his victims. This is certainly something that would become quite popular in the films of Bava and Argento but here it is before them. The supporting cast features Nancy Kovack as the woman Price falls for and she delivers a remarkable performance. Her and Price really sizzle on the screen together during the rather obvious sexual innuendo. Chris Warfield is also good as her husband. In the end, this is a pretty impressive film that probably works a lot better today than it did in 1963. The film still isn't a complete success but one only wishes a stronger director was involved. I can only imagine what would have happened had someone like Bava been brought on board considering he did work with Price. The rich colors, marvelous sets and great costumes just add to what the film does offer.