KnotMissPriceless Why so much hype?

Wordiezett So much average

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Caryl It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The_Void I, Madman is a rather odd little film. The story straddles a line somewhere between art and absolute rubbish, as we have the idea of fiction and reality coming together; but the fiction side of the story is far from art, as we follow a psychopath who has seen fit to tear his own face off. Furthermore, the production values are really good considering the sort of film; yet it doesn't do it any favours, as it always feels like a high quality B-movie, and films like this do better with an appropriate style to them. The plot is pure hokum and unlikely to be taken seriously by anyone. We follow Virginia; a young woman who works at a used book store. She's into horror literature, and is pleased with herself one day when she happens across a certain book. She soon wants to read the author's only other work, and is surprised when it ends up on her doorstep. She begins to read the novel entitled 'I, Madman' - a macabre tale about a man who ravages his own face in the hope of getting a girl to like him (...). However, the horror of the book becomes more real when Virginia begins to see the title character murdering people for real...Director Tibor Takács made the silly horror flick 'The Gate' two years prior to this film; and if you asked me he should have stuck to films like that. It's not that I, Madman is essentially not fun; but the way it comes together doesn't feel very fluid or logical. The acting is decent, however, with Near Dark's Jenny Wright taking the lead role and doing well with it, while supporting cast members provide decent feedback. The central villain is a fairly clichéd creation, as similar ideas of deformed maniacs killing people have been used many times before. The special effects aren't too bad for most of the film, and it's nice to see a few gory sequences in any horror film. At the end, however, a sub-plot involving a half man, half jackal comes into play; and we get treated to some spectacularly awful stop motion effects, and it brings the film crashing down on it's head as any credibility it has built up so far is lost. Still, most of the film isn't too bad; and while there are a lot of inconsistencies and unlikely character choices - I, Madman is worth seeing if only to marvel at how bizarre it is.

BA_Harrison 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.

Lucien Lessard An young woman by the name of Virginia (Jenny Wright) is a fan of horror novels. She works in a used book store. When she reads a novel titled "I,Madman", which is a non-fiction novel. The villain of the novel seems to come out of the book to stalk the young woman and killing the people she knows.Directed by Tibor Takacs (The Gate 1 & 2) made an entertaining horror fantasy thriller with an sharp performance by the underrated actress-Wright. The film was barely released to theaters in 1989. The film went on to be a Cult Classic. Clayton Rohner (From "April's Fools Day" and the T.V. Short-Lived Series "Good Vs. Evil" fame) co-star as a Police Detective. This is one of the most rarely seen and most underrated horror films of the late 80's. See it. Written by David Chaskin (A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2:Freddy's Revenge, The Curse). (****/*****).

Coventry Even though the premise sounds very ordinary and repetitive, this late 80's thriller features an unusually great deal of tension and slick elements. Tibor Tikács' (love the name) "I, Madman" focuses on a young woman – Virginia – obsessed by reading bloody horror novels. She recently discovered the oeuvre of a bizarre but stylish writer named Malcolm Brand. Especially his book "I, Madman" fascinates her as it describes the acts of a horribly deformed doctor who kills people in order to make an actress fall in love with him. But fiction turns into reality when Virginia finds herself chased by the book's eerie doctor and murders are committed all around her. This film contains a few very bloody sequences but it's not at all a gore flick like so many other similar productions from that decade. The power merely lies in the subtly build up suspense-scenes (with excellent depressing images of a nearly pauperized city) and, especially, the presence of an ultra-grim monster! This mad doctor/writer/hurt romanticist is a fine horror creation that'll certainly appeal to every fan of the genre. Jenny Wright gives away a fairly good acting performance as the petrified heroine. Horror fanatics will surely recognize her from the outstanding vampire film "Near Dark" and a few years after this, she stars in "the Lawnmower Man", next to Pierce Brosnan. The hunky guy who plays her boyfriend Richard isn't very convincing as the police detective, though.Horror in the 80's got marked by a few obvious milestones (The Evil Dead, Day of the Dead, Nightmare on Elm Street…) and an overload of meaningless slashers. Between all those, there are a couple of worthy gems to discover, and "I, Madman" definitely is one of them. Tikács did a professional directing job here and he clearly controls the horror tactics well. This unquestionably is his best work as he later made the overly silly "The Gate" films