Wordiezett
So much average
GrimPrecise
I'll tell you why so serious
Listonixio
Fresh and Exciting
AnhartLinkin
This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
Lee Eisenberg
British studios made a number of anthology horror flicks in the '60s and '70s, and "Tales That Witness Madness" is one of them. It depicts a futuristic asylum in which the owner (Donald Pleasence) tells his colleague (Jack Hawkins, who died right before the movie got released) about the patients and how they went insane.I didn't like this one as much as movies like "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors" and "The House that Dripped Blood", but it's still entertaining. The tree segment is the neatest one. It just goes to show that horror flicks - even if they're not particularly scary - are best when they're not just scenes of people crawling around making scared faces. I will say that Kim Novak's character seems kind of flat, but the rest of the movie makes up for that. Also starring are Joan Collins and the recently deceased Mary Tamm.So yes, does anyone love me?
Michael_Elliott
Tales That Witness Madness (1973) ** (out of 4) In a futuristic asylum, Dr. Tremayne (Donald Pleasence) is talking to another doctor (Jack Hawkins) about four of his most troubled patients. As they're each introduced we hear their story of how they went mad. Up first we have a young boy who has an imaginary friend who just happens to be a tiger but his mother doesn't believe him. Up next is a man who owns an antique shop and goes back in time due to a penny-farthing bike. The third story involves a man who finds a human-shaped tree and brings it home, which doesn't sit well with his wife. The final story involves a man who needs a human sacrifice to protect the soul of his mother. TALES THAT WITNESS MADNESS was directed by Freddie Francis and was just one of many anthology tales that were released during this era. While none of the four stories are awful, it's quite clear that none of them are very good either. The biggest problem is that all four stories just never reach a very interesting level and the majority of the time you're just sitting there not really caring what's going on. With that said, each story usually has at least one or two good parts no matter how bland the rest is. The fourth story is probably the weakest but there's a murder sequence that is quite brutal. The third story is laughable but there's a tree attack sequence that really seems to have been lifted by THE EVIL DEAD years later. The film does feature a pretty good cast, including Joan Collins but in the end not even they can save the material. There's no question that this was trying to get in on the TALES FROM THE CRYPT craze but it's too bad that the screenplay lets everyone down.
highwaytourist
Perhaps people were more easily scared in those days. Why else would anyone think that any of these stories would generate much suspense? It's like watching a 1970's Movie of the Week rather than a motion picture, with the exception of the brief topless scene Joan Collins does. Oh, there is a little creepy atmosphere, and a number of capable stars do what they can with the material. But even in its best scenes, the film plays like a substandard "Asylum" knockoff. I know that I was disappointed. There were a number of such films during the 1970's and very few of them delivered much to its audience, which is probably why they don't make many of them anymore. The most recent attempt was "Tales From The Darkside." The formula still has the potential for a good movie, but this isn't it.
Wizard-8
The first and last of the four main stories are shockingly lazy in their scripting - they both come across with them pretty much saying in their beginnings as to what's to happen, and then doing it exactly as they said they would. That's it! No surprises! As for the second and third stories, though they have some element of "twist" to them, the "twists" are pretty feeble. What's really strange about them is that they seem to be going in a different direction - what happened to the guy with the stone face in the second story? Why is the fact the stump shows life in the third story completely abandoned? Don't bother thinking about these things - this movie is so lame and insulting to the intelligence that it doesn't deserve ANY thought.
