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.

And around the block I reckon. Let's just say everywhere - that should cover it. This 80s movie (the hairdos!) is a relic of its time. If you are a fan of that time period and the offsprings and offerings that it brought, you may be inclined to have enjoyed this more - or will enjoy it more if you haven't watched it yet.

There are quite a few influences (even fans or Arrow heads who talk about it, don't completely agree what is being referenced at every moment, but it is quite a lot) and a lot of cliches. One of the best things is the eerie mood this sets. One of the worst is character decisions ... like "don't open the door" as an advice being completely disregarded, even when you are literally being called out ... you almost wish death upon those characters! Always keeping in the back of your mind this is a movie, not wishing anyone death in real life of course. If you don't mind some of those downfalls, the ending will completely blow your mind ... ludicrous to say the least ... good or bad? I couldn't tell you what you'll think ...