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Best movie of this year hands down!

Wow! Such a good movie.

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

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.

Well back in the day when I was an impressionable teenager, I couldn't even tell the difference between such things as fact or fiction. That being said I always knew a pretty decent horror movie when I saw one.This little gem first caught my attention when I caught the trailer prior to it's initial release, and much like many a movie with a decent trailer I just knew that I had to see it.The trailer I saw courtesy of Entertainment in Video announced the title as 'Hardcover' Of course I never realised that the movie was actually called 'I Madman' which was the better title, and which currently graces my MGM retail release which is sitting right by my side as I write these very words.The 1980's were a good time for horror movies, and they were also a good time for me when it came time for me discovering the many gems that sprawled themselves across the videostore shelves, I still remember hiring the likes of 'Pumpkinhead' 'Killer Klowns From Outer Space' 'Retribution'.As with most movies that I liked and revered down through the years there have been some that haven't quite stood the test of time, 'Society' springs to mind, that being said, certain elements of 'I Madman' have always remained within my memory.Having just watched the movie prior to writing these words, it struck me just how visually stunning the movie was and more importantly just how good the script written by David Chaskin was.Filled with many a wonderful set piece, director Tibor Takacs really knew what to do with the camera, and aided superbly by the acting talent he had to work with, Jenny Wright as Virginia the bookstore clerk who begins to find herself immersed within the hideous world of the mad scribe Malcolm Brand, always had a very distinct acting style, very distant but always alluring, a prime example of this was her star turn in Eric Red's ultra cool 'Near Dark'.Also on hand and acquitting himself admirably was Clayton Rohner, (who I'll always remember from Nigel Dick's 'P.I. Private Investigation')as Virginia's detective boyfriend, who can't quite bring himself to believe anything that Virginia's tells him, as he attributes her flights of fancy to her taste in reading material written by the villain of the piece Malcolm Brand.If truth be told one of the best performances in the movie comes from Murray Rubin as Brand's publisher Sidney Zeit, the way he talks, his mannerisms and the interior of his office just encapsulate that closed in world of the low rent publisher.Kudos also must go to Randall William Cook, who not only does he appear as the titular on screen villain, but he also doubled as the special effects creator, truly rocks as the lovesick Brand, who'd do just about anything for the love of his life(and if you haven't seen the movie, just wait and see and wait for your jaw to drop when you see what he's done to his facial features).Director Takacs might not have directed anything of note in the last decade of so, but this movie along with the original 'The Gate' stand as a testament to his directing talents and as for scriptwriter David Chaskin, yes he might have been lambasted for his scripting of 'Nightmare On Elm Street 2' but through this movie he truly showed that he really had an ear for good dialogue and attention to detail when it came to setting a good gore laden set piece.It really is too bad that the MGM release doesn't have a director's commentary attached to it, as it would have been nice to hear how the movie was financed and put together.This movie would make a good companion piece with John Carpenter's 'In The Mouth Of Madness' and as a stand alone feature, this horror movie really delivers upon the promise of it's trailer and it's artwork cover, plus it's a true testament to it's abilities to chill and entertain twenty plus years later.Loose yourself in this great little horror curio tonight, you'll be awful glad you did! Without hesitation, 10/10

This review is assuming you've seen the movie. In case you haven't a woman releases a murderer through reading his books. The killer becomes infatuated with the woman. This movie has a nice simple feel to it, it is graphic at times. There is a creepy atmosphere created with shadows. It's like a Grimm's fairy tale to the nth degree. There is some really good transitions to what she thinks she is seeing versus what she is really seeing. A small simple scary movie, no big name actors but, has a good story to pull it all together. Interesting idea that the killer fuses his victims facial features to his own face. The story uses the familiar police don't believe the woman scenario.

This innovative low-budget effort is about an avid reader of horror novels. Whenever she reads from the pages of a horror book entitled "I, Madman" she wanders off into a dreamland and witnesses lurid murders being committed by a grotesque figure in a black robe and scarf. Only then she discovers that the murders are occurring in real life exactly as it occurs from the novel.Ultimately I found this film quite enjoyable, and only has a few minor flaws and the acting is above average from everyone involved. The most intense and quite chilling scene in the entire movie is the woman being drugged and scalped in a semi-conscious state. That was quite brutal to watch I admit and a well illustrated death. Most of the "shock" scenes and red herrings are predictable however (esp. the killer's appearance in the elevator). The gore factor is adroitly used and convincing, the removed lips and nose effects on the killer and victims are shockingly effective and the suspense never lets up after it's initial tedious 30 minutes. Jenny Wright is well used in this horror outing and is way above the caliber than the depressing "Near Dark" ever thought of being, in my opinion. Mind you, after reading the rave reviews from other fellow IMDb viewers, I don't find this one the "cream of the crop" of B-Horror films, it has the same standard elements of B-Horror films such as graphic gore, OK Acting, and contrived (although still fun) occurrences throughout the movie. By no means am I trashing the movie, I really enjoyed it much and the suspense held my interest throughout the film. What ruined this one from being a superior B-Horror classic was Tibor Takács's poor choosing of using his idiotic monster from "The Gate" which is not the least bit frightening as the scalpel killer was. I also wished that Wright was the heroine of the story who saves the day instead of that silly looking creature. A bad ending to an otherwise creative and intriguing horror story. "I, Madman" didn't knock me out of my socks, but it is still a gem for the horror genre fans to check out and have fun with.