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Excellent but underrated film

Admirable film.

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Gathered at a judge's funeral, his friends and family learn that he kept a diary which details how he gained the idea of becoming increasingly paranoid about a prisoner possessing him to commit murder and must deal with the issue before more around him are killed.This was a rather fun and engaging effort. The main positive found here is how much this one plays up how Vincent Price has always been a quality name when it comes to horror, and this film is no exception. The film plays to his strengths and gives him about ninety percent of the screen-time and he doesn't seem to be chewing the scenery as he delivers a stellar performance as the possessed judge who has no idea why he is being tormented by the spirit of a man he had no real connection with. Giving him the real-life hobbies and attributes allows this to be quite fun with the high-end community this one dwells in as that gives the film plenty of room to work through as this is a pretty creepy film. The real horror of this film rests on the fact that Price is under the influence of the madman for his killings, so his appearance at his victim's place is more unsettling than it should be from overturning chairs to the way the ghost makes his sudden appearances, usually by the sudden openings of the windows with high winds and a demonic voice. These appear at the oddest times, so they do make their appearance known if need be from the appearance in the jail-cell to the surprise ambush in the apartment and the various verbal battles with the figure taunting him to continue. That as well leads into the finale which includes the rather unique and enjoyable manner of how the threat is finally dealt with and leads this into a rather nice action-packed finale that includes the utterly Gothic burning-down- the-house conclusion which gives this a nice bit of life at the right time. As these here hold this one up, there were only two small gripes about this film. The biggest one of these is that the eyes of the possessed is established by them glowing green which is a particularly corny effect. They don't emote the horror they should've as this one turns into a comical effect where it continually seems to be obsessed with Price's eyes, which in the film is played off as silly more than anything. It is a creepy effect, but it simply doesn't work at all because of the goofiness of the effect. The only other gripe is that there never is any reason for the people to become possessed. Normally, a film is given a purpose for what happens in them, but in here there really is no reason why Price becomes possessed, or why it chose him. These two small, meaningless gripes are all that lower this one beyond his best efforts in the genre.Today's Rating/PG: Mild Violence.

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

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.

I'm a big fan of Vincent Price and all of his films are a must see for me. Normally, this endeavour leads me to see some of the finest horror films of the fifties, sixties and seventies; but every now and again, it will turn up a lesser entry in the great man's filmography, and unfortunately - this is the case here. Based on stories by Guy de Maupassant, Diary of a Madman is a film without much to differentiate it from a number of similar films, and so to someone like me who has seen a great many horror movies; this one does fall a bit flat. Other bad elements include a rather long running time, which ensures that the flimsy plot always feel far too drawn out. The plot follows judge/sculptor Simon Cordier, a man who goes to visit a man put to death in his cell. He was put to death for various murders that he committed, and which he claims were under the influence of evil spirit Horla. However, after the death of the murderer; the evil spirit has nowhere to go, and so decides to take up residence inside the judge...It's a seriously good job that this film stars Vincent Price, as with almost anyone else in the lead role it would have been a complete dead loss. Price doesn't excel himself here; but even an average Price performance is great to watch, and the great thespian continually saves the film from tedium. Price is the only real star of the film, and that's not a problem in a way as he has more than enough to carry a film on his own; a film like this could really do with a few more distractions. The locations look nice, however, and the Technicolor cinematography excellently captures them. There's not a great deal of actual horror in the film; sequences that see Vincent Price's mirror reflection disappear, and a few where he has green eyes are about as horrific as it gets. The idea of an evil demon possessing someone isn't exactly original, but the basics of the story get good handling here; so it's a shame that the rest of the film wasn't better. Overall, this has it's moments I suppose; but aside from Price's performance, there isn't much to recommend it for. Interesting fact, though; a quote towards the start of the film was used by Rob Zombie in his song "The Return of the Phantom Stranger"!