The Mansion of Madness (1973)

User Rating:

4.7/10   

Director:

Juan López Moctezuma

Writers:

Carlos Illescas (writer)
Juan López Moctezuma (writer)

Release Date:

March 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Fantasy | Horror | Mystery

Tagline:

The Newest Edgar Allan Poe Horror Thriller!

Plot:

The inmates of an insane asylum take over the institution, imprison the doctors and staff, and then put into play their own ideas of how the place should be run.

Plot Keywords:

Insane Asylum | Bizarre | Forest | Torture | 19th Century

Cast

Claudio Brook	...	Dr. Maillard / Raoul Fragonard (as Claude Brook)
Arthur Hansel	...	Gaston LeBlanc
Ellen Sherman	...	Eugénie
Martin LaSalle	...	Julien Couvier
David Silva	...	Cult Priest
Mónica Serna	...	Blanche
Max Kerlow	...	Dr. Maillard
Susana Kamini	...	Cult Priestess
Pancho Córdova	...	Pseudo-Marshal (as Francisco Córdova)
Roberto Dumont
Henry West
Jorge Bekris	...	Henri, the Coachman
René Alís
Mario Castillón Bracho
Oscar Saro

Also Known As:

Dr. Goudron's System
Dr. Tarr's Pit of Horrors
Dr. Tarr's Torture Dungeon
Edgar Allan Poe: Dr. Tarr's Torture Dungeon (USA)
House of Madness
La mansión de la locura (Mexico) (dubbed version)
The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Feather

Runtime:

99 min | USA:88 min

Country:

Mexico

Language:

Spanish | English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Klangfilm)

Certification:

USA:R | UK:15 (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

Desierto de los Leones, Estado de México, Mexico

Company:

Producciones Prisma

Trivia:

Despite being a Mexican production and having a mostly Mexican cast and crew, this movie was filmed in English, then dubbed into Spanish for Mexican cinemas. The version released in USA, retitled "Dr. Tarr's Torture Dungeon", is actually the original version (not a dub), but in a cut form.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Dusk to Dawn Drive-In Trash-o-Rama Show Vol. 3 (1996) (V)

An excellent Eurotrash Poe adaptation.

Among the lesser known Poe stories, a personal favorite, for me, has always been "The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Feather," which uses role reversals in a country asylum as a leaping-off point for pseudo-comedic, proto-surreal flights of fancy. This film adaptation uses a more-or-less faithful adaptation as the framework for Eurotrash erotic horror, with results that come off like what you might get if someone like Rollin or Franco directed "King of Hearts." Within these parameters, this movie is perfectly self-assured, and if it sounds like something you might be interested in seeing, you are, and you'll love it.