Heat of Madness (1966)

User Rating:

4.7/10   

Director:

Harry Wuest

Writer:

Eliza McCormick (screenplay)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Nudity | Model | Roughie | Female Nudity

Cast

Kevin Scott	...	John Wilright, the photographer
Jennifer Laird	...	Susan, the fiancee (as Jennifer Llaird)
Alan Wylie	...	Bill, the lawyer
Barbara Ward	...	Linda
John Burke	...	Ted
Diane Conti	...	Model
Nancy McCormick	...	Nancy
Ann Muench	...	Annie
Stanley Seidman	...	Rudy Allen
Sean Spencer	...	Tom
Jon Tolliver	...	Eckhardt
Mark Zalk	...	Dr. Ross

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Cinestudio Productions

Movie Connections:

Edited into Twisted Sex Vol. 23 (2007) (V)

Interesting no-budget exploitation film / character study

Something Weird Video paired this film with "The Psycho Lover" on DVD, which was a slight misfortune to this film. "The Psycho Lover" is one of the company's most ridiculously entertaining sleazefests, so almost any movie would be difficult to follow it up with. "Heat of Madness" is a no-budget and slowly paced little roughie film. Its very tame, which makes it understandable why some exploitation fans have been disappointed with it. There's little to no nudity and there's only one actual scene of violence. I can imagine vintage 42nd street frequenters being let down.

Still, I actually enjoyed this film for several reasons. First off, the lack of explicit sex and violence makes me wonder if the filmmakers had other things on their mind. This is furthered by the sympathetic main female character and a tortured artist whose descent into madness is shown effectively. In fact, this film works much better as a character study. It seems that it would be much better if it wasn't limited by the zero dollar budget. Plus, the minimalist atmosphere makes the film get under your skin.

Again, despite the lack of exploitation elements, I was intrigued by the film throughout. Its a failure maybe, but an interesting one. If anything, it proves that these low budget exploitation films are one of the most important roots of modern day independent film-making. (6/10)