I first saw this in the late 80s n was quite shocked.
Revisited it recently aft knowing that ther is a sequel made after 40 years.
During an unusual process of therapy, a lunatic patient lands an axe in a doc's back. Now a viewer may ask what kinda doc gives an axe to a mental patient in an asylum. Cos the doc believes that the best way to deal with insanity is to allow the patients to freely act out their realities in the hopes that they will snap out of it.
Even aft the ghastly incident, our lunatics roam freely inside the sanitarium, of course it is situated in a secluded rural place.
The unique thing about this film is that the title appears aft almost ten mins.
The scene where Danny flirts with the nymphomaniac, touches her, praises her n the moment she gets naked.... his maniacal laughter is epic.
The judge with his repetitive behavior of announcing judgements n his facial close ups is lol.
The characters are interesting, the settings n feel claustrophobic n the twist predictable but the film creepily entertaining.