Flicks: Madhouse (1974)

Madhouse: "Lights, Camera... Murder!".

Horror movie legend Vincent Price stars with Peter Cushing in Jim Clark's Madhouse. It's an interesting film for horror movie historians due the large amount of references to previous films made by B-movie moguls American International Pictures (AIP).

Price as Paul Toombes is, much like in real-life, famous for playing "Dr. Death," (read as "Doctor Phibes") yet he suffers a nervous breakdown before going to England to do a TV series. After his release from years in a state sanitarium, Toombes takes on a new role, however, the cast and crew of the new picture begin to die in ways that suggest scenes from Toombes's films (represented here with Price's American International efforts, including The Haunted Palace, The Pit and the Pendulum, Tales of Terror, The Raven, Scream and Scream Again, and House of Usher). Each murder points to Dr. Death - but Toombes must find and confront the real killer, before he becomes the next victim!

Madhouse director Jim Clark is much more well known today as one of the best film Editors in the business. His credit's include Marathon Man (1976), The Memphis Belle (1990) and The World Is Not Enough (1999) with Pierce Bronson.

References:
IMDB, Madhouse (1974)
IMDB, Jim Clark
Wikipedia, Madhouse (1974 film)
British Horror Films, Madhouse

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Flicks: Death Machines (1976)

In futuristic 1976 America robot programs you - TO DIE!

In Death Machines, a mysterious Asian "Dragon Lady" injects three martial artists with a even more mysterious serum that turns them into robot-like assassins. The Japanese actress (one-time day-player Mari Honjo) was unable to speak English very well at the time. That combined with the fact she read all her lines (in English) from a cue card made for some rather entertaining cinema.

It gets even more fun. The three pseudo-mechanical killers, credited as White Death Machine (Ronald L. Marchini), Black Death Machine (Joshua Johnson) and Asian Death Machine (Michael Chong), go about assassinating strangers with brutal efficiency using trucks, bull-dozers and even a frickin' bazooka. Yes, a frickin' bazooka.

The stunts and action shots are actually very intense - the movie's only real credit to the Second Unit led by director Paul Kyriazi who went on to give the world such gems as Ninja Busters (1984) and Richard Pryor's One Way Out (1986).

References:
IMDB, Death Machines (1976)
Tenebrous Empire, Death Machines!
Paul Kyriazi.com, Audiobooks

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