I first rented this movie, expecting only the typical cheesy low budget B-movie, but was surprised to discover a good movie that could have played first run in the theaters. Basically, a young psychiatric intern comes to this backwater rundown mental hospital and discovers a chamber of horrors. There is a mysterious kid/ghost running loose in the hospital (unfortunately, this actor's name was missing from the credits) and a string of murders taking place, as the intern attempts to piece together what is going on. There were several recognizable stars (such as Lance Henrickson) in the movie, most of whom had small parts in favor of the lesser known actors. There was a fair amount of bloodshed in this movie, and a very good turn around in the plot towards the end of the movie that makes all of the previously hard to follow elements crystal clear to the viewer as the identity of the killer is realized.

I went and saw Madhouse last night and I wasn't expecting half of what I actually saw.

Madhouse is a good scare. It is a movie filled with horrific images that kept me entertained all the way thru. There are a lot of cool death scenes. The crazies were really creepy. But the major minus is the fact that you hardly ever really get to see them as much as you'd like to. Only in very short shots and they never really play a big part in the movie! Joshua leonard acted really well.

Not at all what I expected, but that's a good thing. I was expecting a lot of senseless blood and screams. While it had its fair share of gore, I was glad it did focus more on the plot.

Overall, this is a good horror flick. I give it a 7/10

I knew nothing about this film going into it, other than the synopsis I read on the back of the DVD. It sounded interesting so I thought I'd give it a shot. I wasn't expecting much from it at all, but I was quite pleasantly surprised. It is one of the best thrillers I've seen in awhile. I enjoyed the twists. They were intelligently done and the plot kept me guessing. And it has some good performances by actors I wasn't familiar with before. If you've grown tired and weary of the predictable "thrillers" that have come out lately, give MADHOUSE a shot. This is definitely a good rental on a weekend if you're in the mood for good scare.

There is a twist to this horror tale; all modern horror films seem to be required to have a story twist. I won't tell what it is, but I will say careful viewers will have no trouble figuring it out.

A young grad student arrives at a mental institution to begin his internship and from the start notices that the hospital is not up to standard. Patients are not given proper (sometimes not even humane) treatment, doctors and staff seem uninterested, facilities are nearly defunct, and (of course) the place just might be haunted.

The movement of the film is nice and brisk, with scare scenes coming at a fairly steady pace. The cast is capable and it's nice to have a couple horror regulars on board (Lance Henrickson and Jordan Ladd). The scripting is also adequate, but lacks punch; most everything seen here can be seen elsewhere. And then there is the twist, which while not a 'deal-breaker' will still influence your opinion of the film as a whole.

For some decent and classical scares this works just fine, just don't expect anything new or unique.

7/10

The psychiatric intern Clark Stevens (Joshua Leonanrd) comes to Cunningham Hall, a mental healthy facility administrated by Dr. Franks (Lance Henriksen), for a training period before his graduation in medical college. He gets close to the resident Sara (Jordan Ladd) and to Ben London, a dangerous patient lodged in cell 44 in the basement of the clinic. Clark becomes intrigued with a boy, who seems to be a ghost, and finds that Dr. Franks does not use real medication in the patients. A further investigation shows hidden dark secrets in the clinic.

"Madhouse" is an unknown low-budget movie with a surprisingly great gory story. The direction is sharp, the screenplay is very well tied up and in the end it is a worthwhile horror movie, highly recommended to be discovered by fans of this genre. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Casa dos Horrores" ("The House of the Horrors")

i have seen it. i always like movie theme like horror cum mental institution. e.g. session 9, house of haunted hill remake springs to my mind. lance henrikssen has only a small role here. anyway, in madhouse, i found it creepy, disturbing and scary throughout the movie especially the first time we see the "basement lock up patients" scenes. the sound design/effect is very very vigorous. this is another movie which got a 'clever' ending, it's not a 'scratching my hairs' kinda ending but rather a 'WoW" ending. i truly recommend it.

to anyone who wish to know my selection of favourite horror movies, here it is: - the shining - psycho - the ring remake - the grudge (original) - jaws - the exorcist - the eye (hong kong) - dead end .......etc etc

Clark (Joshua Leonard) is a young and idealistic new intern at a run-down and out-dated mental health facility. His aspirations for cleaning the place hit a snag when he butts heads with Dr. Franks (Lance Henrikson) who seems to not mind that the patients never seem to get any better. Shortly Clark begins seeing things and death and mayhem invade the reality of the "Madhouse". Together Clark and Sara must uncover who or what it is that stalks the asylum and survive the massacre.

"Madhouse" is a slick-looking production. Nicely filmed and directed it adds some nice visual pizazz to a relatively standard script. The three leads are all veterans of horror films and do very well in their parts. Excellent sound design and above-average photography make "Madhouse" a solid horror-thriller.

This movie is admittedly better than the usual fare horror fans are offered, however it was still missing something. The majority of the characters were interesting, though at times they seemed too perfectly tailored for their roles.

The movie is suspenseful for the most part and keeps you guessing. At times, things seemed kind of corny (worms and men with eyeliner don't scare ME, for instance) and certain plot points are never explored to their full potential.

All in all, it's a movie worth seeing (especially if you're into the genre). Reminded me a little of a juvenile version of Session 9... but if given the choice between the two, I'd choose Session 9 again!

The horror/thriller is about a rookie intern who checks into a mental health facility and discovers its darkest secrets as well as his own ones. Excellent sound effects, above average photography and smart script filled with plenty of shock moments make this film real fun to watch for fans of this genre. Joshua Leonard, a veteran in such films, acts quite well as the lead character.

But there are loopholes in the plot. One can clearly see them after a single viewing. The ending is catchy, but utterly unnecessary. Jordan Ladd hardly looks like any medical personnel. But most of all, the actions of the patients are very much exaggerated and overtly dramatic. Apart from these points, 'Madhouse' is worth renting, because the 'thrill' element is in right proportions in the film.

"Madhouse" is one of the best asylum-set horror films I've ever seen (not quite as good as "Session 9", though), and provides for some good spooky entertainment. The film begins with Clark Stevens (Joshua Leonard, "The Blair Witch Project"), who is sent off to intern at a secluded mental institution for the criminally insane. The place is old and has quite a lengthy history. While staying at the asylum, he meets Sara (Jordan Ladd, "Cabin Fever"), a hospital employee, and the two begin to hit it off. Then, one day, Sara takes Clark to the basement of the asylum, which, unlike the rest of the nicely renovated building, is dark, damp, and rotting away. Only the most violent and insane patients are kept in the darkened dungeon-like rooms, and Clark begins to have a conversational relationship with an unseen patient who resides in one of the cells, who seems to know a lot about the hospital's history. But more secrets are unraveled and someone begins murdering people around the hospital, and Clark finds himself responsible to investigate.

I have to admit, this movie really surprised me. I was expecting something along the lines of cheap, straight-to-video trash to be honest, but I was pleasantly surprised with this creepy little mystery thriller. For one, I liked the story. An isolated mental institution with a violent history is a perfect place to set a horror movie - and this film makes good use of it, with the perfectly constructed and very spooky sets. The actors were also very good - Joshua Leonard was convincing as the intuitive intern, and Jordan Ladd really displays her acting skills. Natasha Lyonne also had a role as an insane patient, and she played it very well. Then there's the scares. I've seen hundreds of horror movies, and I am rarely scared by them, but this one succeeded in getting quite a few scares out of me. The scares were very well placed and got my heart pumping pretty fast. One of the scariest had to be the scene with the nurse who is pushed down the stairwell, the camera-work was clever and was the main reason that the bit was so jolting. Very unexpected and very scary.

Another addition to the film's overall creepiness are the patients that reside in the asylum basement, good God they were scary. They're made out to be the most insane, mentally disturbed patients in the building - and that they are, not only in a mental aspect but also physically. The makeup job had them looking beyond scary, and the actors that played them made their characters just flat out bizarre and oddly disturbing. I'm actually surprised that this film never got a wide theater run, because it's easily worthy of it, and is much better than half of the teen-horror trash that is put out there lately.

All things considered, "Madhouse" is a unique and surprisingly scary horror film, and the twist in the end adds the film's overall atmosphere. I was actually scared on a few occasions, which is really rare. And going in, my expectations were low, but this movie really delivered. Try watching it all alone at night, with all the lights off - trust me, you'll get spooked on more than a few occasions. 8/10.

Madhouse will surprise you. It surpassed my expectation to be quite a clever, well drawn out psychological thriller. Beginning with a college intern named Clark coming to Cunningham Mental Institution to gain credit for his degree. Quickly he learns that the scariest thing about the place is not the Residents!! The place is haunted and appears to him in the form of a little boy - done in the style of Halle Berry's Gothika with good visuals that suck you into the movie. He finds love with Co-Worker Sara who is there a year longer than him but when members of the staff are killed off one by one - everyone is a suspect. I will not give the ending as it is too good. Well worth the money you spend purchasing this. Madhouse is one of a very few good scary movies out this past year.

Turn off your lights. Pop a bag of popcorn. Make sure all your doors and windows are locked. Your about to go on a trip on a disturbing,mind bending ride. This is a good horror/thriller to watch at night. The storyline and ending was totally unexpected. The special effects is a definite 2 thumbs up.

This movie kept me on edge from begging to end. If your a true horror buff...you definitely want to check this movie out.This movie is definitely going into my DVD collection!!!....Watch this movie if you dare.....

Other movies you need to check out is session 9. Then sometime this year a awesome movie called, Death Tunnel will be released. This movie is based in an haunted TB hospital located in Louisville, Ky.

Clark(Joshua Leonard pf "The Blair Witch Project" fame)is a young and idealistic new intern at a run-down and out-dated mental health facility.His aspirations for cleaning the place hit a snag when he butts heads with Dr.Franks(Lance Henrikson)who seems to not mind that the patients never seem to get any better.Shortly Clark begins seeing things and death and mayhem invade the reality of the "Madhouse". Together Clark and Sara must uncover who or what it is that stalks the asylum and survive the massacre."Madhouse" is a nicely woven tale that offers some creepy moments and few gore scenes.The boy ghost who continues to pop up is sure to raise the hairs on your arm as will the scene at the end when we learn the truth of the patient in that room in the basement.Overall,"Madhouse" is a truly worthy addition to any genre fan's collection of twisted horror movies.

First off, I'm a huge fan of films set in mental hospitals. Session 9, House on Haunted Hill remake, the list goes on. Well, Madhouse started out like your typical asylum flick: A young doctor arrives at the hospital, becomes acquainted with some patients and staff members, gets tricked into thinking a patient is a doctor...you know, the usual stuff. Until about 15-20 minutes in, it sticks to the formula. After it's introduced the characters however, you know you're in for a different kind of film. I cant say much more about the plot without giving it away, but suffice to say there are some very creepy moments. The actors are surprisingly good, with no real stand-out performances. The entire cast was great. With the exception of a few really corny lines, the script seemed to be written well. The ending is the main drawback of the movie, but I wont spoil it for you by explaining how. Ill just say that the Alternate Ending on the DVD was MUCH better. Overall, this is a great movie. No more needs to be said, just go rent it and you shouldn't be disappointed!

8.5/10

Not a better location imaginable to shoot a horror than a mental institution and yet the last really good films revolving on asylums and murdering lunatics date from the 70's, with "Don't Look in the Basement" and "Dark Places". This new film "Madhouse" isn't exactly a masterpiece, neither, but still it's an admirable attempt that makes good use of the ominous clinic setting and even manages to throw in a scary sequence from time to time. Joshua Leonard (one of the twats that got famous after "The Blair Witch Project") stars as the ambitious and idealistic medicine student Clark Stevens, finishing his college years with an internship at the Cunningham Hall clinic. The facilities and methods there are extremely archaic and Clark begins to suspect the administrator, Dr. Franks, of sabotaging the curing processes of his patients. His investigation is interrupted when the clinic's head nurse is brutally murdered by an unknown psycho. With the help of cute nurse Sara and the mysterious patient in cell 44, Clark begins to uncover all the dark secrets of Cunningham Hall clinic. The first hour of "Madhouse" is pretty atmospheric with spooky introductions of the asylum's craziest patients (schizos, nymphs, savages etc...) and a rather impressive collection of typical surgery-tools (a lobotomy, anyone?). After that, however, the script totally stops to make sense and it desperately tries to trick you....without much success, though. The film isn't as gory as you might think but it does contain two or three very nasty sequences and they are effectively done. It could have been a better film but I'm not complaining about the end result too much. Worth a look.

Cunningham hall is a run down mental health facility with too many patients and reduced funding. An eager young medical student Clark Stevens (Joshua Leonard) accepts an internship at the asylum, and he quickly learns the level of depravity in this madhouse.

A young nurse named Sara (Jordan Ladd) shows him around, and he begins to worry about the condition of the inmates, particularly Alice (Natasha Lyonne) who is having horrifying hallucinations and Carl (Aaron Strongoni) who has suicidal tendencies. But when he begins to have visions of his own he turns to Sara for help, yet she also has something to hide.

Despite the fact it's a low budget and the straight to DVD (Video) movie, it still delivers great tension, and a creepy atmosphere throughout; the cast are quite strong and the story keeps you guessing till the end. I won't pretend it's flawless, but it is definitely worth watching if you get the chance; certainly not a film that you should avoid because you fear it may be too cheap.

7/10

Well, what a silly thing, for God's sake!! A Psychiatric Hospital which looks more like Dante's inferno, a new doctor that arrives to it, a series of strange killings, and a crazy end/explanation... The script seems to have been written by a bunch of amateurs, the characters are just ridiculous, and we don't even got a single fright that worth the watching. The guy that directed "Madhouse" should focus on making Marilyn Manson videos or stuff like that. The most of the actors are (well deserved) unknown, except for Lance Henrikssen (I guess he has to make some money from time to time.

I always end up wondering why the hell do I watch this kind of sub-products... but I never learn my lesson. Believe me, don't waste your time on this piece of sh*t. Recently they released a movie in Spain called "Hipnos", it's no big deal either, but it's quite a better movie and the story is pretty similar to Madhouse's. So give "hipnos" a try if you feel like.

*My rate: 1/10

Okay, I read all of the reviews for madhouse before renting it because I hate renting a movie to be thoroughly disappointed after watching it and I must say it wasn't that bad but it wasn't as good as all of the reviews stated. I was expecting something like Session 9 and really, that is not what it was all about in fact the only thing both movies had in common was they both took place at a psychiatric institution. (Caution two spoilers ahead) I was confused many times during the movie about what era it took place in. (spoiler 1) The way Clark was dressed at the beginning of the move suggested it took place in the 1950's because of his glasses and his brown suit. Also, the institution and the lead psychiatrist's office was indicative of 1950's style. However, when we meet other cast members it becomes evident that it is in fact taking place in modern day.

I wont spoil anymore for the viewer except to say that if you are expecting something like session 9 expect to be disappointed!

Strong horror and a vivid thriller. Slow boiling suspense and a twist that neither makes or breaks the film. Clark Stevens(Joshua Leonard)is a young psychiatric student that arrives for his internship at Cunnningham Hall Mental Facility. Understaffed, outmoded equipment, building in shambles, patients treated subhuman and a mysteriously uncaring director Dr. Franks(Lance Henriksen). Stevens is hardly settled in and a brutal murder occurs causing him to dig deep in the facility's history to uncover suspected secrets.

The mixing is notable and those long dark hallways are pretty creepy. There will be a couple of occasions having you leave your seat, but it is the anxiety of waiting for the horrific violence that brings on a hammering headache. Others in the cast: Natasha Lyonne, Dendrie Taylor, Leslie Jordan and Patrika Darbo.

I gave this film a 6 with a slightly more original script, better acting and slightly better FX it could have been an 8. The directing is pretty good although I figured out the ending less than 45 minutes into the film. This film still made me jump and gave me the creeps some very good editing and creepy atmosphere help the film rise above itself. Some reviews have compared it poorly with several films but this is not accurate this movie rips off so many ideas that it is unlike any of its predecessors and like all of them at the same time ?odd? isn't it....I would recommend this film for some frightful fun...watch it late at night (at least in the dark) alone or with friends...get out the popcorn and blankets enjoy!!!

MADHOUSE is a piece of trash horror film that seems to want to be the next GOTHIKA, although it's so cheaply made and poorly-shot that it's a bit of a chore to sit through. It's also one of those films made in the early 2000s that looks incredibly dated for modern audiences, amazing really when it's only 12 years old as of my viewing. Compare it to similar produce from the 1990s or even 1980s and you can instantly see how dated it looks.

The film features BLAIR WITCH PROJECT actor Joshua Leonard in the lead role and you quickly realise why he wasn't in many films (clue: he isn't very good). He plays a young intern who arrives at a creepy old mental institute and soon becomes involved in the usual run of weird goings-on amid the staff and patients. The patients do their best to be weird and disturbing but when one of them is a Divine rip-off they just come across as quite sad. Supporting cast members include one-time popular starlet Jordan Ladd (CABIN FEVER) and old-timer Lance Henriksen stuck in the clichéd role of the institute director. The worst thing by far about MADHOUSE is the horribly cheap direction from a guy who has made GINGERDEAD MAN 3: Saturday NIGHT CLEAVER. I think that says it all.

(Average rating between the woman and I, for once we actually agree on a rating)

He: OK, so quick cut macabre cinematography in the beginning of the movie does a great job in capturing my attention every time. Add to that an insane asylum (complete with requisite crazy folks), a creepy mannish nurse, and one or two hotties for sexual tension, and you have the ingredients for a sufficiently watchable horror movie. Yeah, as one would predict, the movie contains the overly predictable twist which you're not supposed to predict. The overall plot is a bit ... um ... thin, but thankfully horror movies don't need too much of that. It gets in the way of the killing.

She: I love this kind of movie. The psychological part is great. House of madness. The plot is very interesting, actually. It's out of my expectation in the end. Above all, it's a very good movie. If you are into twisted and puzzling movies, this would be your number one choice. You never know what is gonna happen.

Maybe is just me. The movie seems fine 90% of it. Great suspense, fine photography (for an horror film), nice deaths not too gory, some classic horror clichés, obligated sex scene, and turn of events. But the end is disappointing. No, it is not unavailable (well, it is to me) but still seems forced, like the producer said "Oh no, we are out of money.

¡Caesar, invent something and finish the movie right now!" Any way, it is a fine movie for a weekend. The actors seems fine, but nothing exceptional. Even Lance Henriksen looks a little bored trough the story. I believe the director could work a little more in his subplot.

Over all, I think the movie was alright - nothing truly new but an entertaining movie over all.

I cannot recommend this to people who are easily grossed out. Some of the kills are more graphic than i would have liked, although there was really only one (way too long) scene that really grossed me out.

Without supplying a lot of spoilers, I can't go into the plot much, but there were a few mild scares and I liked the characters i was supposed to like and intensely disliked the ones who were there to be disliked, so that at least was a success. I got a few 'eek' moments but never actually got a good scare.

The evidence is a little sketchy so if you're looking for a real murder mystery with crisp deductions, this is not it.

I still very curious, why people find this movie to be a very good horror movie, as for me I didn't find anything in the movie. All it has is just little twisted (expected) ending like all other psychopathic movie has. I think they even rip-off some from the thirteen ghosts.

Anyway though with my complaining, I did quite like watching the movie. The cast is pretty alright and the mood and the atmosphere of the movie are good. But in the end I still find nothing to hang on in the story. Just like a passerby movie, nothing great.

Recommendation: Yes, to the horror movie lover.

Rating: 6/10 (Grade: C)