Andy McGregor A journalist, seeking an exclusive exposé visits a mysterious mental institution where he has heard of unconventional treatments for madness. At first he is made to feel unwelcome but, on meeting the head doctor, is invited on a grand tour. As he is lead around the grounds and gardens, there are few surprises with the inmates they observe. But as his tour takes him further into the asylum, these encounters become increasingly disturbing and lurid and the patients more deranged. His journey ends in the grand hall where it is revealed that the patients have overrun the place and the staff have been killed or imprisoned. The "head doctor" is their leader and styled himself on a Napolean-like dictator; he has set his sights further than just the limits of the madhouse.This bizarre Mexican surrealism reaches for the strangeness of "El Topo" and for the demented, hellish imagery of "Caligula", "The Devils" and to some extent "The Wicker Man". Unfortunately, it has not got the same quality of writing or directing as these greatly superior films. Instead it is nothing more than a psychedelic re-telling of a Gothic short-story which makes it feel too much of a gimmick. Granted, there are some heavy hitting aspects to some of the action but by that point you have been desensitised somewhat to the relentless portrayals of madness and madcappery! When the twist comes, it is hardly a surprise. Still, this passes the time and is memorable enough, if not just for the "chickens"!

Boba_Fett1138 The movie has a true fitting title; "The Mansion of Madness". It is indeed a mad movie to watch, though not in a good way.It's a bit of a shame. The movie its story and premise definitely showed some potential. After all, it's a movie based on an Edgar Allan Poe story. But the thing with this movie is that it totally does not pick a horror approach to its story, while an approach like that would had definitely made this a better and more fun watch.But as it turns out, the movie has no focus at all. It doesn't really follow a good, main, clear plot line, which adds to the total madness of this movie. Perhaps it was all intentional, I don't know but it just doesn't really work out too well. It just never makes this a fun, tense, mysterious or compelling movie to watch at all. Instead it all feels incredibly messy and because it doesn't really follow a story, the movie also even starts to feel a bit like a bore.It's a real crazy movie, in which a whole lot of crazy stuff is happening. Weird, even for my taste, since most of the stuff seems to be incredibly random and it just too often doesn't make an awful lot of sense.No, it's not the worst or most annoying genre movie I have ever seen but then again, I also really can't think of any reason why anyone should ever go and watch this movie in the first place.5/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Red-Barracuda This is a Mexican adaption of the Edgar Allan Poe story 'The System of Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether'. It tells the tale of a journalist who travels to a sanatorium to report on eccentric medical techniques practised there. This is frankly a really bizarre feature. Right from the get go this is odd. It is sort of a horror film yet its atmosphere is almost quirky a lot of the time. The music reflects this by being spectacularly inappropriate throughout. I suppose with a central idea of the lunatics taking over the asylum, the general off-kilter strangeness is imbued in the music and general mood. There is a multitude of oddball characters that feature throughout the picture, culminating in a finale involving menacing chicken people. No, seriously.I guess this movie can best be described as a surrealist film. Seeing as its Mexican and made around the same time as Alejandro Jodorowsky was making movies this makes more sense. There must've been something funny in the Mexican tap water back in the early 70's. So I suppose it will probably appeal more to those who appreciate weird art films rather than anyone after a Gothic horror yarn, which to be honest this film really isn't. While it's certainly a memorably nutty film, it would be remiss to not mention that it's a little rough around the edges as well. It's really a mixture of quite bad film-making with some pretty impressive moments. The overall strangeness is probably ultimately its chief selling point though. So if you have an interest in the bizarre then this certainly will tick a few boxes for you on that score.

jonesmatt942 This movie is about some doctor who visits a strange insane asylum.The plot is hard to keep up with because the movie is so boring.It's like some 60's drug trip with all weird costumes and ridiculously acting.The people in the insane asylum basically prance around and act like idiots. An example of this is when a man walks around clucking an acting like a chicken as he spits out feed that is thrown in his face. Even nudity cannot save this flick and there is plenty of it even a rape scene. Every actor in this movie except the protagonist and some of his friends act retarded. Also, there very little physical torture in this film which I originally hoped for. Instead I got some loony nonsensical hippy horror film.