Review: Vincent Price & Peter Cushing Enter The MADHOUSE

Posted on June 18, 2026 by Niall Browne in Reviews

Madhouse brings together two of the most well known Masters of the Macabre. Not only do you get the mighty Vincent Price in the lead role, but you also get able support from the great Peter Cushing. It might not be either of the pair’s finest hour, but this is still an enjoyable horror romp which has plenty to offer.

Price plays Paul Toombes, a horror movie star whose career takes a downward spiral after the murder of his fiancé. Twelve years later he’s on the comeback trail after signing on to make a TV series based on his most successful role – the skull faced Dr Death. Just as filming begins, a new spate of murders begins. Is Toombes responsible, or is there a killer on the loose?

An Amicus production and an American International Pictures release, Madhouse was came out at the end of the horror cycle for both famed companies. Times and tastes were changing as the classic horror movies that began in the 1950s where beginning to fade as the 1970s wore on. We’d soon be in the realm of groundbreaking genre films like Halloween and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but Madhouse is an interesting example those older style films were trying to stay relevant as viewing habits and audience interests shifted.

Lets face it, Vincent Price never gave a bad performance. Some material may have been better than others, but Price always made things work no matter what. This is a great role for him though, riffing on his onscreen persona as a horror star – and using some footage from his old AIP work to augment the back story of his character. The film even manages to shoehorn-in appearances from fellow horror icons, Basil Rathbone and Boris Karloff – even though both actors had been dead for years. Peter Cushing also seems to relish his part – again playing a fellow horror film actor. It’s a smaller role, but Cushing (as usual) gives it a touch of class.

Directed by Jim Clark, the famed editor of such eclectic films as The Innocents, Charade, Marathon Man, The Killing Fields and The World Is Not Enough, Madhouse had a troubled production – but he’s not to be blamed for any of the film’s short comings – those faults might just lie at the door of producer Milton Subotsky who asked for constant changes during production.

Madhouse may not wholly hold together as a narrative as there’s something of a tonal mishmash. Some of the plotting is a little bit flimsy, but there’s certainly fun to be had with it. Things move along at a nice pace and the ending manages to subvert things and actually leave you thinking about what has gone before. So it’s doing something, right?

Special Features

This release of Madhouse from Eureka Entertainment comes with an introduction from horror novelist Stephen Laws, a video essay gothic scholar Mary Going and old-ish making-of featurette and an entertaining, conversational commentary from critic David Del Valle. You also get a trailer, stills gallery and the Blu-ray comes with a booklet written Christopher Stewardson which features an archival interview with director Jim Clark conducted by John Hamilton.

A nice wee package.