Review: Diary of a Madman

Set in 19^th Century France, Vincent Price stars as a magistrate who is asked to visit a condemned murderer (Harvey Stephens) in prison who claims he is innocent. In fact, he claims to have been possessed by the spirit of pure evil, a creature known as ‘The Horla’. Price scoffs at such a laughable fantasy. However, it appears as though ‘The Horla’ has moved from the condemned man’s body to Price’s. Meanwhile, the amateur sculptor meets and falls for his latest model (played by Nancy Covack), who is a married woman. She leaves her husband for Price, but their happiness is short-lived as ‘The Horla’ makes its evil presence known, leading to Price committing a shocking act.

 

One of the lesser-known Vincent Price horror films, this 1963 effort from director Reginald Le Borg (“War Drums” with Lex Barker, and a lot of TV work) is occasionally hokey, but pretty interesting stuff. If you enjoyed Price’s “The Mad Magician” here’s another B-level Price film that ought to get talked about a bit more. A handsomely mounted film as shot by Ellis W. Carter (“The Incredible Shrinking Man”, “Kissin’ Cousins”) with excellent use of shadow in particular. It also features an excellent performance in the lead by Price, one of his best genre movie performances for sure. He’s a huge reason for why this works as well as it does. He’s not exactly restrained or subdued so much as perfectly modulated. It’s actually the kind of role Boris Karloff occasionally played later in his career, a somewhat gentle-natured, well-meaning man seemingly going insane. When he finally turns to murder it’s thus quite a bit shock for the audience as it’s such a dreadful act that he’s pretty well irredeemable.

 

It’s not hard to see why the film has somewhat fallen through the cracks, however. Director Le Borg is pretty workman-like, it’s more of a fantasy/sci-fi than the horror Price is usually associated with, and there are some very hokey and sometimes awkwardly executed elements. At times it plays like something from the 1940s, rather than the 1960s, and the story it’s based on is even older – coming from the 1880s. The glowing green eyes and Price conversing with ‘The Horla’ are just a touch too silly for instance, and make the otherwise good-looking film seem a bit more outdated than it actually is. On the plus side, what the supporting cast lacks in star power/presence, they make up for in giving quite solid performances. I think Ian Wolfe is terribly underused however.

 

I liked the film, and the idea of The Horla is pretty fascinating to me, even if it’s not expertly executed. It’s a bit goofy. However, Price is possibly losing his mind, so why not give us a film about inter-dimensional beings? It’s far-out and silly, but if the guy is losing touch with reality, wouldn’t his delusions be completely off-the-wall and seem goofy to those of us in our right minds? Isn’t that kinda the point? So I ended up going along with it, though I was a little bit disappointed that they eventually go the more overt, predictable possession route with ‘The Horla’ after initially leaving it quite vague as to whether it’s a delusion or possession. I would’ve preferred the alternate or at least something more ambiguous.

 

Sometimes clever, sometimes silly fantasy/horror film with an excellent Vincent Price performance. It’s a tad lumpy in the execution at times, but always interesting and quite underrated. Why is this so unknown? Based on a short story by Guy de Maupassant (whose work inspired Mario Bava’s outstanding “Black Sabbath”), the screenplay is by the film’s producer Robert E. Kent (“Twice-Told Tales”, and the dreadful Corman-Price version of “Tower of London”). Seek this one out if you can, there’s some really good stuff in here.

 

Rating: B-