Reissued for the delight of ’80s horror fans is Tibor Takács’ and Randall William Cook’s ode to bibliophile terror, subcategory facial mutilation. David Chakin’s screenplay allows a demented anti-hero from a scary book to invade our reality: Malcolm Brand gives himself a surgical mix-match appearance by straight-razoring features from the faces of his victims. The humble movie carries some good chills thanks to a macabre concept, clever direction and some really disturbing special makeup effects.

I, Madman
Blu-ray
Kino Lorber Kino Classics Kino Repertory
1989 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 89 min. / Hard Cover / Street Date June 17, 2025 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95
Starring: Jenny Wright, Clayton Rohner, Randall William Cook, Stephanie Hodge, Michelle Jordan.
Cinematography: Bryan England
Production Designers: Matthew C. Jacobs, Ron Wilson
Visual Effects: Jim Aupperle, Randall William Cook
Special Makeup Effects: Randall William Cook
Wardrobe: Sylvia Vega Vasquez
Film Editor: Marcus Manton
Music Composer: Michael Hoenig
Written by David Chaskin
Produced by Rafael Eisenman
Directed by Tibor Takács

A great many titles released in the early years of Blu-ray are now finding their way to the vaults of Kino Lorber … this former Shout! Factory item has been reissued by the Kino label ‘Kino Cult’ and looks better than ever. Our re-viewing came with an appreciation of its more cerebral approach, one that pays homage to a heritage of horror pulps.

A vein of horror seldom tapped by the movies is to be found in vintage pulp magazines, the bone-chilling ‘dread’ stories that make one feel insecure and off-balance. This 1989 release from Trans World Entertainment brings back memories of creepy illustrations in old horror anthologies. The classic example is this: in a dusty corner of a forgotten library, a sleepy old researcher is dozing over an ancient, opened book. From out of an illustration in the book reaches a skeletal hand. It’s about to turn off the desk lamp … what horrible thing will happen?  The perfectly irrational nightmare image was frequently referenced by Charles Addams and Gahan Wilson. Some of the film’s promotional artwork uses a similar ‘interactive’ haunted book gag concept.

When a horror picture comes along with a fresh idea or two, it’s easy to find favor. A modest shocker with ambitions, I, Madman is directed with verve and for the most part nicely acted. David Chaskin’s story blurs the boundary between what’s real and unreal, without boring us with the usual question ‘is it fantasy or reality?’  The Macabre is fully in charge.

Curled up on her couch, bookstore clerk Virginia (Jenny Wright) can’t tear herself away from the horrors within a dog-eared copy of one of the spiritualist Malcolm Brand’s creepy old novels. The trouble is that every time she reads a new chapter, something related happens in real life. Malcolm Brand’s personal book collection has come into the store as an estate consignment. She then thinks she’s seen him in a bookstore mirror, just for a second. Is he a figment of her imagination?

An old publisher tells Virginia that the author mutilated himself in a demented attempt to get the attention of a woman he loved. Then Brand appears in the flesh, a gravel-voiced maniac with a horrible face (Randall William Cook). He’s re-enacting his book’s grisly murders — and victimizing Virginia’s friends and acquaintances.

Along with Brand’s books came an unopened steamer trunk, now locked away in the bookstore’s attic. Why is it perforated with breathing holes?  Sure enough, it contains something that can’t be allowed to escape.

The story slips back and forth between the present (1989) and events thirty years earlier. The story twists are just good enough to surprise us, even with the borrowing of ideas from  Phantom of the Opera and other Gothics about fiends that hide horrible faces behind mysterious masks. Virginia relates her problem to a sympathetic police captain, who politely pays her no heed whatsoever. The obligatory cop boyfriend gets involved, and for once the police procedurals don’t distract from the macabre mood.

I, Madman is very much like the children’s classic  The NeverEnding Story, in which a fantasy tale becomes interactive. The film evokes the thrill of a vivid reading experience, the creepy kind in which one feels a book is ‘coming to life.’  Does Malcomb Brand ‘come to life’ because the act of reading his story summons him from an alternate dimension?  Virginia opens herself up to a trespass of fiction into reality, and it’s no fairy tale. When her friends are killed, she can’t wish them back to life, like Tinker Bell.

I, Madman was made by a skilled independent outfit in the last years before genre chillers were routinely consigned to the purgatory of straight-to-video. Although its resources are modest the picture is handsomely designed. Expressive lighting brings new life to visuals familiar from Alfred Hitchcock movies, and perhaps some Argento films. We like the relaxed opening shot, which pans across a block of old apartments as Art and Dotty Todd’s cover of “Chanson d’Amour” purrs on the soundtrack. Director Takács manages some cute stylistic tricks, like changing from 1989 to 1959 in one shot without a cut.

The standout horror makeup and visual effects scenes are all the work of Randall William Cook. Years before his triple Oscar-winning run in New Zealand with the  Lord of the Rings movies, Cook directed a lot of visual effects, specializing in stop-motion animation. Cook’s previous movie  The Gate showcased sensational pre-CGI illusions, including ambitious forced-perspective setups.

Cook also plays the old-school villain Malcolm Brand, creeping through scenes in a cape and broad-brimmed hat, like ‘The Shadow.’  1989 audiences likely related Malcolm to Wes Craven’s phantom  ‘Freddy’ character, as his appearances frequently defy logic. The startling makeup work gives Brand a horror-face stitched from pieces razor-slashed from his victims. It has a grisly tactile quality, like something from an EC comic. Cook’s piercing eyes and maniacal voice add to the effect. The face keeps changing. Whenever Brand nears the camera lens, we see ‘new improvements.’

Bursting onto the scene at chosen moments is that grotesque ‘thing’ in Brand’s steamer trunk. It is stop-motion animated, also by Randall William Cook. I, Madman may be the only horror feature where a single talent animated a character in addition to playing a Lon Chaney-type monster role under heavy makeup. A frantic, sharply designed fight scene puts the two ‘monsters’ in the same frame. Cook mixes live action with replacement miniatures and full-sized mockups — it’s more than just clever.

Jenny Wright (of Twister) is engaging as the haunted bookworm Virginia, and a major asset to the film’s success. The production is sometimes unsteady, but the good concept sustains many successful scenes. The effects sequences all rate a solid ‘A.’  Unlike the average slasher epic, I, Madman keeps us guessing all the way through its violent third act. The gory killings may be predictable, but not the plot mechanics. Each jeopardy situation is different.

I remember seeing the film’s trailer before another movie at Grauman’s Chinese on Hollywood Boulevard. This is the kind of film that Charles Band tried and failed to make many times. The ambitious I, Madman is a pleasing independent horror offering.

The KL Studio Classics Blu-ray of I, Madman is yet another popular item previously released by another disc boutique, in this case Shout! Factory back in 2015. The good image and sound may be identical to the previous disc, as nothing in Kino’s text says ‘new.’ Colors are nicely saturated, occasionally touching on the Technicolor look the director says he was after.

Kino retains the good Shout! extras and adds one of its own. The older items tap the memories of Takács and Cook, who had already worked well together on  The Gate, plus screenwriter David Chaskin and actors Clayton Rohner and Stephanie Hodge. The commentary documents the film’s genesis and relates many anecdotes from the filming.

A half-hour making-of docu has the expected repetitions but also points out some clever tricks we’d not noticed. At one point a maquette head is substituted for Randall’s live makeup, to show parts of Malcolm Brand’s face carved away.

Cook comes up with ten minutes of fascinating BTS video footage. Some of it was taped so he could judge if camera takes would allow for the inclusion of his stop-motion monster, the ‘Jackal Boy.’

New from Kino is a visual essay by Chris O’Neill. It concentrates on Virgina’s weird predicament experiencing fantastic events ‘overflowing’ from a supposedly fictional novel. An original trailer is included, bearing an alternate title. The standard title may not be the best, but ‘Hardcover’ doesn’t do anything for us at all.

Seeing that the film’s credits give friend and associate Craig Reardon a ‘thanks’ along with Jim Danforth and Bill Taylor, I sent him a ‘what did you do on this film?’ message, and received a welcome response:

“Hi Glenn … what did I do on I, Madman?  The credit was a way-too generous nod toward my merely showing up on Randy’s shooting days, many of which were nights, in some pretty unsavory places around L.A., complete with sounds of gunfire. I was there to help put on Randy’s ear appliances because he couldn’t see the back of his ears just using a mirror. That’s all I did, period!”

“Otherwise Randy designed and sculpted the makeups for the Malcolm Brand character and applied them himself. His assistant Fumi Mashimo prepped the pieces, laying in the faux sutures, etc.. He made what hairpieces were needed (eyebrows, wigs). Oh — in addition to providing some sympathetic company and moral support, I guess I also lent a hand when he inserted or removed his huge scleral contact lenses, the kind that cover the entire exposed eye.”

“One detail I like very much on his patchwork face for Brand is the nose. It looks exactly like what I’d imagine a ‘dead’ nose would look like: waxen, bloodless. Also, Randy differentiated between the sections on Brand’s face, with some beginning to decompose, others slightly more recent-looking, er, ‘healthier.’ It’s a thinking man’s monster makeup.”

“It really is a virtuoso turn for the versatile Mr. Cook, especially when one factors in his excellent effects work elsewhere in the picture. The detailing, the coloring, all that are excellent. I like the movie as a curiosity piece and I know it has its following as so many oddball horror films do.”

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

I, Madman
Blu-ray rates:
Movie: Very Good
Video: Excellent
Sound: Excellent
Supplements:
Audio commentary by Director Tibor Takács and Randall William Cook
Much of Madness, More of Sin, a Visual Essay by Chris O’Neill
Interview Documentary Ripped From the Pages: The Making of I, Madman with Takács, Cook, screenwriter David Chaskin and Actors Clayton Rohner and Stephanie Hodge.
Behind the Scenes Footage, with commentary by Randall William Cook
Theatrical Trailer.
Deaf and Hearing Impaired Friendly? YES; Subtitles: English (feature only)
Packaging: One Blu-ray in Keep case in card sleeve
Reviewed: July 1, 2025
(7350mad)

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