By Melissa Antoinette Garza
Kudos to AMAZON PRIME for it’s selection of 1970s grindhouse, sexploitation films. DR. TARR’S TORTURE DUNGEON (1973) also known as HOUSE OF MADNESS and THE MANSION OF MADNESS is a strange, surreal adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, THE SYSTEM OF DOCTOR TARR AND PROFESSOR FETHER.
The film opens in the 1800s. A journalist by the name of Gaston LeBlanc (Arthur Hansel) travels with a few friends, by horse and buggy to an insane asylum. There, he intends to study and report on the methods being utilized on the patients by the lead doctor,
Gaston becomes suspect of all the events that are going on in the hospital and on the land. People with antlers on their heads run around the fields, a religious cult erects a temple, a woman is violently assaulted, people walk around as if in marching bands, all the while the caretaker, Dr. Maillard (Claudio Brook) seems to idealize the entire situation.
On definition alone, there’s a twist, but it’s one everyone can see coming; but that’s okay. This, like many 70s flicks of the ilk, is a surreal, manic, disturbing, hilarious roller-coaster ride. In one scene, Maillard and Gaston are engaging in a fairly normal conversation, when right out of left field, a grown man in feathers and crowing is guarding a chicken coup.
I miss these odysseys into madness. They never fit into a straight genre. They’re disturbing, but are they truly horror? They have moments of complete levity, but with a vicious rape scene, I wouldn’t classify it as a comedy. It just doesn’t fit in anywhere. Personally, I have an affection for things that don’t fit in anywhere.
In many ways, these 1970s flicks, that are known by only a small cult few, have been left by Santa on the Island of Misfit Movies, for decades. They’ve been forgotten about because they don’t fit into the mainstream mold. More than that, they didn’t want to.
Many try to recapture the raw, haunting, sensual darkness that the 70s embraced, but few even touch the surface. I don’t know if it was a different mindset, the impact of the Vietnam War, some artistic visionaries with LSD, a rising contempt for convention, or a mix of it all; but it worked. I have nothing but adoration for the costumes, design, style and most importantly, the daring filmmakers, who were avant-garde, without the soft cushion of a social media audience willing to embrace them.
Movies like DRIVE-IN MASSACRE (1977), ISLA, SHE WOLF OF THE SS (1975), and MANOS: THE HANDS OF FATE (1966) are just a different, sensationally crazy breed that the mainstream likes to forget about. That is until someone respected, like Robert Rodriguez, tells them it’s cool to like it.
God, I hate that! I hated when GRINDHOUSE (2007) came out and suddenly, all these reviewers, who trashed these films for decades, suddenly were the biggest fans, rediscovering this “lost art.” It wasn’t lost. In the 90s, when much of the style was abandoned and cable didn’t showcase these films as much, we found a way to see them. Many fans, like myself, raided video stores to locate these phantasmagorical wonders, we enjoyed so much. They are inspirational and artistic endeavors; and they don’t deserve to get dismissed by pretentious, affected, intellectuals, who think the films are too trashy to have merit.
Still, it’s not all bad. If not for the bandwagon jumpers, the genuine fans, wouldn’t be able to enjoy all the special edition, blu-ray releases of drive-in hits, that have come out because of the interest.
As for, DR. TARR’S TORTURE DUNGEON, I’d suggest it. It’s odd, twisted, dark, disturbing and, at times, quite silly and fun. Bear in mind you need to be able to sit thru some long and slow scenes, but the payoff is worth it; especially if you like quirky and weird, the way that I do.
For those interested, this is currently on both AMAZON PRIME and YOUTUBE.
Scared Stiff Rating: 5.5/10
