Diary of a Madman (1963)

Not bad early 60's Vincent Price horror film. Price plays a French magistrate (a judge?) who slowly becomes possessed by an evil spirit called a Horla. Usually a respectable, decent man, he starts n affair with a married artist's model (who's a tramp) and eventually murders her. When the model's husband is accused of the killing, the magistrate, still under the influence of the jeering Horla does his utmost to make things right. Not Price's best but watchable. Joseph Ruskin's marvelous voice plays the unseen Horla. The DVD-R is excellent quality. The only extra is the trailer. Recommended for horror movie fans

This one had the makings of a great Vincent Price horror flick but somehow just manages to be 'ok.' I think part of the problem is that it just sort of hovers around the middle the entire time. It never rises above. No great scenes or moments. It's all competently produced and enjoyable but still there's something missing. Perhaps if director Reginald Le Borg's original vision of the Horla as being some distorted evil voice had been allowed it might have added an extra bit of creepiness to it that would have elevated the picture. But the studio didn't like that idea so we got the rather ordinary and underwhelming voice for the Horla instead.Basically it's a nice sort of Jekyll & Hyde movie with nothing exceptional about it except for the beauty of Nancy Kovack. Wow she was a stunner. I enjoyed it though and I would recommend it to all Price fans or classic horror fans, with the understanding that it's a movie with its limitations. Still entertaining though.

This is a Vincent Price vehicle that is loosely based on a Guy De Maupassant short story. The setup is eerie, speaking of how dark spiritual beings exist in our world, unseen by human eyes. "The Horla" is one such unseen supernatural being, one which has power over the minds of men and the natural world. Unfortunately, the film's pacing becomes quite grating by the end (was it really only 97 minutes?) and ends with some fairly predictable '50s/'60s cheesy horror.In this tale, Price plays Simon Cordier, a magistrate in a French court in the late 19th century. When the magistrate has one final conversation with a prisoner convicted of multiple murders, the man tells Cordier that he did not commit the murders, but was compelled to by some unspeakable evil entity (the Horla) which took control of his mind and body. Then, for some reason or another, the Horla begins to stalk Cordier (it's rather clumsily presented, but it works). Fearing for his sanity, Cordier takes a vacation from his work and takes up his old hobby of sculpting, which leads him to encounter the model and enchanting muse, Odette (Nancy Kovak). And it is here that the Horla begins to work his magic on Simon Cordier. The Horla plays the devil's advocate, blackmailing Cordier into following his weakest urges.A lot of Vincent Price films operated within a spectrum of horror-comedy, which is not to say that they were exactly funny, but had such an offbeat attitude it made them simultaneously amusing and creepy. Some of those vibes can be found here, and a number of Price's lines and expressions are totally charming (such as when he's smooth-talking Odette for the first time). And the way some of the "philosophical" ideas were presented -- they were so blunt it was comedic. I don't know if that much was intentional, but it did give the movie some color.But at the same time the plot, characters and story are all too simple for how long the film runs. And the villain or mysterious antagonist, the "Horla", becomes pretty lame by the end. He gets reduced to the sort of unimaginative pseudo-science-fiction horror that filled out B-movies in the '50s and '60s. The typical spiritual/philosophical elements which litter "mystical horror" stories are here either cliché (the crucifix is able to ward off evil... again!) or just boring (the conversations with the Police Chief about whether or not criminals are born evil). And my other main criticism is that the film would be pretty terrible without Vincent Price in the lead role. Only Price carries the film by the end."Diary of a Madman" was a decent distraction for a lazy afternoon, but not a film that I'd watch again. Vincent Price has done some really excellent stuff, but this isn't one of his necessary works.

Vincent Price is one of my all-time favorite actors, and it is undeniable that most of his greatest work comes from the the 60s. Even though not nearly as memorable as the masterpieces Price was in in the the early 60s (such as Roger Corman's brilliant Poe-cycle, or "The Last Man On Earth"), Reginald Le Borg's "Diary Of A Madman" is a moody and spooky little Horror tale that my fellow Price fans can not afford to miss.Price stars as Simon Cordier, a widowed magistrate, and spare-time sculptor. When Cordier visits a convicted murderer in his cell, the convict keeps swearing that he was forced to murder by an evil spirit. After a subsequent fight, in which Cordier accidentally kills the murderer in self-defense, he soon has to find out that the murderer's claims were not the foul excuses he thought they were, as he suddenly begins to hear the voice of evil himself. It is the voice of a 'Horla', a bizarre entity that feeds on evil, able to take control over people once it has possessed them... The film is based on the story "The Horla" by Guy de Monparnass, a French author whose writings reportedly served as a major inspiration to H.P. Lovecraft. Vincent Price is, as always, great. Pice always played madmen like no other, and the particular role as a possessed man who is still trying to fight the evil spirit possessing him fits him like a glove. It should be a joy for any fan of classic Horror to watch Vincent Price try to fight off evil and turn into a mindless executor of the Horla's will. The Horla is never seen, only heard, but the voice is eerie enough. The film is well-shot on cool settings and in nice colors and Nancy Kovack makes a nice female lead. The rest of the performances are not particularly memorably, but Vincent Price alone is more than enough.As mentioned above, "Diary Of A Madman" is not nearly as memorable as many other contemporary films with Price. Price starred in quite a bunch of brilliant flicks around that time, however, (one of his greatest films, "The Haunted Palace" was made in the same year as this one) and this is still a highly entertaining, eerie and nicely made film that none of his fans should miss. More than once, this film resembles older Vincent Price Classics, but, as far as I am considered, this is legitimate. Overall "Diary Of A Madman" is great, spooky fun that should not be missed by any of my fellow Price-enthusiasts! Highly recommended!