Retrospective Film Review

I, Madman (1989) • 30 Years Later

A bookshop clerk finds that an insane and murderous doctor from one of the store’s horror novels has come to life.

There are cult films that become huge over time, gradually accruing legions of loyal fans until they go mainstream. Others remain cult, loved by a handful of acolytes, but never discovered by the majority. It’s a mystery to me how a film as good as I, Madman remains in the latter category. Ever since renting it on VHS, back in the early-1990s, I’d been anticipating a sequel… which never happened because it was considered a flop.

A year after it bombed at the box office, it went on to win the Grand Prix at the 1990 Avoriaz International Festival of Fantastic Film, a much-revered accolade that must have been a salve for director Tibor Takács (The Gate). Past recipients had included Stephen Spielberg, Brian De Palma, David Lynch, James Cameron, David Cronenberg, Jim Henson, and Frank Oz.