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Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: March 25th, 2025.
Director: Juan López Moctezuma
Cast: Arthur Hansel, Claudio Brook, Ellen Sherman, Martin LaSalle, David Silva
Year: 1973
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The Mansion Of Madness – Movie Review:
Better known stateside, upon its initial release at least, as Dr. Tarr's Torture Dungeon (an extremely misleading title if ever there was one, and the cover art of the Magnum VHS release made it look like an Andy Milligan sex and gore film), The Mansion Of Madness, or The System Of Doctor Tarr And Professor Fether as it is titled on the elements used for the transfer on this release, is the directorial debut of Panic Movement member Juan López Moctezuma, a filmmaker almost certainly better known for Alucarda.
Loosely based on Edgar Allen Poe's The System Of Doctor Tarr And Professor Feather, the story follows a Frenchman named Gaston (Arthur Hansel who had a bit part in the Cannon films masterpiece 10 To Midnight with Charles Bronson!) who has returned to his homeland after several years studying abroad in the United States. His goal is to visit the mental hospital where his father recently passed away, and when the film opens he's travelling by horse and buggy with a man and a woman through the thick woods to get there.
He arrives at the hospital and sets about on his quest, while his two fellow travelers head off back into the woods only to meet a dire fate. Gaston soon meets up with Dr. Maillard (Claudio Brook, also of Alucarda), whose controversial methods are looked upon with some distrust by the local medical community, and rightfully so. Maillard allows his patients almost completely free reign of the facility. A man who is convinced he is a chicken runs around, as does a man who thinks he is an owl. Oddly enough, the doctor's employees seem equally off balance, as does the doctor himself. His beautiful daughter, Eugenis (Ellen Sherman), has a penchant for bizarre dances and she soon takes an interest in the hospital’s new arrival.
One night Eugenie and Gaston meet, and she explains her father's history to him - he's not actually a real doctor at all but a criminal mastermind who has organized a revolution of sorts. The inmates have literally taken over the asylum and they have the real hospital workers looked up in the basement of the hospital. The two decide to make a break for it and get out of the hospital while the still can, but Maillard's cronies quickly capture them and bring them back to the facility, where they too will be locked up in the basement - a place where insanity is king and there are no rules.
The strong Moctezuma/Jodorowsky (El Topo, The Holy Mountain) connection is obvious in this film. There are many surrealist touches on display, from the costumes and settings to the random actions of the inmates and their captors. The story is really only there to string together the bizarre set pieces and give a little bit of method to all of the madness contained therein. Moctezuma's background in the Panic Movement is made clearly obvious by the irrational actions and dialogue of the central characters within the film, as well as the over-the-top theatrics and truly unsettling conclusion. In short, this film doesn't really resemble Poe's source material so much, and it would seem that the film is less of an adaptation than maybe a very loose interpretation. There are some traditional gothic sets, and the setup is pure Poe, but once Gaston gets into the hospital and the devil begins to hop around in the woods jumping and waving like a maniac, we are very definitely in surrealist territory.
The Mansion Of Madness – Blu-ray Review:
The Mansion Of Madness debuts on region free Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome framed at 1.85.1 in an AVC encoded 1080p high-definition transfer that is “newly scanned & restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative.” The transfer is a good one, handling the film’s many fog-heavy scenes without every breaking down into compression artifacts and boasting accurate color reproduction and skin tones. Some scenes are shot a little softer than others and yet others under very low lighting conditions, but it all looks quite good here. Detail is strong throughout and we get nice depth and texture as well. Natural film grain is retrained and there are no noticeable issues with visible noise reduction or edge enhancement problems.
Vinegar Syndrome provided both the original English language track as well as the Spanish dub, both in 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Mono, with optional subtitles offered up in English only for both options. As far as which track is better, they sound more or less the same in terms of audio quality, the Spanish track might sound a bit brassier. The English track has the advantage of technically being more authentic as the film was shot with a North American market in mind, but the Spanish track is interesting in its own right. It all boils down to personal preference, really - both mixes are fine, with properly balanced levels cand clean, clear dialogue.
A commentary track with Mexican film historian and author Francisco Peredo that goes over the film's connections to the other players in the Panic Movement and other avant-garde movements of artistic expression, the Poe story that the movie was inspired by and how it differs from the text, different filmed versions of that Poe story that have existed over the years, thoughts on the characters that are in the film, locations that were used for the production in Mexico City and the surrounding area, details on the cast and crew that worked on the production, Juan López Moctezuma's life and career, the characters arcs in the movie, the use of music and dance in a key scene, the inspiration of filmmakers like Fritz Lang, the elements of dream logic and surrealism worked into the production and more.
From there, we get a few featurettes, beginning with the sixteen-minute Surreal Experiment, which is an interview with actress Ellen Sherman where she talks about how crazy her experiences making the film were. She also goes over how she got into acting and wound up being cast in the film based primarily on the producer liking her look, what it was like being the only American in the production, her background and education, thoughts on her character, memories of shooting specific scenes and what it took to get into character, how staggering some of the locations used for the movie were in person, her dance scene and the costume that she had to wear in that sequence, how the film community in Mexico City differs from Los Angeles or New York, how the production attracted the best talent in the region, how much work went into getting the extras for the film, getting along with her co-stars and how all involved were in love more with the experimental nature of the film than the story itself.
The six minute Room For Play interviews production designer Gabriel Weisz Carrington that talks about working with the cast and crew, his background, how he came to know the film's director and what he was like to work with, coming up with different ideas for some of the film's more outlandish set pieces, how most of the resources went to costume rentals, shooting most of the film in English and doing the best that he could with a modest budget.
Art In 24 Frames Per Second is a fifteen-minute interview with Alessandra Moctezuma, the daughter of director Juan López Moctezuma. She discusses the importance of challenging yourself, what Moctezuma was like both as a father and as a celebrity and artist, talking about how involved in arts and culture he was throughout his life, his work as a producer, how important it was to him to support arts and culture, what it was like seeing her father on television when he was working in that industry, what she learned from him throughout her life with him, why he shifted from painting to filmmaking, the importance of visuals to his work, why he allowed his films to be surreal, social commentary that's inherent in much of his work, what his relationship with her mother was like, the health issues that plagued him later in his life and how he contracted Alzheimer's at only sixty-three years old and how she herself has picked up her father's non-conformist, antiestablishment tendencies.
Last but certainly not least is Alucardos: Portrait Of A Vampire, a feature-length, eighty-nine minute documentary from 2011 on director Juan López Moctezuma. Directed by Ulises Guzmán, this Spanish language production (which comes with optional English subtitles) does a really deep dive into his career and includes loads or archival footage from various projects he was involved with, opening with some great footage of him playing Dracula. It covers his work not just in film but in the art world, television, music and more, covering his background, his work with the Panic Movement, the impact that Alucarda had open release, different people that he worked with over the years, his work with Jodorowsky, how his work was received during his time, the traits prominent in his work and plenty more. Along the way we get interviews with people that knew him and were influenced by him and this piece does a great job in painting a pretty broad picture of what made him such an interesting figure.
Finishing up the extras are the film’s original theatrical trailer, the alternate Spanish language title sequence, menus and chapter selection options. As far as the packaging goes, Vinegar Syndrome offers up some cool double-sided cover art and, if you purchase one of the first 3,000 copies from the Vinegar Syndrome website, a limited edition embossed slipcover designed by Adam Maida. Included inside the keepcase is a full color insert booklet that contains an essay by Alessandra Moctezuma titled La Mansion De La Locura: A Fevered Dream That Conquers Reality, a biography on the filmmaker and credits for this release accompanied by a selection of color archival photos.
The Mansion Of Madness – The Final Word:
The Mansion Of Madness is a trip, a wild slice of surreal cinema that’s as strangely intriguing as it is weirdly compelling. Vinegar Syndrome has done an excellent job upgrading this one to Blu-ray, with a great technical presentation and some stellar extra features that cover the history of the film and the fascinating story of the man that made it. Highly recommended!
