Product Description

Like Jodorowsky's EL TOPO, which features many of the same cast and crew, MANSION is a wild, psychedelic nightmare, imbued with the freewheeling vibe of the late 1960s.

Based on a story by famed horror writer Edgar Allan Poe, the film is set in a kind of kingdom of madness - a huge insane asylum presided over by notorious brigand, Raul Fragonard. He has locked up the institution’s director and set the lunatics free. A visting journalist uncovers the secret behind the Mansion of Madness, but soon finds himself on trial before a host of crazed lunatics - whose ultimate aim is world domination. EXTRAS: Featurette on the film's director (15 mins)

Interview with director Guillermo del Toro (Blade 2; Hellboy) who talks about the film, its director and star Claudio Brook (12 mins)

Original theatrical trailer (4 mins)

Audio options include a Spanish language version with optional English subtitles and an English language version An image gallery consisting of the original material used to promote the film in the US, including posters and stills

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #91416 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-02-22
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 85 minutes

American Cinematheque (Los Angeles)
"A phantasmagorical black comedy with equal measures of Bunuel, Fellini and Ken Russell!"

Customer Reviews

Surreal Entertainment
The first entry in the short film career of director Juan Lopez Moctezuma, The Mansion of Madness is a fine example of South of the Border Surrealism, and as such, shares more of a kinship with the works of Alejandro Jodorowsky and Fernando Arrabal, than with Moctezuma's later film (also on DVD) Alucarda. Based in part on Edgar Allan Poe's The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Feather, The Mansion of Madness tells the story of Gaston (Arthur Hansel) who, having recently returned from abroad, travels to an asylum nestled in the heart of a secluded forest. During the opening voice over, Gaston reveals that it was in this remote asylum that his father died, and under the guise of meeting with the head of the institution (a doctor named Maillard who employs unorthodox methods of treatment for patients) Gaston hopes to uncover the mystery shrouding his deceased father. However, this initial motivation is quickly abandoned once Gaston is given a grand tour of the sanitarium by the infamous "Dr. Maillard" (played with psychotic abandon by Claudio Brook) resulting in the discovery that the lunatics are actually running the asylum, and that the real Maillard and his staff are being held captive.
Unlike Alucarda, the premise of The Mansion of Madness provided Moctezuma with a concept in which to explore his Surrealist inclinations, and let his crazed imagination run wild. The film also reveals Moctezuma dabbling with absurd humor, the results of which are quite funny, and again help solidify his association to Surrealism. Although this film marked his directorial debut, Moctezuma's direction seems confident, his artistic vision clear, and he does not display many of the telltale signs of a novice director. In addition, the cinematography is of a high caliber, as are many of the performances from a very large cast. In this type of a story the mise-en-scene is crucial and thankfully the locations are wonderful, helping to create a palpable atmosphere of decay, and yes, madness. Perhaps due to the freewheeling nature of the narrative, the film does tend to lag on occasion. However, there is enough going on throughout to hold the viewer's interest, and the final fifteen minutes (highlighted by inmates performing a synchronized chicken dance) are well worth waiting around for.
This is another fine release from Mondo Macabro, featuring a great film transfer and a Spanish audio track with English subtitles. The handful of extras include - a director bio, the U.S. trailer, an interview with director Guillermo del Toro (also on the Alucarda disc) who discusses Moctezuma and actor Claudio Brook, an essay on the film, a director filmography, and a Mondo Macabro trailer highlighting past, present, and future releases.

Very strange fun!
This film is quite odd but it is also a lot of fun and I'm glad I bought it! It's not a small film, either, with a large cast, wonderful costumes & camera work and parts of it were shot in large, old & seemingly abandoned buildings. It's not really an "R" kind of film at all but its perspective may confuse or seem unpleasant to some. Some of the dialogue is in English and some isn't but it's not the worst dub job around by any means.

Lost Treasure of Cinematic History
Possibly one of the most beautiful movies ever filmed, a living moving painting, a living breathing poem.
Consider the year 1976... a good 60 years (give or take) after the Futurist/Dadaist/Surrealist movements were born. . .and yet here, in this film, we have the culmination of all of their grandest visions and desires.
The stark, hellish, and surreal images, words, sounds, music, and so on of this film are just, well astounding. Every frame is a painting, every speech is a poem, every sound is a symphony of the un-sound.
This film is more than a film, it is what the best films are, it is a journey . . .through exactly what is up to you; a journey through psychology-the mind, a journey through theology-the soul, a journey through philosphy, the mind's dreaming self, a journey through cinema, the meta-self-meta-critic detatched observer of what had come before, what one sees in the instant, and what will come afterwards.

You could name past influences as; Murnau's "Nosferatu", Lang's "Metropolis", Dreyer's "Vampyr", and Welle's "The Trial."
You could name the future influenced as; Lynch, Argento, Ridley and Tony Scott, Mann, Fincher, Del Toro, etc...

Either direction, this is amazing film that has been somewhat lost in cinematic history. It's time someone re-discovered it.