| Trish Everly | ... | Julia Sullivan | |
| Michael MacRae | ... | Sam Edwards | |
| Dennis Robertson | ... | Father James | |
| Morgan Hart | ... | Helen | |
| Allison Biggers | ... | Mary Sullivan | |
| Edith Ivey | ... | Amantha Beauregard | |
| Richard Baker | ... | Sacha Robertson Jr. | |
| Don Devendorf | ... | Principal | |
| Jerry Fujikawa | ... | Mr. Kimura | |
| Doug Dillingham | ... | Golden | |
| Joe Camp | ... | Hospital Guard | |
| Janie Baker | ... | Sacha's Mother | |
| Huxsie Scott | ... | Secretary |
Directed by | |||
| Ovidio G. Assonitis | (as Oliver Hellman) | ||
Writing credits(in alphabetical order) | ||
| Ovidio G. Assonitis | writer (as Oliver Hellman) | |
| Stephen Blakely | writer | |
| Roberto Gandus | writer | |
| Peter Shepherd | writer | |
Produced by | |||
| Ovidio G. Assonitis | .... | producer (as Oliver Hellman) | |
| Peter Shepherd | .... | producer | |
Original Music by | |||
| Riz Ortolani | |||
Cinematography by | |||
| Roberto D'Ettorre Piazzoli | |||
Film Editing by | |||
| Angelo Curi | |||
Art Direction by | |||
| Stefano Paltrinieri | |||
Costume Design by | |||
| Serena Severini | |||
Makeup Department | |||
| Nilo Jacoponi | .... | makeup artist | |
| Gino Zamprioli | .... | makeup artist | |
Production Management | |||
| Jacques Goyard | .... | executive in charge of production | |
| Roger Salvadori | .... | production manager | |
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director | |||
| Stratton Leopold | .... | assistant director | |
Sound Department | |||
| Piero Fondi | .... | sound | |
| Romano Pampaloni | .... | re-recording mixer | |
Camera and Electrical Department | |||
| Maurizio La Monica | .... | assistant camera | |
| Maurizio Maggi | .... | camera operator | |
| Fabrizio Vicari | .... | assistant camera | |
Casting Department | |||
| Stratton Leopold | .... | casting: Georgia | |
Other crew | |||
| Daniela Puccini | .... | continuity | |
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And so the Video Nasty train that I'm on arrived here, at the MADHOUSE. And it's proved to be quite a scenic stop. In the context of Video Nastydom, it's a shock when you come across a title from the list of thirty-nine which mobilises production values as high as this one does. By any standards, this 1981 Italian psych-horror flick (though shot and set in America) is a film of remarkable aesthetic beauty. The widescreen photography is crystalline, the framing immaculate and Riz Ortolani's 'Cannibal Holocaust'ish score is well used. Ostensibly, this film could almost give Video Nasties a good name. The 'madness' is that it was banned in the first place. There are several scenes of strong gore that leap out, including the best dog attack scene since Suspiria, but for the most part this is a serene, slowly tense film, with a heroine who teaches deaf children. In keeping with the production values of this film, the school for the deaf children is sensitively and authentically portrayed.
Reading all this is potentially enough to make you forget that this is supposed to be a horror film. A horror film about identical twin sisters, one good - the teacher of deaf children, Julia, played by gorgeous Trish Everly - and one BAD! The bad one's in the local madhouse-cum- hospital, felled by multiple diseases and physically deformative medical problems, but she wants out for her birthday to wreak vengeance on the good sis. Her main tool of violence is one of the worst dogs in cinema history, a trained rottweiler who just loves tearing out human throats. If you're dog phobic in general, this is probably a bad film to see. Everything's suspenseful and well acted for the first half of the film, but some extremely odd developments and pacing in the second half (a completely minor character being stalked by a villain turns out to be the longest setpiece in the film - stuff like that) drag proceedings down somewhat. This makes Madhouse less satisfying overall than I'd expected, but it definitely has enough fine qualities that I still think of it with a degree of favour. It's also nifty that the gory moments, as spaced apart as they are, are very gory.
Note that Film 2000's DVD edition of this film has exceptional picture quality but godawful sound.