If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

A journalist, seeking an exclusive exposé visits a mysterious mental institution where he has heard of unconventional treatments for madness. At first he is made to feel unwelcome but, on meeting the head doctor, is invited on a grand tour. As he is lead around the grounds and gardens, there are few surprises with the inmates they observe. But as his tour takes him further into the asylum, these encounters become increasingly disturbing and lurid and the patients more deranged. His journey ends in the grand hall where it is revealed that the patients have overrun the place and the staff have been killed or imprisoned. The "head doctor" is their leader and styled himself on a Napolean-like dictator; he has set his sights further than just the limits of the madhouse.This bizarre Mexican surrealism reaches for the strangeness of "El Topo" and for the demented, hellish imagery of "Caligula", "The Devils" and to some extent "The Wicker Man". Unfortunately, it has not got the same quality of writing or directing as these greatly superior films. Instead it is nothing more than a psychedelic re-telling of a Gothic short-story which makes it feel too much of a gimmick. Granted, there are some heavy hitting aspects to some of the action but by that point you have been desensitised somewhat to the relentless portrayals of madness and madcappery! When the twist comes, it is hardly a surprise. Still, this passes the time and is memorable enough, if not just for the "chickens"!

A nineteenth-century NYC journalist gets more than he bargained for when he travels to a madhouse in a remote region of France to get the scoop on Dr. Maillard's "soothing system" for treating insanity...Mexican cult director Juan López Moctezuma's avant-garde adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's "The System Of Doctor Tarr & Professor Fether" is closer to comedy than horror and drive-in patrons demanded their money back when it was released on that circuit as DR. TARR'S TORTURE DUNGEON. It's a very well-made movie that's visually reminiscent of Fellini and Bunuel but although there's a bit of Ken Russell's THE DEVILS to it, too, an opportunity to terrify was lost once the slapstick shenanigans were introduced. The premise is still spooky, however, and the setting and era are nicely realized but it's decidedly bloodless and although foreign film aficionados may enjoy it, the frightening situation needed murder (and gore, if possible) to make it work. Plot lines featuring unsuspecting visitors to insane asylums that have just had a violent coup have thrilled audiences ever since the 70s in movies like ASYLUM, DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT, and SILENT NIGHT, BLOODY NIGHT (with it's sepia-toned flashbacks of a madhouse massacre featuring Warhol superstars Ondine & Candy Darling) and 60s flicks like SHOCK CORRIDOR, SHOCK TREATMENT and BRAINSTORM are close kin. I'm sorry MANSION OF MADNESS didn't deliver in that regard but if there's any more movies out there with the same scenario, please let me know.

I've waited a long time to see DR TARR'S TORTURE DUNGEON and after I watched it, I was really disappointed by it. It's not the Baroque film I expected it to be. The trailer (which I saw on a Something Weird DVD) is much better than the entire film, which is remarkably forgettable. There are almost no stand out scenes in it and the look and feel is interesting but it doesn't even come close to other Baroque styled movies out there, from Fellini or Jodorowsky. The characters are dull and there's almost nothing dramatic going on, even though we see rape, crucifixion, insanity, etc.The main problem with DR TARR'S TORTURE DUNGEON was the fact that it was a talk-a-thon more than anything else. It was almost like watching a book. I just wanted the film to have moments of silence or mood or something, instead we see/listen to the main characters chit-chat endlessly about dull stuff.A missed opportunity.

If this movie were any worse, it would have been directed by Uwe Boll. This nonsensical mess makes Ed Wood look like Hitchcock. It has been a while since I have seen this steaming pile , but I do remember that I wanted to do grievous bodily harm to all those involved. How anyone can give this movie any more than 1 star amazes me to the graciousness of all those that viewed this tripe. I give it one star because there is not a rating lower. All copies of this movie should be burned the ground sowed with salt and reserved as a landfill for the most toxic of waste. No, one copy should be kept under ultra hi security and shown only to film makers as an example of how not to do it.