Madness
1980 · Directed by Fernando Di Leo
Original language: Italian
- thriller
- action
- crime
The story
An escaped convicted murderer invades the cottage of a man, his wife and the wife's sister, whereupon he proceeds to torment this already dysfunctional trio with rape and violence.
What it’s like
Confined interior drama with a tightening, sweaty dread, built around one cottage and a few people who cannot leave it. The mood is hot, close and mean, with the tension coming from bodies in small rooms, held glances and sudden turns rather than from spectacle. Crime-thriller pacing gives way to long stretches of stifled waiting, broken by abrupt, ugly eruptions of violence. The people are already brittle, and the arc is one of a fragile household splintering under an outsider's cruelty, so the emotional register is bleak and claustrophobic with little relief. Intensity is high and unsparing: sexual assault and rape, graphic physical violence, and a murder, all landing hard and uncomfortable rather than stylised. Not suited to anyone seeking something gentle or low-stakes. It suits viewers who want an unflinching, adult Italian crime thriller and can sit with its cruelty, particularly fans of 1970s poliziotteschi-era genre cinema and the star presence of Joe Dallesandro.
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