Diary of a Madman

When evil exists in the heart of man, the Horla lives.

When it comes to the “Vincent Price horror era” (’59 through roughly ’72), there are bound to be some fun (if a bit cheesy) films that fade into the black slightly. I consider Diary of a Madman to be one of those types of films that isn’t about to scream from the pack of classics that Price starred in at the time but nonetheless, I think there’s a fun little chiller theatre sleeper here that might surprisingly entertain those who happen across it whenever Turner Classics shows it or perhaps through a happenstance discovery unexpected. The story is a bit campy, but Price, straight face and sincere in performance, makes it work, I’d be damned if he doesn’t. It concerns this evil called The Horla that possesses the innocent and makes them feel and do horrible things.

Price is a magistrate trying to rationalize why a seemingly intelligent and kindly man might kill for no apparent reason; tried, convicted, and awaiting the guillotine, this killer testifies with all urgency and honesty to Price, visiting him in his cell prior to his day of execution, that he isn’t responsible. Then the guy’s eyes glow green, and he attacks Price, a scuffle resulting in the killer’s head crushing against stone in the cell, his life ending, with the Horla finding its new home in the pacifist magistrate. The rest of the film has Price contending with the Horla as it torments him; his diary, read after his funeral by those who aren’t particularly fond of him (thanks to what the Horla causes) is a gaze into this torment.

Once a sculptor, he is motivated by his psychiatrist to pursue the art once again, meeting a lovely, but narcissistic/greedy model (married to a lowly painter), building from his hands and clay the face and shoulders what he conceives her to be (with the Horla fixing her face into what she truly is, a devilish woman, with only designs on his wealth), and soon is forced to stab her viciously (beheading her, taking her head to his home while under the Horla’s influence, hiding it behind the clay of her sculpted face!) thanks to the overwhelming power of the Horla. With Odette (Nancy Kovak) married to the painter, Paul (Chris Warfield), she will need him to divorce her; he will confront Price’s magistrate with choice words shared. Horla always stirs the pot and, cloaked in invisibility, tries to kill Paul, with a vase from a shelf, later using Price to kill Odette, frame Paul (who had a heated encounter with Odette), and issue lies about his involvement with the painter and model. Elaine Devry’s Jeanne, responsible (helping her father) for Paul’s gallery, is in love with the painter and will help him engage the magistrate in acknowledging his lies regarding not knowing Odette or Paul. The magistrate, however, will try to maintain his will long enough to finishing penning his diary, telling the truth of the Horla, and making a final stand against the supernatural force of evil.

With House of Wax, and Corman films like House of Usher & Pit and the Pendulum, I think because of the importance of these films, Diary of a Madman has a hard time emerging from the shadows. It is just as colorful, with studio sets and atmosphere, and Diary is a little film that doesn’t have that flair in its story to perhaps contest those Corman greats that populate Vincent’s horror resume. I do think Diary is worth a shot and maybe it will surface on watch lists in Octobers of Horror in the years to come. It was made during a great period in horror and Price’s career. Being sandwiched between the likes of House of Usher and Masque of the Red Death, with the likes of The Abominable Dr. Phibes, Twice Told Tales, Tales of Terror, The Last Man on Earth, and Theatre of Blood still to come, it’s plausible to see why Diary has kind of quietly remained shrouded by the popularity and prestige of so many other films in Price’s remarkably vast resume. Sadly, it isn’t as distinguished, and certainly the Corman films are mighty in stature (even his films once less established like Tomb of Ligeia and Madhouse have begun to gain acclaim and cult responses once kept with the higher regarding horrors), with films all around Diary perhaps a bit better paced, with flashier parts for Price, but I think he has a nifty role here as the conflicted tragic victim of influential evil, trying to fight off the Horla and gradually reduced to a tool unable to resist the spell of this invisible but powerful entity.