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MOVIE PSYCHOS AND MADMEN
By
JOHN McCARTY
(Citadel; 1993)
An admirably concise, enjoyable overview of movie psychos from a guy who knows the territory. John McCarty’s SPLATTER MOVIES: BREAKING THE LAST TABOO OF THE SCREEN is considered the premiere resource on that subject by some (not me!), and here he demonstrates an equally wide-ranging knowledge about psycho movies. Plus MOVIE PSYCHOS AND MADMEN, like any good movie book, is packed with copious stills.
It begins with a discussion of the many versions of DR. JECKYLL AND MR. HYDE from the early 20th Century and concludes with a brief look at THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Along the way McCarty includes much illuminating info on Jack the Ripper movies, Hitchockian psychos, female crazies and reality based psychofilms. The titles discussed include well known movies like PSYCHO, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE and TAXI DRIVER, as well as more obscure items like G.W. Pabst’s 1926 SECRETS OF A SOUL and the 1965 Betty David vehicle THE NANNY.
I noticed some glaring omissions--including Wes Craven’s LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and the Japanese BLIND BEAST, both of which I feel are obligatory to any serious survey of psychofilms--but for the most part the book is quite exhaustive. It’s also very opinionated.
To his credit, McCarty
breaks from the critical consensus on the films of Brian DePalma in that he
actually speaks highly of them. He argues that DePalma is actually closer to
the parodic, self-referential cinema of Jean-Luc Godard than that of Alfred
Hitchcock (with whom he’s usually compared). Even better, McCarty recognizes
Kubrick’s THE SHINING as the masterpiece it is. I’ll admit I parted ways with
McCarty on his concluding dissertation of THE SILENCE OF LAMBS and Michael
Mann’s MANHUNTER. He argues that SILENCE is the superior film--wrongly in my
view!