I never thought I'd see Burt Reynolds in a horror movie. Well, I recently saw "The Maddening" on Showtime Beyond. And what a horror it is!
This movie has all of the trappings of a non-traditional Lifetime thriller ("Kept Woman," for example). But it also has an all-star cast of sorts: Reynolds, Angie Dickinson, Mia Sara, Josh Mostel. So, it's definitely worth watching, right?
Well, if you like star-studded sleazefests, this movie is definitely for you! And if you're a Reynolds fan, he is pretty awesome in this movie!
The movie begins with an idyllic family - The Osbornes - faced with some conflict. Cassie (Sara) wants David (Brian Wimmer) to spend less time on the road with his job and more time at home. Daughter Samantha (Kayla Buglewicz) agrees! When David is faced with another extended stint away from home, Cassie packs up and heads to her sister's house with Samantha in tow. She learns the first lesson in traveling through rural areas ... always fill up with gas before you hit the road! She stops in at a backwoods garage owned by the charming, macho Roy Scudder (Reynolds). Not long after departing, she experiences car trouble. Well, she's driving a classic 1950s Thunderbird, so it's obvious that this old thing would have problems, right? Well, Roy's handiwork may have had something to do with her troubles, so it's fortunate that he drives up to tow the car to his house and fix it. Second lesson of driving through the middle of nowhere: Don't let anyone tow your car to their home garage! Once at Roy's creepy swamp estate, Cassie and Samantha meet Scudder's wife Georgina (Dickinson), a total space case and their kid (?) Jill (Candace Huston). That's pretty much where the horror begins for poor Cassie and Samantha. They may have been better off visiting "The House of 1,000 Corpses" if not the Chainsaw family's home. Roy takes them prisoner, locking up Cassie (whom Georgina thinks is her sister) and letting Jill have Samantha as playmate (i.e. punching bag). It's up to David to help her, but he's about as useless as any Lifetime husband! Throw in a comic relief detective (Mostel) and you have a masterpiece of creepy sleaze!
Now, I am somewhat biased toward anything with Reynolds. As a kid, this guy was among my idols with his signature laugh and tough guy image. There's no laughing in this movie though. Screaming, yes! Definitely no laughing...not even a giggle. Reynolds is actually pretty convincing as the psychotic, perverted Roy. He's a one-man terror in this movie, keeping Sara's character imprisoned and kicking around anyone who gets in his way. I can't say for sure that he liked making this movie because it's a huge departure from his typical good guy roles. And he is definitely bad in this movie ... the worst any character can be.
Sara also might be wondering how she wound up in this nightmare. She's thrown around, molested ... and bathed (by Dickinson)! It's definitely a far cry from the freewheeling "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," but she holds her own as the desperate Cassie who has a few tricks up her sleeve.
Dickinson is effective as the delusional Georgina, and Mostel is actually pretty funny as he stumbles through crime scenes in search of the missing Osbornes. Of course, there is an Ozzy joke in regard to the family...even though his name is spelled Osbourne.
Check out this movie if you have the stomach for it. It's a bit on the wild side and in line with some of Lifetime's wilder fare. Don't judge...but I liked this! It's not Hitchcock, but it's a demented roller coaster rise with the always dependable Reynolds at the helm.
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