Let's be realistic.

Good concept, poorly executed.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

This is a Vincent Price vehicle that is loosely based on a Guy De Maupassant short story. The setup is eerie, speaking of how dark spiritual beings exist in our world, unseen by human eyes. "The Horla" is one such unseen supernatural being, one which has power over the minds of men and the natural world. Unfortunately, the film's pacing becomes quite grating by the end (was it really only 97 minutes?) and ends with some fairly predictable '50s/'60s cheesy horror.In this tale, Price plays Simon Cordier, a magistrate in a French court in the late 19th century. When the magistrate has one final conversation with a prisoner convicted of multiple murders, the man tells Cordier that he did not commit the murders, but was compelled to by some unspeakable evil entity (the Horla) which took control of his mind and body. Then, for some reason or another, the Horla begins to stalk Cordier (it's rather clumsily presented, but it works). Fearing for his sanity, Cordier takes a vacation from his work and takes up his old hobby of sculpting, which leads him to encounter the model and enchanting muse, Odette (Nancy Kovak). And it is here that the Horla begins to work his magic on Simon Cordier. The Horla plays the devil's advocate, blackmailing Cordier into following his weakest urges.A lot of Vincent Price films operated within a spectrum of horror-comedy, which is not to say that they were exactly funny, but had such an offbeat attitude it made them simultaneously amusing and creepy. Some of those vibes can be found here, and a number of Price's lines and expressions are totally charming (such as when he's smooth-talking Odette for the first time). And the way some of the "philosophical" ideas were presented -- they were so blunt it was comedic. I don't know if that much was intentional, but it did give the movie some color.But at the same time the plot, characters and story are all too simple for how long the film runs. And the villain or mysterious antagonist, the "Horla", becomes pretty lame by the end. He gets reduced to the sort of unimaginative pseudo-science-fiction horror that filled out B-movies in the '50s and '60s. The typical spiritual/philosophical elements which litter "mystical horror" stories are here either cliché (the crucifix is able to ward off evil... again!) or just boring (the conversations with the Police Chief about whether or not criminals are born evil). And my other main criticism is that the film would be pretty terrible without Vincent Price in the lead role. Only Price carries the film by the end."Diary of a Madman" was a decent distraction for a lazy afternoon, but not a film that I'd watch again. Vincent Price has done some really excellent stuff, but this isn't one of his necessary works.

Most horror movies made between the '50's and '70's weren't very much psychological once and featured for instance monsters, gore and tons of blood. In that regard "Diary of a Madman" is a quite refreshing movie. It lies its emphasis on the psychological aspects of the movie and uses it for its tension, mystery and just overall horror, even though the movie still features a 'supernatural' horror theme.The movie has a well build up and constructed story, that only gets better and better as it heads toward the ending. The movie begins quite typical but soon becomes very intriguing when it becomes obvious that just is not just another average standard '60's horror flick, with Vincent Price in the lead role. The movie shows how the highly respected magistrate/sculptor slowly looses his mind when he is being possessed by a strange mysterious spirit called an Horla. Of course no one believes him at first when he starts to hear and see things. He starts to question his own sanity, until the Horla has him in his almost complete control. Good old Vincent Price however decides to fight back and we already at the start sort of know what has happened, since the movie is told in the past time, when people read his diary in which he described the strange events that had happened.So you don't really have to expect an horror movie with monster, gore and scare effects. This movie is mostly about its build-up and overall atmosphere. It's a psychological movie, though visually the movie is also a good one.The movie features quite some early and variating special effects and other cinematic tricks. It's quite clumsy looking all of course but at least you can say that they really tried and put some effort in it to making something new.Vincent Price of course always had been at his best in roles such as these, so this movie forms no exception to that. He is highly convincing as the respected magistrate but also as the 'madman'. Two of course total opposite elements, which Price perfectly knows to handle, without ever making anything look ridicules or totally unbelievable. It's a real surprisingly good and quite different '60's horror flick, that deserves to be seen and known better, starring genre-legend Vincent Price!8/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Diary Of A Madman (1963): Vincent Price, Nancy Kovack, Chris Warfield, Ian Wolfe, Stephen Roberts, Elaine Devry, Lewis Martin, Edward Colmans, Mary Adams, Nelson Olmsted, Dick Wilson, Harvey Stephens, Gloria Clark, Wayne Collier, Joseph Del Nostro Jr, Don Brodie, Joseph Ruskin, Sayre Dearing, Stuart Holmes....Director Reginald Le Borg, Screenplay Robert E. Kent.By 1963, Vincent Price was a recognizable and very familiar name to many movie-goers. Through the 50's, he appeared in several well-made horror films, some of them very successful, others not as successful. He was, one can say, a breed of actor that was well-received during a generation of Alfred Hitchcocks and Rod Serlings, a time when horror, the bizarre, the supernatural, the grotesque and the mysterious was in vogue in film. Price would have fared well as a director but he remained first and foremost an actor, appearing in films through the 70's and 80's, his last film being "Edward Scissorhands" around 1991. Here, Vincent Price portrays the protagonist of 19th century French author Guy De Maupassant's obscure and little-known story - Simon Cordier, a court judge from Paris who sentences a psychopathic killer to death and is subsequently the victim of the same killer's possession, that is, the killer's spirit has taken over him and drives him to murderous acts. This film, however, does not do follow the Maupassant story faithfully and it's strictly Hollywood material. It's yet another vehicle for Vincent Price to flex his muscle as a skilled actor in this type of film. The film co-stars Nancy Kovack and Chris Warfield, a couple whose lives are affected by Simon's murderousness. Odette Duclasse (Nancy Kovack) is a model who poses for art and fashion magazines or tableaux vivants, and becomes the object of Simon's obsession. At first, Simon experiences a subtle change and begins to kill small animals like a pet canary. But gradually the spirit of the killer leads him to murder Odette. If this film works, it's because there is a "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" influence and through the fine performance by Vincent Price, who never failed to step up to challenge of every role he undertook. Another element that makes this film pretty good is the revenge theme. Revenge has long been a preferred subject in historical fiction (The Count of Monte Cristo being the greatest sample) but the supernatural slant of the film makes this particular revenge story most engaging - a killer who's been sentenced to death dies and then gets back at the Judge by possessing his body and driving him to brutality and violence. Still, don't expect the same amount of gore and violence one finds in modern horror films. This film, however, makes use of fine special effects for 1963, these done by Norman Breedlove and include animation-within-a-live-film. The scene in which the killer's spirit breaks loose is evidence of this. The art direction and production design, which featured sculpture and artwork, are very evocative of 19th century Paris at the time of Maupassant and the costumes by Marjorie Corso are authentic, if a bit 1950's version of 19th century. The original music by Richard La Salle, a French composer, is a lovely touch. All in all, this is not a bad film but it lacks something other Vincent Price films have - some edge. Vincent Price has done better roles and this film is rather strange and dull. Therefore this film is mostly catering to Price fans.

If one has read "LE HORLA" in French, this movie has little to do with it, only in name. In the book story, the character IMAGINES that a supernatural being has come from Latin America, where there are epidemics of madness. The character sinks into the mire of his insanity, but the only murder in the story are his servants, unadvertently killed while he sets his house on fire to hopefully kill the horla (=out there) he never meets or speaks to, tough. Then the character announces he'll commit suicide.This movie is a very loose/distorted adaptation, but it isn't bad per se. Price delivers fine acting, yet the story at times is too predictable, eg Price's trance when the horla controls his will. As well, it looks like in the end they were in a hurry to end the movie, so the horla's accurate plan failed to take into account that the servants were a card in the game, having seen the greedy Odette pose for him. Too simple, i say; they could have come out with a better storyline at that. For example, a letter could have come announcing the "mysterious" death of the servants in a accident in Switzerland; or the servants could have been away while Odette was in the house. Supporting characters aren't worth of much mention. A good movie for one time, but not one i'd watch twice, unlike eg PREMATURE BURIAL.