Madhouse
Madhouse is a 1981 American and Italian slasher film directed by Ovidio G. Assonitis. It is one of the 72 films on the Director of Public Prosecutions' video nasties list, and it was successfully prosecuted for obscenity.
A deaf teacher, a disfigured twin and a rottweiler. Shot in Savannah and better made than most of the list.
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Better made than almost anything else on the prosecuted list, and almost nobody has seen it.
Julia teaches at a school for deaf children. Her twin sister, disfigured by disease and institutionalised, escapes before their shared birthday, accompanied by a rottweiler.
Ovidio Assonitis shot it in Savannah and the location does most of the work: humid, green, decaying architecture, filmed with real coverage and a proper crew. The set piece in the empty school building is well staged.
There is a birthday dinner in the last act that is the strangest thing in the film and it is played completely straight.
Successfully prosecuted. Known under at least four titles. Passed 18 uncut in 2004.
Banned, seized, prosecuted
DPP 72 · successfully prosecuted
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Trailer
The sleeves
The same film, sold as a different film in each territory. Click any of them.
Where to watch
Finland
UK
USA
Legal sources only. Availability data from JustWatch via TMDB.
Checked 9 Aug 2026
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Adjacent
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Almost bloodless and completely unbearable. Heat, noise and exhaustion doing all the work.
- Next in Slasher: Terror Eyes (1981) →