Chicago Tribune du lieu suivant : Chicago, Illinois • 158

friday Section 7 Chicago Tribune, Friday, October 13, 1989 Power of suggestion heightens suspense of 'I, Madman' Madman" Directed by Tibor Takaca; writtan by David Chaakln; photographad by Bryan England; edhed by Manjue Manton; piuducUon doelgned by Ron WHaon and MalUiaw Jacoba; music by Michaal Hoenig; produced by Ralaal Eieenman. A Trane-Wortd Entevtelnfnent foteaees opene Oct 13 at tha Choetnut Station and outlying Uiaitai I. Running lima: VM. MPAA rating: ft. THE CAST Virginia Janny Wright Richard Clayton Rohner Malcolm Randall WiBiam Cook Mona Stephanie Hodge late is a would-be actress who works part time in a Los Angeles bookstore and has a penchant for pulp mysteries that renders her hyper-imaginative.

As her detective boyfriend, Richard (Clayton Rohner), tells her, "You always get weird when you read that" Indeed. Pretty soon the line between the weirdness in Virginia's imagining and the weirdness really taking place is crossed, as Virginia becomes the object of obsession for the book's crazed and This is a pity, because Madman" also is that rarity, a witty, sophisticated horror film. Director Tibor Takacs, whose 1987 "The Gate" was a smart turn in the juvenile nightmare genre, has found another clever story, but of adult proportions. Virginia (Jenny Wright of "Near Dark" and "The Choco By Johanna Steinmetz ven though "not guilty by reason of insanity" remains a legal defense for murder, the per ceived link between psychosis and crime has weakened with increased understanding of mental illness. So the idea behind Madman" schizophrenic-at-large commits savage murders seems woefully out of date, not to mention a disservice to those suffering from that disease.

CHESTNUT STATION Near North 337-7301 HYDE PARK Chicago 288-4900 BEL-AIR Cicero 656-3500 CROSSROADS Marrlllvllll Brand. Brand systematically follows his own gory script, so Virginia can predict where he will strike just by reading the book. But no one, least of all Richard, will believe her until she is next on the list of victims. Takacs has created a Hollywood that is part Hitchcock, part "Day Of The Locust," all subliminally scary. Only peripherally touched by appurtenances of modern life (no health clubs here), it's a city of moldering architecture, shadowy halls and un-derlit streets.

Virginia's apartment is a cozy island amidst sinister surroundings, approached via a steep staircase, its spindles sharply silhouetted against the wall. From her window at night we see a lone, mysterious pianist playing Chopin in a deserted shop. Even Richard's precinct office at police headquarters has a bleak cast about it. Takacs knows how to shoot with maximum effect, using a tortured angle here, an agonizingly slow pan there, for accomplished visual storytelling. Since most of the terror is generated on the strength of sugges-.

tion, in the best Hitchcock tradition, it is disappointing that the film resorts to special effects for one small role a half-man, half-jackal monster that could have been omitted. It's a corny touch in a movie more notable for its twists of humor. Wryly, Takacs gives Virginia's overwrought fantasies the look of old mystery magazine covers lurid and melodramatic. And when Virginia seeks out the publisher of Brand's book, she finds a classically sleazy operation in a seedy office where the output runs to titles like "East of Edith." As in "The Gate," in which children come to no good when their parents leave them alone for the weekend, Madman" carries a subtle message, in this case about the power of the written word. When Virginia and Richard have finally vanquished the killer and his monster after a tumultuous battle in the second-story warehouse of the bookstore, they stand at a window as a gust of wind blows page after page of purged prose out of the room.

As the pages flutter to the streets below, LA. is suddenly, for the first time in this movie, bathed in light Jermy Wright in Madman." if mutilated author, Malcolm TOWN COUNTRY Arlington Hit. 255-4000 YORKTOVVN Lombard 496-0010 IS ft I SAVE MICHAELS NEXT VICTIM CALL 1-900-860-0700 ADDITIONAL MINUTE $1.00. TODAY NORRIDGE Norrldgt S42-9000 ORLAND SQUARE Oflind Park 349-6000 FIRST MINUTE $2.00. EACH STARTS EVERGREEN Evargmn Park 6364800 GOLF GLEN Niiet 296-1100 GRIFFITH Griffith HILLSIDE Hillside 647-6001 PARK 219923-4300 SQUARE RIVER OAKS Calumet City 868-3400 STRATFORD SQUARE Bloomtngdali 351-9610 DRIVE-IN 219980-0588 for tin torn, et) tlMlm or cnici mtHMwt Ktt GROVE CINEMA LINCOLN Downart Grova 852-4440 Mattason 481-4770 MALL PLAZA DEERBROOK Crtcaoo N.539-3100 OetriiekJ 272-0212.