"How does one explain what one cannot see?"

Vincent Price is one of the undoubted Kings of Horror films and playing the menacing, frightening, dark characters that make these movies so terrifying. This afternoon, I had the pleasure of watching Diary of a Madman, a 1963 film with Price in the lead role and directed by Reginald Le Borg. The Diary of a Madman is based on a short story by French author Guy de Maupassant called Le Horla or The Horla, the entire text of which can be found here if you want to read it.

The film begins after the death of magistrate and amateur sculptor Simon Cordier (Price), when those left to inherit his possessions begin reading the diary he left behind. The diary begins with Cordier's visit to a man in prison who he has sentenced to death for murder. The man tells him that he did not really kill the four people he was convicted of but was possessed by some evil force, called the Horla, that made him commit the crimes. The man tells him that he wants to die, his eyes begin glowing, and he attacks Cordier. The man ends up dying and Cordier cannot help but think about what happened in the jail cell. After the incident, mysterious things begin to occur around Cordier's home and he begins to think that the death of his wife and son are somehow linked to all of these strange things.

Soon, Cordier begins to doubt his own sanity and wonder why he can see all of these strange things when no one else can. On the advice of a doctor, he decides to focus on his sculpting to help with his sudden madness and hires a model, Odette Mallotte DuClasse (Nancy Kovak), who instantly intriques him. Odette is married to Paul DuClasse, a struggling painter who is not too thrilled about the idea of her posing for anyone other than him. The sculpting seems to help with Cordier's condition at first but when his sculpting with Odette is over, the spirit returns. The Horla spirit accuses Cordier being a murderer and tells Cordier the spirit will haunt him until it breaks his will. The spirit gains hold of him and tells him to persue Odette, taking control of Cordier's life and sending him spiraling into madness.

Though not one of Price's very best films, the film still has Vincent Price and still has his magnificent touch in it. I would say that this particular film should be more popular and well-known than perhasp it is. I would say this film is very superior horror wise to many of the horror films out there, especially the modern ones that are all about gore and violence rather than requiring their audience to think. Diary of a Madman focuses on scaring the audience psychologically, as it does for Cordier, and builds up a sense of suspense and drama through it that create the horror instead.