Tales That Witness Madness Reviews

The four principal characters are patients at a clinic, and all have terrifying stories to tell about why they are there. The clinic is run by wacky Pleasence, who is trying to sway his colleague, Hawkins, to his psychiatric theories. In the first tale, Lewis is a boy who is bothered by his parents' fighting, so he invents an imaginary tiger to kill them. In the second, an old bicycle enables McEnery to travel backward in time. He assumes the identity of one of his Victorian-era relatives and is doomed to the man's fate as well. In the third, Collins' husband, Jayston, brings home a tree that is more human than plant. She tells him that it is either her or his new-found interest, and a life and death struggle ensues. The last story is the worst of the lot. Novak (in her first time in four years) is the literary agent for Petrovitch, who must find a virgin to sacrifice to help his mother's spirit rest in peace. The virgin is Novak's alluring daughter, Tamm. The climax is a luau scene where the guests unknowingly enjoy more than pineapple and roast pig. This was Hawkins' last film; he died of cancer in 1973. Novak, who sank to new lows in the film, replaced an ailing Rita Hayworth who was dropped from the film after only a few days of shooting.