| There Was a Little Girl | |
|---|---|
 1984 VHS release |
|
| Directed by | Ovidio G. Assonitis |
| Produced by | Ovidio G. Assonitis |
| Written by | Screenplay by Ovidio G. Assonitis, Stephen Blakeley, Peter Sheperd and Roberto Gandus |
| Starring | Trish Everly, Dennis Robertson, Allison Biggers |
| Music by | Riz Ortolani |
| Cinematography | Roberto D'Ettorre Piazzoli |
| Release date(s) | 1981/1984 (UK classification) |
| Running time | 93 minutes |
| Country | Italy/USA |
| Language | English |
There Was a Little Girl (aka Madhouse, And When She Was Bad, Party des Schreckens) is a 1981 Italian horror film directed by prolific Egyptian filmmaker Ovidio G. Assonitis. It stars Trish Everly, Dennis Robertson, Allison Biggers, Michael Macrae, Morgan Hart, Edith Ivey, and Jerry Fujikawa. It was one of the many films on the "video nasty" list, a list of horror/exploitation films banned by the BBFC for violence and obscenity. The film features a musical score by Riz Ortolani (Cannibal Holocaust, Mondo cane) and cinematography by Assonitis regular Roberto D'Ettorre Piazzoli.
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Beautiful do-gooder Julia (Trish Everly) and her insane, hideously deformed twin sister Mary (Allison Biggers) have a hard time occupying the same room, let alone the same town, without Mary either brandishing a butcher knife or letting her giant killer dog come out to play. Their uncle, Father James (Dennis Robertson), presses for reconciliation but to no avail. With their mutual birthday fast approaching, Mary escapes from the local asylum. Soon thereafter, the bodies of Julia's friends and students mount around her. But is Mary actually the killer? --amazon.com
Reception to There Was a Little Girl was mostly mixed. An online review [1] praises the film:
[Madhouse takes] a more psychological and dramatic approach to horror than some of the more in-your-face gore-fests that one finds there. [on the video nasty list]
However, the film also has its detractors, whom commented that it is slow in some scenes, as well as being somewhat derivative of other Italian and American horror films of that time (Psycho, Halloween, The Beyond). Critics/audiences have also pointed out that the film's climax is incredibly similar and/or derivative to that of the Canadian slasher hit "Happy Birthday to Me", however since both films were released the same year (1981) it is unclear to determine which film stole from the other.
There Was a Little Girl (renamed Madhouse for the video market) was released four times on video. A watered-down, cut and edited version was released on VHS in America by 'Virgin-Label', discontinued and was released again five years later (1989). The film's graphic content got it classified as a "video nasty" by the BBFC, and the film never saw a theatrical release in the United Kingdom. In 2004, the film was passed by the BBFC and was released uncut on DVD by "Film 2000". While boasting exceptional color and film quality, audiences criticised the DVD due to its horrid sound quality, which made the soundtrack nearly impossible to hear. In 2008, DarkSky Films received the rights to the film and released an uncut, uncensored DVD along with three special features:
| There
Was a Little Girl by |
There was a little girl,
And she had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good
She was very, very good,
And when she was bad she was horrid.
One day she went upstairs,
When her parents, unawares,
In the kitchen were occupied with meals,
And she stood upon her head
In her little trundle-bed,
And then began hooraying with her heels.
Her mother heard the noise,
And she thought it was the boys
A-playing at a combat in the attic;
But when she climbed the stair,
And found Jemima there,
She took and she did spank her most emphatic.
  | YouTube.com - Video Trailer - YouTube - Madhouse (1981) - Video Trailer |
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