Crazy as Hell

Last updated
Crazy as Hell
Crazyashell.jpg
DVD cover
Directed by Eriq La Salle
Written by Jeremy Leven
Erik Jendresen [1]
Based on Satan: His Psychotherapy and Cure by the Unfortunate Dr. Kassler, J.S.P.S.
by Jeremy Leven
Produced byKen Aguado
Samuel Benedict
D.J. Caruso
Eriq La Salle
Butch Robinson
Starring Michael Beach
Ronny Cox
John C. McGinley
Tia Texada
Sinbad
Eriq La Salle
Tracy Pettit
CinematographyGeorge Mooradian
Edited byTroy Takaki
Music by Billy Childs
Production
companies
Humble Journey Films
Loose Screw Films
Distributed by Lions Gate Films
DEJ Productions
Release date
  • September 27, 2002 (2002-09-27)
Running time
113 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Crazy as Hell is a 2002 psychological film that is based on the 1982 novel Satan: His Psychotherapy and Cure by the Unfortunate Dr. Kassler, J.S.P.S. by Jeremy Leven and follows Dr. Ty Adams (Michael Beach), an aggressive and overconfident psychiatrist producing a documentary film about a nearby state-run mental hospital. [2] While treating a new patient (Eriq La Salle, who also directed) who claims to be Satan, Dr. Adams begins to question his own perceptions. [3]

Contents

Plot

Psychiatrist Dr. Ty Adams comes to the Sedah State Mental Hospital to film a documentary. While coming across self-assured and overconfident, Adams is secretly haunted by the death of his daughter. He strikes up a friendship with the facility's administrator, Dr. Samuel Delazo, playing an ongoing chess game with him. Adams is intrigued by a patient who claims to be Satan and takes a personal interest in his case.

When a patient goes to the roof to commit suicide, Adams arrogantly prevents the police from accessing the roof and attempts to talk her down himself. Satan inexplicably appears on the rooftop and reveals jarring truths about Adams, and the patient subsequently jumps to her death. The incident calls a halt to the documentary. Adams declares him a danger to the other patients and has him placed in solitary.

Adams tracks down his mother and, satisfied that he had found out that his real name is William Barnett Jr., the son of a Baptist preacher who was killed by a junkie. As Adams prepares to move on from the facility, he and Dr. Delazo regretfully say their goodbyes, their chess game unfinished. Just before he leaves, Barnett's mother arrives and asks him to take a fruit basket to her son. She asks Adams if he believes in God, and he replies that he does not.

He takes one last look at Barnett straitjacketed in his cell, but when he is distracted by an orderly, he looks back into the room to find it empty. Turning back to the hallway, he sees Barnett's mother taking off a wig, revealing herself to be Barnett in women's clothes. Pursuing him, Adams stumbles into a bedroom where he finds his own bloody corpse, apparently having killed himself over his daughter's death.

He suddenly is in a library, where Dr. Delazo sits on a throne as the devil surrounded by the patients and staff, all horribly transformed. Delazo says, "Checkmate." Adams shouts that it is not real, and that he knows who he is. Delazo asks "Who are you?" Adams says he is a good man. Delazo replies "Then why are you here?" As Adams keeps protesting that he is a good man, the screen fades to black.

Cast

Reception

Reviews for the film have been mixed and the movie holds a rating of 53% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 14 reviews and an average rating of 5.3/10. [4] In their review for the film, the New York Times wrote that the movie was an "ambitious first feature" and that it had "a moral ambiguity far beyond most independent films, where humanism is gospel and the characters are always discovering their inner goodness." [2] Variety criticized the film in their review, which they felt was "An erratic, psychobabbling jumble of scenes that never builds to any discernible point". [5]

The A.V. Club was mixed in their review, writing "Crazy As Hell would make for a pretty good Twilight Zone episode, but stretched to feature length, it tends to feel stilted and heavy-handed. The film gives the devil (and the actor playing him) his due, but shortchanges everyone else." [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>One Hour Photo</i> 2002 film by Mark Romanek

One Hour Photo is a 2002 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Mark Romanek and starring Robin Williams, Connie Nielsen, Michael Vartan, Gary Cole, and Eriq La Salle. The film was produced by Catch 23 Entertainment, Killer Films, and John Wells Productions and released by Fox Searchlight Pictures. The film stars Williams as a photo technician who develops an unhealthy obsession with a family to whom he has long provided services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eriq La Salle</span> American actor, director, and writer

Erik Ki La Salle, professionally known as Eriq La Salle, is an American actor, director, writer and producer. La Salle is best known for his performance in the film Coming to America (1988) and especially as Dr. Peter Benton in the NBC medical drama ER which earned him three NAACP Image Awards and nominations for a Golden Globe Award and three Primetime Emmy Awards.

<i>Bedazzled</i> (2000 film) 2000 film by Harold Ramis

Bedazzled is a 2000 fantasy romantic comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and starring Brendan Fraser and Elizabeth Hurley. It is a remake of the 1967 British film of the same name, written by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, which was itself a comic retelling of the Faust legend.

"The Show Must Go On" is the 245th episode of the American television series ER. The episode aired on May 19, 2005 on NBC.

<i>The Prophecy</i> 1995 American film

The Prophecy is a 1995 American fantasy thriller film starring Christopher Walken, Elias Koteas, Virginia Madsen, Eric Stoltz, and Viggo Mortensen. It was written and directed by Gregory Widen in his feature directorial debut, and is the first motion picture of The Prophecy series. It was followed by four sequels. The film tells the story of the Archangel Gabriel (Walken) and his search for an evil soul on Earth, and a police detective (Koteas) who unknowingly becomes caught in the middle of an angelic civil war.

Mick LaSalle is an American film critic and the author of two books on pre-Code Hollywood. Up to March 2008, he had written more than 1,550 reviews for the San Francisco Chronicle and he has been podcasting them since September 2005.

<i>Maniac</i> (1934 film) 1934 film by Dwain Esper

Maniac is a 1934 American black-and-white exploitation horror film directed by Dwain Esper and written by Hildagarde Stadie, Esper's wife, as a loose adaptation of the 1843 Edgar Allan Poe story "The Black Cat", with references to his "Murders in the Rue Morgue". Esper and Stadie also made the 1936 exploitation film Marihuana.

<i>House of Fools</i> (film) 2002 Russian film

House of Fools is a 2002 Russian film by Andrei Konchalovsky about psychiatric patients and combatants during the First Chechen War. It stars Julia Vysotskaya and Sultan Islamov and features a number of cameo appearances by Bryan Adams, with the music composed by Eduard Artemyev.

<i>Crazy People</i> 1990 American film

Crazy People is a 1990 American black comedy film starring Dudley Moore and Daryl Hannah, directed by Tony Bill, and music by Cliff Eidelman.

<i>K-PAX</i> (film) 2001 film by Iain Softley

K-PAX is a 2001 science fiction mystery film based on Gene Brewer's 1995 novel of the same name. An American-German co-production, it was directed by Iain Softley, starring Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges, Mary McCormack, and Alfre Woodard. The film tells the story of a psychiatric patient who claims to be an alien from the planet K-PAX. During his treatment, the patient demonstrates an outlook on life that ultimately proves inspirational for his fellow patients and especially for his psychiatrist.

<i>Alone in the Dark</i> (1982 film) 1982 American slasher film by Jack Sholder

Alone in the Dark is a 1982 American slasher film co-written and directed by Jack Sholder in his directorial debut, and starring Jack Palance, Martin Landau, Donald Pleasence, Dwight Schultz, and Erland Van Lidth. The plot tells about a psychiatrist's family who are besieged by four escaped mental patients during a power blackout. Following Stunts and Polyester, it was one of the first films produced by New Line Cinema.

<i>Hideaway</i> (1995 film) 1995 American film

Hideaway is a 1995 horror film directed by Brett Leonard. It is based on the 1992 novel of the same name by Dean Koontz, and stars Jeff Goldblum, Christine Lahti, Alicia Silverstone, Jeremy Sisto, Alfred Molina and Rae Dawn Chong.

<i>Brain Dead</i> (1990 film) 1990 American film

Brain Dead is a 1990 psychological horror-thriller film directed by Adam Simon. It stars Bill Pullman, Bill Paxton, and George Kennedy.

<i>Shutter Island</i> (film) 2010 film by Martin Scorsese

Shutter Island is a 2010 American neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese and adapted by Laeta Kalogridis, based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Deputy U.S. Marshal Edward "Teddy" Daniels, who is investigating a psychiatric facility on Shutter Island after one of the patients goes missing. Mark Ruffalo plays his partner and fellow deputy marshal, Ben Kingsley plays the facility's lead psychiatrist, Max von Sydow plays a German doctor, and Michelle Williams plays Daniels' wife.

<i>Bad Karma</i> (2002 film) 2001 American film

Bad Karma is a 2001 film directed by John Hough. Patsy Kensit stars as a mental patient who believes she is the reincarnated lover of Jack the Ripper, and that her psychiatrist is the reincarnated mass murderer. Damian Chapa and Amy Locane are also in the film, which is adapted by Randall Frakes from the 1997 Douglas Clegg novel of the same name.

Satan: His Psychotherapy and Cure by the Unfortunate Dr. Kassler, J.S.P.S. (ISBN 978-0595145065) is a 496-page book written in 1982 by Jeremy Leven. The book focuses around the central character, Dr. Kassler, a somewhat disheveled psychiatrist with many personal problems. Kassler is commissioned by the Dark Prince himself to administer psychotherapy. Satan is convinced that being the opponent of God is hard work and that he really just needs someone to listen to his tragic story. In return, he offers Kassler the answer every human seeks: what happens to us after death?

The Doctor's Horrible Experiment is a 1959 French black-and-white television film directed by Jean Renoir. It has been released in the United Kingdom as Experiment in Evil and on DVD as The Testament of Doctor Cordelier. The film is a retelling of the 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson set in 1950s France. Jean-Louis Barrault plays Dr. Cordelier/Opale, the substitute for Dr. Jekyll/Hyde character; the film is also known for its visual style that is far above the normal television programs of the 1950s.

<i>G-Men from Hell</i> 2000 American film

G-Men from Hell is a 2000 American comedy film directed by Christopher Coppola and written by Robert Cooper, Richard L. Albert, and Nicholas Johnson. It is based on Michael Allred's comic book series Grafik Muzik published by Caliber Press. It stars William Forsythe and Tate Donovan as two violent FBI agents who die, go to hell, and escape back to Earth, where they become embroiled in a mystery.

<i>Crazy, Not Insane</i> 2020 American documentary film

Crazy, Not Insane is a 2020 American documentary film directed and produced by Alex Gibney. It follows the research of psychiatrist Dr. Dorothy Otnow Lewis who studied the psychology of murders. It is narrated by Laura Dern.

Stutz is a 2022 documentary film directed by Jonah Hill. The film chronicles the life and career of psychiatrist Dr. Phil Stutz, Hill's therapist.

References

  1. "Crazy as Hell". Writers Guild of America West . Retrieved June 21, 2023.
  2. 1 2 Kehr, Dave (27 September 2002). "FILM IN REVIEW; 'Crazy as Hell'". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
  3. Simels, Steve. "Crazy As Hell (review)". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
  4. "Crazy as Hell (2002)". Rotten Tomatoes.
  5. Foundas, Scott (2002-02-27). "Crazy as Hell". Variety. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
  6. Rabin, Nathan. "Crazy As Hell". The AV Club. Retrieved 2018-09-08.