12. Max Reynolds (Geoffrey Bayldon) - Asylum (1972)
In a novel twist on the lunatics have taken over the asylum idea, an institution is taken over not by the inmates but by a mad doctor who disguises himself as an orderly. This allows him to play a bizarre game: when a young psychiatrist arrives for a job interview, Max sets him the task of interviewing 4 patients with the aim of guessing which one is Dr Starr, the former head of the asylum who went mad and was incarcerated in his own building. After listening to each tale (which are recounted by Barry Morse, Herbert Lom, Barbara Parkins and Charlotte Rampling), the psychiatrist makes his choice, which turns out to be wrong Reynolds reveals hes the doctor, and strangles the other man with his stethoscope. You wont believe this scene when you see it because Reynolds lets loose one of the most unhinged laughs in the history of cinema.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
