The Mad Room

The Mad Room is a 1969 American horror and drama film directed by Bernard Girard, and starring Stella Stevens, Shelley Winters, Skip Ward, Carole Cole, Severn Darden, Beverly Garland, Michael Burns, and Barbara Sammeth. It is a loose remake of the 1941 film Ladies in Retirement, which had been adapted from a 1940 play of the same title written by Reginald Denham and Edward Percy. The film was released by Columbia Pictures on May 1, 1969. Plot Ellen Hardy, working as a live-in assistant to wealthy widow Mrs. Armstrong, gets a call from the mental institution where her younger brother George and sister Mandy have been living since they were accused of killing their parents when they were six and four years old. George is turning 18, and rather than send him and Mandy to an adult facility, Ellen takes them back to live with her in Mrs. Armstrong's large house. Afraid of what their reception would be if the others knew the truth, Ellen conceals their dangerous history. Upon arriving at the house, Mandy insists that she and George have a designated "mad room," a place where they can go to be alone when they are frustrated. Ellen reluctantly agrees to give them access to the former Mr. Armstrong's study despite the fact that Mrs. Armstrong refuses to let anyone in it. One night Mrs. Armstrong discovers Mandy in the study, and confronts Ellen about her mounting suspicion that they are keeping something from her. While Mandy and George eavesdrop from outside the room, Ellen finally breaks down under her questioning and tells Mrs. Armstrong about their grim childhood and the suspicion that either George, Mandy, or the both of them had killed their parents with a butcher knife. Mrs. Armstrong explains to Ellen that she can't keep the children at the house anymore, and goes to bed frightened.