I, Madman

Virginia Clayton works at a used bookstore in downtown Los Angeles and becomes absorbed in Malcolm Brand's pulp horror novels. She spends free time reading and frequently daydreams about the killer Dr. Kessler from the books. Her life starts to blur as fiction invades her perception of reality.

Richard sleeps over at Virginia's apartment as she stays up late reading a passage from I, Madman. The scene details Kessler's madness and his gruesome acts in vivid, cinematic prose. Virginia begins to imagine Kessler stepping into her life.

While working at the bookstore, Virginia discovers Brand's personal collection, including graphic medical volumes. A newspaper outside reports the brutal murder of Collette Berkowitz, mirroring the scalping described in the novel. The line between fiction and reality starts to blur as the articles echo the fiction.

From her apartment window, Virginia witnesses a man across the street being murdered by Kessler, who then cuts off his ears. The brutality shocks her and alarms the authorities, with Richard assigned to investigate. Virginia's trauma deepens as she questions whether the killer has crossed from page to reality.

Virginia insists that Kessler has manifested in real life and envisions herself as Anna Templar, hoping to avoid becoming his next victim. She feels drawn into the fiction, heightening her paranoia and sense of danger. The line between protagonist and victim becomes perilously thin.

She examines the Brand volume and notices it is classified as nonfiction. This discovery prompts her to visit Brand's publishing office to confront Sidney Zeit about the books' origins. Sidney recounts Brant's belief that his characters haunted him and hints at a malevolent, possibly supernatural force behind the works.

Sidney reveals Brant was found mutilated in his home and believed his characters came to life, leading Virginia to suspect a spectral force rather than just a maniac. This revelation shifts her fear toward a haunted publishing legacy. The idea of Brand's ghost tormenting her becomes more plausible in her mind.

On a dark block of Hollywood Boulevard, Virginia witnesses another classmate, Lenny, being brutally murdered by Kessler. The sight escalates her sense of danger and proves the killer is targeting people around her. Richard continues to pursue the case without fully capturing the killer.

In an attempt to trap Kessler, Richard has Virginia try to lure him into the local library, but the plan fails. The supernatural menace and the killer seem to slip away again, further severing the line between fiction and reality. The library becomes a stage for escalating tension.

Virginia rushes to the bookstore to protect Mona after reading another ominous passage, only to find Mona dead with her lips cut off. Kessler appears and pursues Virginia, who is locked inside by the store's security gate. The danger becomes personal and intimate, tying the crime deeply to Virginia's world.

Richard shoots Kessler, momentarily stopping him, but the killer remains dangerous. A demon from the novel manifests and hurls Kessler out the window, ending the immediate threat in a spectacular, supernatural fashion. Virginia's fear begins to cohere into a grim, otherworldly truth.

The climactic demonstration of the book's power leaves Virginia unsettled and uncertain about what is real. The boundary between Brand's fiction and Richard's investigation has dissolved, hinting that other horrors may still lurk. The film closes with a lingering question about the nature of storytelling and haunting.