Madhouse

Paul Toombes is a renowned horror star best known for his Dr. Death persona. After a disastrous confrontation at a Hollywood party leads to Ellen's mysterious death, his career collapses and he spends years in a mental hospital. He returns to London years later to confront a new Dr. Death TV project and a killer who uses his image as a weapon. His struggle blends vanity, guilt, and a desperate longing to reclaim his name.

Ellen Mason is Paul Toombes' fiancée who previously worked in Oliver Quayle's films and had a fraught relationship with him. Her engagement gift—a engraved watch—embodies a fragile happiness that is torn apart by jealousy and deceit. After a confrontation, she is murdered in a room as a severed head drops from her body, an event that haunts Paul and fuels the investigation. Her death casts suspicion on Paul and accelerates the unraveling of his life.

Elizabeth Peters is a young, ambitious actress pursuing stardom who fixates on Paul. She steals his watch and follows him through London, becoming a link between past trauma and present danger. She is killed by a pitchfork on the grounds, and her death quickly elevates the case to Scotland Yard, who suspect Paul. Her fate underscores the film's themes of fame-and-folly and the perils of desire.

Faye Carstairs is Flay's wife and a former Dr. Death co-star who has been through disfiguring trauma. She is drawn into Paul's world as a new 'assistant' for the Dr Death project and ultimately kills Herbert Flay to frame others and protect Paul. She proves pragmatic and dangerous, using the situation to outmaneuver rivals. In the final scene, she collaborates with Paul as he advances toward reclaiming his identity.

Julia Wilson is Quayle's public relations chief who uncovers a contract that could determine who carries the Dr Death mantle. Her discovery makes her a target, and she is murdered by the killer in a manner echoing Ellen's death. Her death heightens the sense of a stage-managed life spiraling into real danger. She serves as a pivot in the crime's unraveling and the truth about the contract.

Herbert Flay is a shrewd screenwriter who partners with Quayle to produce the Dr Death TV series and covets the role for himself. He manipulates the situation, plots to destroy Paul, and murders Ellen to frame him, hoping to claim the Dr Death mantle. He believes he has outmaneuvered his rival, only to be undone by Faye's confrontation and his demise in the spider tank. His downfall reveals the dangerous cost of ambition in the film industry.

Oliver Quayle is an ambitious producer who partners with Flay to bring a Dr Death TV series to life. He wants to control the project and manipulate Paul Toombes into taking his place, pushing for the final contract that would grant Flay the role if Paul dies. He underestimates Paul's resolve, and his plans become entangled in a web of deception that ends with revelations about the contract. He remains a schemer whose greed triggers the conflict.