I, Madman

Virginia Clayton, an aspiring actress who works at a used bookstore in downtown Los Angeles, becomes absorbed in the pulp horror novels of the late author Malcolm Brand. Virginia's detective boyfriend, Richard, begins to grow concerned about her fixation on the books, which she becomes immersed in during her free time, occasionally having daydreams in which their villain, the deformed serial killer Dr. Kessler, appears to her. Richard sleeps over at Virginia's apartment one night, during which she stays up late reading a passage from the Brand novel I, Madman, in which Kessler, having gone mad and carved off his own facial features, brutally kills victims and grafts parts of their faces onto his own. Kessler in particular becomes obsessed with beautiful actress Anna Templar. In one graphic passage, Kessler stalks and attacks a woman, incapacitating her in her apartment with a sedative before scalping her with a straight razor. While working in the bookstore, Virginia comes across a set of books from Brand's personal estate that have been sold to the store, among them graphic medical literature. Outside, she sees a newspaper detailing the brutal murder of her acting classmate Collette Berkowitz, which resembles the scalping murder Virginia read about in the novel. From her apartment window, Virginia witnesses Kessler murder a man in the building across the street and cut off his ears. Richard is appointed to investigate the murder, which has left Virginia traumatized. Virginia insists that Kessler has manifested in reality and envisions her as a real-life analog of Anna Templar, wanting to carve out her heart as his ultimate victim. Virginia's claims lead investigators to believe she is mentally ill. Virginia examines the book, and notices on the title page that it has been classified as nonfiction. She visits Brand's publishing office and questions Sidney Zeit, the head publisher, about the books' history. Sidney recounts how Brant requested his works be classed as nonfiction, and believed his characters had come to life and tormented him. Sidney assumed Brant was schizophrenic, and reveals he was found mutilated in his home. This leads Virginia to believe that it is in fact Brand's ghost who is tormenting her rather than the Kessler character. One night on an unpopulated block of Hollywood Boulevard, Virginia witnesses another of her classmates, Lenny, brutally murdered by Kessler. In an attempt to capture the killer, Richard unsuccessfully has Virginia attempt to lure him inside the local library. Back at her apartment, Virginia reads another passage from the novel that leads her to fear for the safety of Mona, her coworker working the nightshift at the bookstore. Virginia rushes to the store to save Mona, but finds her dead with her lips cut off. Kessler appears and pursues Virginia, who finds she has been locked in by the store's security gate. Virginia is saved by Richard, who shoots Kessler moments before he is about to slash Virginia with a razor, but the gunshot only momentarily stops him. He is ultimately killed by a demon from the novel who appears and hurls him out the window.