Let me start you off with a phrase: Human Horror. When I think of the term, I think of the horrific events that occur to normal people through the course of history. There are no monsters that come from the grave to cause torment, just your normal run of the mill humans. In a lot of cases the human monsters we run across are far worse than the ones we find in our darkest fantasies. This is a tale about human horror. It takes place in 1851 and not only is the way of life a harsh one but so are the attitudes people had who lived in this time.

A young girl named Annie Herron (Caroline Dhavernas) has been running through the snow for three days. She makes her way into town and finds the local jail. It is the middle of the night and she tells the small town's sheriff that she has murdered her husband.

The sheriff, Henry Mullen (Paul Johansson) puts young Annie in a cell and now has to decipher what happened to this girl. Did she indeed kill her husband or is she just confused and hysterical. He manages to find out that her husbands name is Simon Herron and she was living with him and his brother George. They were building a house on their land and trying to finish it before the winter snows hit.

The local doctor tends to Annie and puts her on Laudanum to keep her calm. Although she becomes more talkative and out going. Slowly, through Annie's flashbacks, we start to see what life on the homestead was really like for her. Simon (Brendan Fehr) was horribly abusive while George (Corey Sevier) was sweet and caring. George did his best to protect Annie and lived for her smile.

Henry is trying to find the truth that is hidden under the protective layers of Annie's silence. There is more to this story than is being told and it's up to Henry to find out the truth so that the right person can be charged for the crime. If Annie is found guilty, she will be hung for murdering a man who has abused and mistreated her. Was it the sweet and gentle George who killed Simon to protect Annie? You'll have to check it out for yourself to know for sure.

The story here was pretty effective and when you're dealing with a period piece, it is extremely important to touch on the realism of the time. Not only with the costuming but with the attitudes of the people and the way of life for that time period. This movie was great on all those points as It covered the harshness of the environment, the difficulties of exchanging information over long distances, and the attitudes of the men and women of the time.

The attitudes of the people is the hardest (in my humble opinion) to pull off. There are not a whole lot of people today that would be comfortable with the way things were in 1851. For example, it is unthinkable and illegal to force your wife to have sex just because she is your wife and that is part of her duty. In this day and age it's considered rape and you'll be lucky if your wife doesn't toss your penis out the window of a moving car.

In 1851, it was considered dangerous to teach a woman to read and women in general were little more than property. Their opinions didn't matter and they had next to no rights. This was the way life was and there was not much that could be done about it. If all this is offensive to you dear reader, I'd advise that you skip this one.

It's worth noting that this wasn't a fast paced movie by any means, the information comes at a slow pace and you have to wait a long time to find out who was involved with what. However, to the movies defense, I found the slow pace somewhat fitting. You're looking at a period in time where all the correspondence took a lifetime to pass along, the mail system was imperfect and slow but would get there eventually.

The video quality is pretty clear and sharp. Everything seemed authentic, including the living spaces and lighting, it all looked pretty real for the time period on display. The 2.0 audio was fairly effective as well. It was a little patchy in places but not too bad and there is also a choice of English or Spanish subtitles, no other exras to speak of except for a trailer.

All things considered, Edge of Madness was a fairly decent effort. It was a drama with a touch of mystery and suspense. I'm serious when I tell you it sheds a harsh light on the treatment of women therefore if this is a touchy subject for you or if you offend easily, you'll want to stay far away from this one. If you like well executed period pieces or you like movies about the frontier times be sure to check it out. This may be one you'd enjoy.