Its plot follows a Los Angeles bookstore worker who becomes engrossed in a horror novel titled I, Madman, and finds a series of murders resembling those in the book occurring around her.

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.

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.

[7] Joe Baltake, writing for The Sacramento Bee, derided the film for being derivative, noting: "Everything that can be done has been done, in terms of shock, and so someone like Takacs ends up littering his ugly little killings with mutilation.

"[8] The staff critic of the New York Daily News praised the film's premise, likening it to that of A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), but added that its plot receives "mostly dull and static treatment," largely involving the "less-than-arresting" relationship between the lead characters.

[9] Roger Ebert praised the film, writing: "Climaxes in thrillers have gotten pretty standard recently, involving chases and shootouts and a lot of blood.

[11] Chris Willman of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "Nonsensical and silly as I, Madman often is, die-hard genre fans may want to seek it out because Canadian director Tibor Takacs (whose only previous feature was The Gate) has a real sense of style that pulls you in and makes you pay attention even when the story disappoints.