Based on the novel by Junichiro Tamizaki, which was filmed once before by Keigo Kimura in 1962, Diary of a Mad Old Man tells the story of Marcel (Ralph Michael, Dead of Night), the mad old man of the title, who suffers from chronic muscle disease and begins to fixate on his daughter-in-law Simone (Beatie Edney, Highlander) after the death of his wife Denise.

He puts his health on the line by trying to win her, even building her a pool to watch her swim. And after she allows him to touch her, he only has one wish: to become her slave.

Director Lili Rademakers was the wife of the Netherlands’ most prominent filmmaker Fons Rademakers. She was the assistant director of several of his movies — as well as shooting second unit on La Dolce Vita — and only directed this movie and Menuet.

Cannon made what seems like a few hundred movies in 1987, but they were giving movies that took chances an opportunity to be seen around the world.