Trailer—Madman

source: Madman

After the success of movies like Friday the 13th and Halloween, there followed thousands of slasher film imitators throughout the late seventies and early eighties. I was around 10-13 when these type of films were coming out by the hundreds and I saw alot of them. No matter how cheesy, cheap and lousy they were, they never failed to scare the pants off of me, because lets face it, I was a young coward. However, now that I am an adult and watching these type of films all over again, I look at them and ask myself: "What was I so frightened of?" I just cannot believe that such lousy films scared me back then. However, I just got my hands on a very used videotape copy of "Madman". I haven't seen this film since it originally came out in the movie theaters back in 1981. Watching it after all these years, I was surprised and delighted to find that "Madman" still carries a terrifically scary punch! Unfortunately, because this came out alongside so many lousy Friday the 13th imitators, to this day it is treated as such. This horror film deserves better. Plot: The owner of a children's camp, the campers and the camp counselors are sitting around a campfire as the camp owner tells them the legend of "Madman Marz", a local farmer who lived in a farmhouse right next to the camp. One day he went insane and hacked his family with an axe as they slept. The farmer escaped into the woods and was never caught by authorities. Now, according to the camp owner, if you spoke his name out loud above a whisper, he would come for you. One of the counselors, thinking this is just a dumb legend, then stands up and challenges Madman, out loud, to come get him and then throws a rock at the old farmers house which crashes through one of the windows. BIG mistake!

The worst kinds of films are bad horror films. There are those you can enjoy, and laugh at, and there are those that make you want to gouge your eyes out. Take a good look at my rating and guess which kind this film is. The story? There is none. A killer is on the loose, that's all you need to know. The setting is more important: It's a summer camp, at night, filled with teenagers. Five minutes into the movie the murderer starts to off teenagers and doesn't stop until the end of the film. That's it. No story. No character development. No mystery. Just a bunch of scenes were people die for no apparent reason. It's the kind of film you make with your friends when you're bored. I like slasher films. They're good as no-brainer entertainment. They're never scary, but at least they kill time. This movie doesn't kill time, it kills you're braincells and drains your energy. It's so stupid you wouldn't believe it, and there is noway anyone could ever enjoy this film... Ever. The biggest mistake the director, or writer made, was probably to fill the film with clichés. But instead of using different ones, he uses the same one over and over again. A person goes missing. Another person goes to look for him, and is killed. So, another person goes looking and is killed. A third person goes looking, all alone, and not surprisingly, finds himself dead pretty soon. And that's how the film goes. I am not kidding. If you want to look up a good slasherfilm, try to find one that has something that resembles a plot. If you want a bad slasherfilm, don't rent this one. Because this isn't even a film. It's just a montage of people getting killed for no reason at all.

Some surprisingly old camp counselors anger legendary ax-murderer, so he makes a successful come-back. Obvious Friday the 13th knock-off, but hey, it manages to be worth a few laughs. As low-budget as this film is, it does well with what it has, making a fairly good villain and possessing an atmospheric spookiness. Gore-seekers will find plenty of blood flying in this one, the gore FX are pretty nicely done for a low-budgeter. The locations are decent and the electronic music score ain't bad. Dig that clunky theme song! The films biggest flaw is in its casting. While leads Alexis Dublin (better known as Gaylen Ross) and Tony Fish are OK, the supporting cast are completely awful in their wooden performances. I suppose we're not watching this movie for the acting though. Still, Madman is an enjoyable tongue-in-cheek slasher movie. ** 1/2 out of ****

Just think what Carpenter's HALLOWEEN hath wrought in the years since its release. MADMAN is just such a movie. Shot in New York in 1982, it tells about a bunch of summer campers and their counselors being mowed down by a killer farmer who starts by hacking up his family. I'm not sure, but I think a couple of the counselors were played by * actors/actresses, especially one horse-faced blonde with a decided lisp or hearing problem. Some of the killings are appropriately nasty but the film ultimately is an unbelievable bore. It's mostly these summer people yakking on and on, until they each get theirs. And the farmer is no Jason, believe you me.

Madman is nowhere near as good as some would have you believe, but it does have a slow, creepy atmosphere. The one bit that I will always remember is when you see Madman's silhouette in the trees. That one shot of him alone saves this from being just a regular boring slasher film. It creeps you out enough so that the rest of the film seems ever more creepier as he stalks around the woods killing everyone off. There are plenty of dull moments including a love scene used for padding, and a lot of the time you will be waiting for something to happen. There is a hilarious scene where one of the girls hides herself inside a refrigerator. The ending somewhat spoils the creepiness that had been built up throughout, as we get to see Madman in full light and he just looks like a regular person in a rubber mask. It just goes to show how it's better to leave such things to the imagination. This is an essential film for any slasher fan, but beware, it's only for those able to tolerate a slower paced slasher.

Madman is without a doubt my favorite horror film of all time. This film has all the elements of perfection. From the excellent use of lighting, the atmosphere and the sound track, it's an over all genre study of how to make a horror film, and scare the wits out of the audience. I think the director was over looked and deserved more jobs. The movie works so well it amazes me that nobody in the cast worked on too many other films. Watch this movie followed by Blair witch and you tell me what movie scared you more!! This is how you do it!! I'm sprry to tell you but there is not one movie in the 90's as effective as this one in the horror genre. Horror movies are becomming like cars, they just don't make them right anymore. Madman is like a 76 Cadillac coup with a 500 cubic inch engine, while The Haunting or Haunted Hill is like a Toyota with a little 4 cylinder engine!!! Bottom line I LOVE THIS MOVIE!! Why do you think I call myself MADMAN MARS anyway!!! Long live MADMAN MARS, and everybody involved in this movie.

I first saw this in the early 90s on a vhs. Revisited it recently. Well, most will agree that this is a rip off of FT13 n The Burning but this one has some moments of lol. The film is tedious, there is zero nudity inspite of a lousy sex scene in a hot tub. The moustachioed guy's girlfriend acted terrible n her chase was more lengthier than the final girl. Some hilarious description bah our killer : face wise he is more like the blind chap from Rituals (1977). He runs like a kid but walks limping and the best part is the way he hides for his prey. (While waiting for the moustachioed guy's girlfriend). Watch out for his sharp long nails by which he tears a female's cheek. By the way his dungaree n strength inspired Victor Crowley. There is a character Richie who stalks the mad serial killer and he disappears from the screen at 28th min and later appears aft 60th min and within that screen disappearance time, many murders happen n he is still alive stalking the killer. He again disappears from the screen and again mayhem ensues n voila, he reappears just before the end credits. The editing is horrendous as scenes keep cutting abruptly.

Another stupid slasher film from the 80s. Basically it involves a bunch of idiots at a summer camp (in November!) unwittingly bringing to life a monster who likes axing his victims...or something like that. Who cares? The movie is crap! All the characters are annoying and (with the exception of Gaylen Ross from "Dawn of the Dead") the acting sucks. There are some truly ridiculous scenes--a man gets his head cut off and, a few minutes later, a girl comes by, looks at the bloody headless body and says "Are you OK?"; a couple are making love in a tent--their friends outside tell them to come out--the guy yells "COMING!" etc etc. There are only two highlights here--the death by the hood of a trunk and a nice shot of a guy's butt while going into a hot tub (it's rare you get any male nudity in a horror film). But that's no reason to see this. I saw it at a theatre back in 1982 full of high school students (despite the R rating). They laughed all the way through and thought it was a good comedy! And there's even room for a SEQUEL (which never happened). As it stands it's almost impossible to find a copy of this now--that's a good thing! Avoid.