It goes without saying that you need to like or at least be familiar with the "exploitation" genre to fully enjoy this movie; a soft spot for "trash" movies like Iron Sky (the first one, not the terrible sequel) and similar "trashy" B-movies also helps.
I however disagree with the authors/directors of Mad Heidi that they single-handedly invented the "Swissploitation" genre in 2022 with Mad Heidi.
Older Swiss movies should take the credit for pioneering this movie niche, for example (my list below is by no means exhaustive):
- Sommersprossen (1968, German title)
- L'inconnu de Shandigor (1967, French title)
- Several early movies by the Swiss director Erwin C. Dietrich, mostly released in the 70s and 80s (to be fair to Mad Heidi, many of Erwin's movies were shot abroad, not in Switzerland)
There are also newer examples, like these more extreme Swiss splatter niche movies:
- Projekt Fleisch (1999)
- Nutshot (2019)
Mad Heidi is another good, updated entry to the genre with many nods and references to famous directors like Tarantino or Rodriguez. The two Mad Heidi directors are quite open about this aspect and even list movies that influenced Mad Heidi's story telling and plot, namely:
Machete,
From Dusk Till Dawn,
Kill Bill (Vol. 2),
Danger 5,
Lady Snowblood,
Heidi (the classic 1937 and 1952 versions, obviously, since Mad Heidi is a trash/horror parody on the original story),
Coffy,
Foxy Brown...
The movie doesn't take itself too seriously and makes fun of Switzerland and Swiss clichés like chocolate, cheese and xenophobia, much like earlier domestic classics such as the comedy "Schweizermacher" (aka "The Swiss Makers" internationally, 1978). The more you know about Swiss cliches, the more you will enjoy the funny details and easter eggs in Mad Heidi.
But rest assured: Even if you are only vaguely familiar with the original Heidi saga/plot and the fact that many Swiss take their cheese seriously you can laugh at most jokes.
The splatter/special effects, the level of detail in many movie props (e.g. The "final boss" Neutral-izer, a word pun on Switzerland's political neutrality axiom) and the performances are quite good; some are even very good - especially considering the tiny budget of just around USD/CHF 3 million (much of the total budget was raised by crowdfunding).
(For a quick comparison: Other genre movies like the trashy Iron Sky II sequel cost six times that amount and are much worse. Starting with a confusing script...but I digress.)
The overarching revenge plot in Mad Heidi is quite simple and/or predictable. Some critics may dismiss the entire Mad Heidi movie as pure "fan service" - this is however very understandable since much of the total budget was raised using crowdfunding methods, as discussed above.
We may even get a sequel one day since the open ending leaves many avenues to explore.
I rate this movie 6/10 cheese wheels. Maybe it's even worth 7+/10 if you really like this genre of movies.
PS: In order to reach a broader international audience (and since many foreign actors like genre specialist Casper Van Dien have leading roles) the movie was shot in English, with only a few sentences or words in Swiss German mixed into the dialogues. Surprising at first, but understandable given the movie's ambitious global distribution target.
