Mad Heidi

Mad Heidi is trash! ... and that's a good thing. The film has a very high quality and thus leaves many other trash films behind. Actors, setting, cinematography - all great! Johannes Hartmann did a great job with the film and created a wonderful (Swiss) ploitation film that is at the forefront of the genre.

If you like Switzerland, you will love all the clichés. Cheese, chocolate or the Swiss army knife are just a few examples.

In terms of acting, Casper Van Dien and Max Rüdlinger stand out in particular. Van Dien plays the slimy "very Swiss leader" with great humor, while Rüdlinger, with his Swiss accent, plays Commander Knorr with exaggerated spite.

The cinematography shows the most beautiful sides of Switzerland, while the action comes along with lots of blood, splatter and killing jokes.

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.

The story behind "Mad Heidi" is almost as interesting - if not MORE interesting - than the film itself. The project started more than 3 years ago as the crazy dream of a bunch of Swiss horror/cult film-buffs. The mission: make the first-ever Swiss exploitation movie, preferably as insane and over-the-top as humanly possible. The challenge: they didn't have any money, only a lot of devoted enthusiasm and energy.

What followed is probably one of the most impressive and respectable crowd-funding campaigns in history. Via Internet and various social media channels, the "Mad Heidi" hype slowly but surely increased. Funds were raised via merchandising (you could even buy a cuckoo-clock) and the pre-order DVD sales of a movie that didn't exist yet! The campaign was incredibly successful, and the film was made with more than enough budget for excellent special effects, and even the involvement of a relatively well-known B-actor; - Casper Van Dien.

But then came Covid-19 ... Just like everything else in the world, the release of "Mad Heidi" was put on hold, and the patience of the cast, crew and thousands of co-funders got tested immensely. Now, and finally, the movie had its world-premiere at the Brussels' International Fantastic Film Festival. It was a real party.

Inevitably, the festive ambiance before, during and after the screening of "Mad Heidi" heavily influenced my experience and rating. I'm sorry for that, but it's simply impossible to get euphoric when you are surrounded by hundreds of people yodeling in a theater, wearing fake Swiss Nazi-uniforms, and drinking beer.

Most importantly, though, "Mad Heidi" is exactly what it promised to be ever since the beginning of production; - namely a massively entertaining and absurdly eccentric exploitation movie with copious amounts of splatter, twisted humor, demented characters, self-parody, deliberately dumb quotes and catch-phrases, and non-stop vitality. The tone, style and content of the film isn't new or innovative. The plot is comparable to crowd-pleasing flicks like "Inglourious Bastards" or "Iron Sky", and the script pays tribute to approximately three dozen of cinematic treasures varying from "The Sound of Music" to "Lady Snowblood".

The story is of lesser importance, but it neatly follows the structure of a textbook revenge-thriller. If I tell you Casper Van Dien stars as the tyrannical and megalomaniacal President of Switzerland, and simultaneously CEO of the only authorized company to produce and export cheese, you already know enough. He wants to obtain world-domination via genetically altered cheese, but a heroic girl from the Alps is determined to get revenge for the murder of her boyfriend and the downfall of her beloved Motherland.

Of all the great fun and splendid gimmicks, what I most appreciated is how the makers wonderfully inserted every possible Swiss cliche and national symbol into their film. There's the Matterhorn and cheese bowls in the film-logo already, but everything else you could possibly associate with Switzerland features as well: idyllic mountain paths, Alp horns, cuckoo clocks, cheese fondue, watches, pocket knives, Toblerone chocolate, ... There's so much lunacy and mayhem happening that Heidi's character and her quest for revenge is even pushed to the background sometimes, which is a minor default.

"I work for the industry" is a general term in LA if someone works for the movie industry (been there, done that). This movie originates from no industry. It is handcraftet with tons of love and effort and it reflects throughout the whole movie. I was very surprised. The crew is learning... but did their homework well with great professionalism and it turned out to be great fun to watch the outcome. If you are open for low budget independant movies with a mid budget feel... go see the movie. Will watch it again with friends and a couple of beers. And no, I'm not part of the crew and I'm not a crowdfunder. In general I don't even like the genre. But i've had to write this to add another POV after reading some of the negative comments.

Starting with that first yodel, Mad Heidi is as crazy as it is, well, cheesy. The self-proclaimed Swissploitation action-splatterfest is all about illegal cheese, fascist rule, warrior nuns, and a madcap Casper Van Dien whose mustache-twirling villainy is as high as the Alps. Yet for all its silliness and over-the-top parodying, Mad Heidi should have been a lot crazier.

Mad Heidi is a crowdfunded project helmed by Johannes Hartmann and Sandro Klopfstein. The indie movie parodies not only general exploitation films but specifically the good-natured Heidi stories of old (such as the sappy Shirley Temple classic). Here, Switzerland is under the fascist control of cheese-loving President Meili (Van Dien). When both Heidi's (Alice Lucy) freedom-loving grandfather and goat cheese-smuggling boyfriend are killed, Heidi transforms herself into a kick-ass fighter and goes after fierce retribution against Meili and his brutal regime. In short, cheese happens.

Mad Heidi is fun and silly. Mad Heidi was not made to promote the artform of cinematic splendor. This is a riotous goof that caters to a specific audience, a level on which Mad Heidi completely succeeds.